We seem to be increasing our garden size and variety of produce with each year. Even though we are all open to trying new things, each of our four family members has their favorite home-grown food item. With the cost of food and gas continuing to rise, we’ve started relying on our gardens more and more each year.
With that in mind, I decided it was time for us to start storing our excess garden produce so we can enjoy it long after the Oregon gardening season. That caused me to revisit my childhood when Mom would “can” freshly picked peaches/pears as well as home-made applesauce and other yummy items for our family. She used Ball canning products so that’s where I turned.
For our review, Ball provided us with their 6 piece Ball® Canning Discovery ™ Kit. This was the perfect kit for me since it included everything I needed to get started on my canning journey.
The Canning Discovery Kit included the rack that holds the jars, a special lifter for pulling the hot jars out of the stockpot (stockpot not included so make sure you have one that is at least 7-1/2 inches tall and 9-1/2 inches in diameter), three 1-pint canning jars, and a wonderful step-by-step instruction and recipe book.
Our garden is planted and we can’t wait for the first “crop” to be harvest ready so we can start what I hope is the beginning of a long love affair with canning. As a child, I remember how juicy and sweet those peaches were when we opened a jar of them during the winter months…it was like a little bit of summer exploding in our mouths. I’m so excited to pass this experience on to my children and to teach them the benefits of home canning. Not only is it cost effective and healthier than store-bought foods with unknown additives but it is also a wonderful learning experience for our two young daughters (ages 6 and 4).
While visiting the Ball facebook page, I found a recipe for Green Pepper Jelly. I LOVE pepper jelly! As soon as we harvest our garden, this is the first recipe I am going to make.
Connect with Ball Canning on their website and facebook.
Hello, my name is Laurie. My family and I live near the Oregon coast. When we aren’t at work, in school, or on the volleyball court, we enjoy traveling, cheering for our favorite sports teams, playing outdoors, and checking off items on our bucket list. We are lucky in that both sets of our parents, as well as our siblings and their families, live within an hour of us. We get together often to help one another out, celebrate milestones, and go on adventures together.
My boyfriend and I bought this kit for his mother because she cans every summer. I cannot do it, I’m horrible but it’s awesome having someone in the family that can!
I looked for this kit when I read a similar post that was done on this kit, but had a hard time finding it since they have so much on their web site. I clicked the link here and see now they don’t carry it anymore, so bummer, but they have many more individual items that are helpful. I was just hoping to get something all in one since I don’t want to forget anything.
Deb E
We just bought some pint jars. I love their jars. Great post!