I know this is about canning, but I keep reading it as caning. You might want to take that up instead as it carries less risk.

Good caning site.

SL, thanks for the caning tips ;) and, I won't have to worry about that botulism thingy, because I wipe the rims real good.

Don't worry, Alex. If I were to ever drink out of a mason jar (esp. with a yuppie sippy-cup lid) I'd can myself and store myself away from humanity.

...now a Vegemite jar... that's a different story.

It is a great way to store fresh produce from the garden or local orchard! I have never done meat, too afraid of killing someone.

It sounds like you have great advice and I can imagine with youtube that is a huge help! Make sure to wipe the rims well, sanitize jars first and if they don't pop then eat immediately or toss them.

I find jelly and jam the easiest. It is fun to experiment and come up with different flavors. If it doesn't set up like you wanted then you have a nice dessert sauce! I saw in my Ball newsletter that they even have a jelly maker, it looks like a crock pot to me.

A tomato is a very versatile thing too. I have friends who can lots of different salsas, spaghetti sauce, crushed tomato, whole tomato.... the whole gambit!

Next up.....a food dehydrator and then the machine that takes the air out and seals them up for you for longer storage.

We call it canning even though it's jarring. Bottling?

Only thing I ever jarred was a family pickle recipe, and that wasn't super long term anyway. Good luck, Beartha Stewart.

Well, that was weird. I have to give VCPM for the Beartha Stewart comment, because I tried to do it normally, and got 5 (count them - FIVE) pop-ups saying I can't give mojo to the same post twice. Even though I hadn't given it once.

And, cirquelover, Tomatoes are one of the things we're growing at the moment - so lots of scope there. Yay.

I have just found out that you need to buy new lids each time (but you can re-use the bands). There's a cost I wan't aware of.

I'm thinking I might try jalapeño jelly with apples and no/low-sugar pectin, so that I don't have to use 3.5 cups of sugar in it.