Food Preservation 101: Part 3 – Dehydrating

Like canning jars, food dehydrators seem to be regulars at the local thrift shop. I got mine, brand-new with receipts still attached, for a whopping $1.75 at the local thrift store a few years back thanks to a neighbor who volunteers there and snapped it up for me. It’s not fancy and it doesn’t have [...]

Make Your Own Cure for the Winter Blues!

This past winter, I tried hard to limit our grocery store fruit purchases to US fruit. That meant a lot of citrus from Texas and a lot of apples from Washington, which overall, was fine with us. Then, it happened. An insidious interloper appeared on the grocery store shelves. Something so seemingly-wonderful, and yet so [...]

Food Preservation 101: Part 2 – Making Jam!

There is nothing sweeter than home-made jam. And that’s not because it has more sugar. It’s because the fruit is fresher, the jam is less processed, and, well, because making it yourself always makes it taste better! If you are new to canning, please review Part 1 in this series, Home Canning for all the [...]

Food Preservation 101: Part 1 – Home Canning

A couple of folks have asked me for a quick how-to on making jam. I realized I couldn’t jump straight into recipes & tips until I covered some basics on canning itself. What is home canning and how does it work? What do you need to get started? Do you really need to take a [...]