Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Homemade Canning Jar Labels - Make Cheap, Professional, Short Run & Custom Jar Labels


If you€re giving a jar of your best summer produce as a gift, you want a professional looking personalized label. These DIY custom label making instructions will show you how to make the perfect label for any occasion.

Here is the beauty of this custom label making process:

Multiple yet individual custom labels. For example you could setup your word processor to print 10 labels per page and print a unique jar number on each custom label (6 of 24). The base label material can be any color or texture you printer can handle. Cut your jar label to any shape or use specialty scissors for a decorative border. Use photos, artwork, birthday or greeting cards as custom labels. Hand or machine stitch cloth labels for special gift jars.

In my opinion, the perfect jar label(s) should relay two messages to the recipient.

The jar contents, maker, year, storage requirements, expiration dates, etc. That information found on that piece of masking tape on the jar and the info in your head.

Facts of interest concerning this unique jar, e.g., strawberries from your garden, peaches from Happy Trails Ranch or canned for the 2008 Lane County Fair.

I prefer the two label approach. The first label passes along all the necessary information allowing full artistic license for the second label.

For example, you could make the second label a birthday card. Using our carpet tape label making method, you could attach a purchased birthday card to your jar. Or better yet make a homemade birthday message. If you are the creative artistic type, make your own custom label. It doesn€t even have to be paper, e.g., needlepoint or embroider your message on the jar. Use your computer and an internet card generator to make a personalized message.

The birthday example is just one idea for the second label. There are countless reasons why you would give your home canned produce as a gift. Now you have a method of customizing a label for that occasion. Use our imagination! It€s a Girl cigars lack imagination. How about, It€s a Girl! Cathy Jo, May 28, 2008 jar of blackberry preserves canned just for that occasion.

Home canning has become very popular in recent years. Giving a jar of your finest home canned produce as a gift is a very unique personalized gift. But that masking tape identifier label on the jar just won€t cut it. You need to make it more personal and add some class.

The whole process of making a canning jar label is quite simple.

Start with a page of printed custom labels or craft project to be used as a label. Apply double sided tape to the back to make a homemade label. If desired apply a clear acrylic coat for longevity. Cut the label to the desired shape and size. Peel the backing off your new jar label and place it on your canning jar.

That€s it! You€re done!

Here is an example of a simple nice looking canning jar label for Mom€s peaches. We used clipart and standard fonts font on most word processors.

How simple and cheap can a personalize canning jar label be for your home canned produce? The most difficult part of this project is designing the custom label.

I have several tips to aid you in making a professional looking custom label. The most important tip is that when making a long label for a curved surface; use several pieces of tape parallel to the curve to avoid buckling. Remember to experiment first on an old jar and unwanted or blank label material.


Canning - How To Make Apple, Banana and Pumpkin Butters


During the fall months, I look forward to going to our local orchard and purchasing some fresh fruits and vegetables. After I get home, I enjoy getting out my water bath canner and canning supplies, and making up a few batches of various butters.

Canning is a lot easier than it sounds and making butters is great for beginners. You can find various cookbooks out in the marketplace or you can search various online websites for instructions on how to do water bath canning.

I like to process my butters in 4 ounce sized canning (mason) jars, but if you have a larger family, you can certainly use the 8 ounce size. You always want to start out with good quality fruits and/or vegetables and use clean, sterilized mason jars which are specifically manufactured for home canning.

Here are the 3 recipes that my family enjoys making.

Apple Butter

16 cups applesauce
1/2 cup vinegar
3 lb. granulated sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Homemade Canning - Where's the Beef? Canning Your Meat, Poultry, and More!


Why limit your home canning to produce? Scoop up a great seasonal deal on meat, poultry, or fish and experience the ease of meal preparation with canned meat. The best part is you know what is in the jar, there are no added flavors, no undisclosed spices, and no MSG.

The Art of Mince Meat

Mincemeat is really an overlooked delicacy and method of preserving meat our ancestors came up with. Originally, it was a mix of lean beef, suet, apples, citrus fruits, raisins, brandy or hard cider, and various spices. There is no need to stick with older recipes that call for a long list of ingredients that are exotic by today's standards. Unless your family has a taste for old-fashioned mincemeat, feel free to come up with your own version.

Simply use a roast beef recipe and cook as directed. Add such spices as garlic, onions, savory, marjoram, salt and pepper or use your favorite blend. When the meat can easily be pulled apart and chopped, allow it to cool and then chop it up. It will then be ready to slip into the freshly boiled and cooled jars and slipped into a homemade canning device.

Roast carrots, whole onion, garlic cloves, and potatoes or other vegetables like cauliflower and chop them up with the meat. Drain excess broth before canning the meat and vegetable mixture. Can the broth separately. Now you have jars of ready-to-go beef broth and jars of meat that are perfect for sandwiches or one-dish meals that are perfectly seasoned.

Poultry is Easily Preserved Too

Home-canned chicken and chicken broth can put the store-bought products to shame. Not only is it more cost-efficient, it is tastier and healthier too. Make low-sodium versions or salt-free versions delicately seasoned with your blend of seasonings such as poultry seasoning, garlic, onions, or even add chopped up vegetables to the broth and strain before canning it to add a healthy and tasty twist.

Canned chicken, once drained of the broth, makes an easy addition to salads, soups, one-dish meals, and meals heated up in less than 30 minutes. Leave the aforementioned vegetables in with the chicken or can them separately. Either way, all you need to do is add the two jars, chicken or broth, to a saucepan and some noodles for a nearly instant chicken noodle soup.

