Learning about canning

I am planning ahead right now, but thought I'd post about it. I have none of the necessary supplies for canning. That's okay. :) I am researching things and learning what I should do, what I will need, and how it's done. I think we're going to purchase a used (from Craigslist) deep freezer to store on our back porch (it's "finished"). That way, when things become ready in the garden, I can just go out there and pick them, prepare them, and freeze them. Things like okra, asparagus, and peppers (sliced and frozen, they work out well). But things like the remaining greens at the end of the growing season, pumpkins, corn, tomatoes, tomatillos...well, I will turn those into cooked things (tomato sauche, mashed pumpkin that's ready to be made into pie, tomatillo salsa, etc) and freeze the cooked products.

Next year, I'll probably can things like tomato sauce, tomatillo salsa, pumpkin, etc. Ah well. For now, I'm planning ahead.

I purchased the picture-filled canning cookbook: Canning For A New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry and I have loved it! I haven't made anything from it yet, but I will! It has more global canning recipes that seem to suit the cooking palates of my generation very well. I am also looking at another, slightly more traditional, but updated nonetheless, cookbook for canning by Ball. It is the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

It seems to compliment the "Canning for a New Generation" book very well and together, they compile a complete canning guide for anything I could want to can.

We shall see where this takes me.

I found a useful website as well with some tips on canning and an easy-for-beginners recipe for apple jelly. http://www.grit.com/garden/preserving/guide-to-canning-food.aspx?newsletter=1&page=4

This is where I am starting and I will just keep collecting information as it becomes pertinent.