WEEK #30 & #31: Pressure Canning

We tried our new pressure canner in the last couple of weeks.  We canned quite a few of our green and yellow beans, and most of our smaller potatoes from the huge harvest the other week.

With the zucchini taking over our lives, zucchini has been on the menu all week, zucchini lasagna was the best, we also made some zucchini relish.  Here is the recipe that Aaron used:

1. Place 12 cups of shredded zucchini and 4 cups of onion in a large bowl, and sprinkle 5 tablespoons of pickling salt. Use your hands to evenly mix the salt throughout the zucchini. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
2. The following day, drain the zucchini in a colander, and rinse well with cool water. Squeeze out excess water and set aside. Chop two red bell pepper, add 5 cups sugar, 3 cups vinegar, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch into a large pot. Add 2 teaspoons celery seed and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper. Stir to combine, then add the drained zucchini. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer 30 minutes.
3. Fill 8 x 500ml jars and can/process in a standard water bath for 30 minutes. 

From left to right: Pickled Beans, Zucchini Relish, and Canned Green and Yellow Beans

Canning potatoes was not fun.  Looking online Aaron found two sites that said you should can potatoes with the skins off, so we spent several hours trying to peel potatoes that were supposed to just 'slip off' after a good boiling.......they did not.....After several more hours of skinning potatoes, Aaron decided to look for a second opinion on the whole "skins on vs. skins off" debate.  Apparently, you don't necessarily have to remove the skins it just for aesthetic reasons......ughhhh.

Twenty six 1 litre jars of potatoes.  This is maybe 1/5th of the potatoes........