My neighbor gave me tons of canning jars and a canning pot. I have never canned in my life. I would love to have some home made stuff to have during the winter.

Do you have any tips for me? Any good recipes?

Any help would be appreciated.

You can do a search on the internet to find all kinds of information.

You can also search these forums. IIRC there are some threads where canning has been discussed.

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Nothing beats the "Ball Blue Book Guide to Home Canning, Freezing and Dehydration for a start at safe home canning.

It has the tables, timing, standards, pressure/time tables.
The [ur=http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/preserve__fresh_preserving__home_canning_/33.phpl]Ball website[/url] also has lots of information, including basic guides to canning and freezing.

It's VERY important to understand the difference between canning low acid and high acid foods, Generally, vegetables are fairly easy to can. Don't get an old 1950's ball book and think that the tables in it are all good, make sure it's one that was published after the mid 1970's. These are NOT expensive books, you can pick a new one up for about $7.

When I first started canning, back in the 1970's, I wanted to make sure what I was doing was "healthy." I'd helped my aunt a Nanny can for years . . . but somehow, I thought I'd do it "better." So, for instance, I canned something like 30 quarts of White Half Runners (thick walled green bean with small white beens inside) without salt or sugar . . . they were hideous! They were flat tasting . . . like old smushy overcooked babyfood . . . blech! Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean it tastes good. Those beans were only good for putting in vegetable soup.

It turns out that 1/2 tsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp. of salt in a quart jar of White half runners keeps them fresh tasting! Of course, Aunt caroline always included 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. sugar, and a thin strip of lemon peel (no white stuff, just peel); this is STILL the best way to can thick walled green beans like White Half Runners. Without the peel, they turn gray green, with it . . . they stay bright pretty green.

It turns out there's a good reason. The Sugar allows the cell walls to be permeated a bit by the liquid, the sugar helps maintain the texture and is carried into the cells by the slightly salty water. The anti-oxidants in the lemon peel and tiny bit of lemon oil help maintain the color.

I combine recipes that are time tested with safety methods from the Ball canning book. I pressure can almost everything.

An important concern that many people forget . . . you have to have a place to store the jars of canned food. They need a dark, cool, dry place to live. If you can provide that, most home canned food will last a year or more.

Happy Canning.

Just got done making dill pickles and bread & Butter pickles.

Canning is not difficult - it does takes some time and is well worth it.
We normally do: Pickles, Salsa, Chili Sause, Spaghetti Sauce, Saurkraut, corn, Jams, and other items. I would like to do more but at least I do a bit of it.

Nice job on the pickles Bill. My cukes aren't ready yet, but once they get big enough and ripe enough, I'll be canning some pickles as well. I love the bread and butter kind.