Canning, My Way

 I have been thinking about how to can my Italian red sauce for many years now. It seems that I always make too much sauce so it either goes to waste sitting in the refrigerator, or I freeze it and it just doesn't taste as fresh after being frozen. My husband’s friends always come over for dinner, and beg me to can the sauce so that they can take some home and eat it at their leisure. I would always make some excuse about how I didn't have any Mason Jars, but that I would pick some up the next time I went shopping. In reality, it had nothing to do with not having the jars, it was just pure laziness because I thought that the process would be long and difficult, but how wrong I was.

Recently I got married, and had used mason jars as apart of my centerpieces for the wedding. People took the items that were in them and left the mason jars, so suddenly I had tons of jars laying around that house, and a fridge full of sauce. I took this as a sign and decided to use the jars to save my sauce from the fuzzy things that like to grow on it after sitting in the fridge a little to long, and help it live up to the freshness it deserves! I began researching the process of canning by watching a couple of YouTube videos and reading a ton of articles. This made me see that all my hesitation and procrastination was just utter laziness. I have since done tons of canning, and continue to do more because the jars of sauce have been disappearing from my shelves! :) So without further adieu, here is the process for canning. (don't worry, I promise it's easy)

Canning Process

*items that you will need

Sauce pot of sauce, heated and brought to a simmer

Another pot full of water that is boiling

A ladle

Mason jars

Paper towels

Tongs, or something of the like, that you can use to grab the hot jars and lower them into hot water

An oven mitt

Start off by bringing a sauce pot full of water to boil. The pot should be large enough to cover the jars completely. Then, unscrew the caps on the mason jars and removing the lids. Take just the jar and submerge it into the boiling water. Leave the jar for about 10 minutes to boil, this is sterilizing the jar, as well as heating it up so it doesn't crack when it gets put back in. Once the 10 mins are up, you can take the tongs and remove the jar, dump the water back into the pot. Ladle the warm sauce into the jar, and make sure to wipe off any sauce drippings from the jar and especially around the top of the jar. Put the topper on, and screw on the cap, making sure that it’s tight. Use the oven mits and tongs to lower the jar into the boiling water again, leave it in for about 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes are up, remove the jar and place on counter or towel. After it cools for a bit, press down on the top so seal the jar.

You have now successfully canned...see not difficult at all :)