I can can!

Last year was my initial foray into canning, using a water bath canner to make applesauce, salsa and pickled jalapenos. This year I busted out my mom's old pressure canner and decided to give pressure canning a whirl.

I made the mistake of pressure canning one of the most difficult things first - CORN. I was terrified the thing would blow up, but luckily it did not. Unfortunately, several other things went wrong. It took WAY longer than I thought, for one. I filled the canner up with so much water that it took forever to boil, and then was too full to properly vent steam for the required 10 minutes. We packed the corn too tightly and it expanded too much during canning and lost liquid. Then I also made the mistake of boiling the lids beforehand, which may have ruined the sealing compound. Needless to say, I ended up opening up all the jars and pouring the contents into freezer bags. Now I know why even experienced canners say "oh, I always just freeze corn. It's easier."

I didn't let a bad first experience throw me off, however. I next attempted a less difficult item - green beans. This went more smoothly. I didn't pack so tightly so there was enough liquid in the jars to keep the beans undercover.

Finally, I canned chicken broth. Now this was the easiest of all! Why oh why didn't I start with chicken broth??? You just pour it in and process. No worries. I'm excited to do some more of this. It's much more convenient to open a can of chicken broth for a recipe then to defrost a frozen chunk from the freezer.