Don't Overlook Fish When Canning

If you live in an area where fresh fish is in season, such as salmon in coastal areas or pike around the great lakes, don't overlook homemade canning as a method of reserving the bounty.

Store-bought canned fish can have additives such as excess salt, or a funny fish taste if the fish was off-season or previously frozen when canned. Following your favorite plain canned poultry recipe, go ahead and can the season's catch. The best part is, it's one of the foods that doesn't need to be precooked, just add it to the boiled jars and pressure can it.

When homemade canning, do not overlook the possibilities of canning your own meat, poultry, or fish and preserving the seasonal bounty or fresh game. Canned meats are quick and easy meals and unlike freezing the meat, it won't get freezer burn. Canned beef, chicken, and even some fish can be made into salads, for sandwiches, potato toppers, or side dishes and are great additions to freshly boiled noodles for delicious and quick soups.


Homemade Canning - Eat Healthier And Save Money Canning Your Own Meals

Home canning is recognized as the best way of having a healthier and less priced meal. You can preserve and enjoy the vegetables and fruits grown at your own gardens throughout the year. If you adopt the right preserving methods, you can be assured that your fruits and vegetables have the same amount of nutrients as a fresh vegetable and fruit has. In fact in some cases it can be even better than the fresh or packed ones.
If you select a fruit from your garden and can it within first 24 hours then it will have a higher nutrition value than the one you get from the market. This is because most of the fruits and vegetables reach their customers several days after the harvesting. Canning food done with the right recipes is the safest way of preserving the foods. Canned fruits have equal level of Vitamins A and C compared with their fresh and frozen counterparts.
An organic or non-adulterated food is the best that everyone enjoys. Soups especially during winters are liked by all. Home canning soup is a good way for saving your money and it also saves time. Pressure canners are the best for shelving the canned soups. Also soups should be clear and any additions like thickeners, oils, noodles should not be added to it. The process of canning the soups will help you preserve your own crop along with getting the best nutritional value anytime of the year.
Tomatoes are another very popular food item and also very useful throughout the year. You can use the preserved tomato sauces when preparing meals like pastas and pizzas which is liked by kids especially. Tomato can be easily grown at your backyard garden and the excess can be canned and kept for adding taste and flavor to most of the foods. You have a choice of preserving the whole tomato or can puree it and store. Canning tomato sauce can be done by hot water bath canner method or pressure method. Home canned tomatoes are always preferred because the grocery tomato sauces are high in salt and additives, which should not be eaten if you have any health problems.
Even canned beans are a good option and can be easily added to any fresh soups, salads and many other dishes. Beans are very good for health and have a lot of valuable vitamins and minerals, which is essential for our body to function properly. All the beans like black beans, pinto beans, green been, and garbanzo beans can be canned in a very easy manner at home. Always pick crisp and mature beans for preservation.
Homemade canning saves you a lot of money when compared with the grocery market rates. Look for the in-season vegetables and cheap jars and cans. Found to be very economical and healthier than other ways, home canning is the best way to preserve foods.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Video 3 Home Canning Tomatoes; Tomato Sauce & Salsa

Canning, a "Family" Tradition


What's a busy mom to do? As the master of all multi-taskers, moms are always looking for ways to stay healthy and to create lasting memories for their families. One of the best ways to accomplish both of these goals is to preserve your own food at home.
Preserving foods is both easy and rewarding. When you're just beginning, try gathering a few supplies each year. Start by purchasing a pressure cooker for canning, a basic canning kit, and the Blue Ball Canning Book, which includes directions for every step of the home canning process. The beauty with canning is everything you buy lasts a lifetime, except for the lids and food, of course. The canning kit includes a jar lifter, a lid organizer and a few other gems to make home preservation easier and more organized. In your second season, expand your supplies to include a food dehydrator, canning recipe books, and even more gadgets to preserve the bounties of the garden. In an extremely short time, you will have gathered all you need to build a lifetime of adventure and memories for you and your family.
For myself, I remember working alongside my family every year. Now, as a mother of five, I have made sure to pass the tradition of home canning onto my own children. Every year, we gather to work together, and to laugh together. As the jars fill up and are processed, I know I've provided quality bonding opportunities and fresh, wholesome food without preservatives. I also take a little time each year to appreciate my own mom and the love and care she provided for me.
Visit: http://www.yourcanningsupplies.com\ for all your canning supplies.

Homemade Canning - Know What Foods You're Preserving - Because Knowing Is Half The Battle!


Food preservation is an art that allows you to store food without any loss to its quality, edibility and nutritional value. There are a number of food preservation methods, which prevent the growth of any bacteria, yeasts or fungi on the foods. Other than maintaining nutritional value, food preservation keeps the texture and flavor of the item being preserved intact. In history there have been some old methods of food preservation, which drastically altered the character of items being preserved. Common ways for preserving food at home are dehydrating, canning, freezing and pickling.

Home canning is a way of preserving food in an easy and cheap way. With prices of canned food increasing, many people are considering canning food at home. By following a home canning recipe you can enjoy so many things from canned apple butter to zucchini. There are different home canning methods that you can adopt like pressure, water bath and open kettle methods. Without having to invest on any expensive equipment, you can easily do the canning at home. There are many home canning cookbooks as well to help you prepare a mouth-watering dish that everybody in the family is going to enjoy.

Preserve vegetables that you can get either from your garden or market at a normal price. This will allow you to use the preserved food items even when they are not available at their standard price or are very expensive fresh produce. By home canning you can cut down on cost and be sure off that you are serving your family a healthy meal. The local farming market near you will offer you lot of option in terms of locally grown organic food. All the seasonal grown food items are generally cheaper compared to the off-season prices. There are some sites which tell you what fruits and vegetables are in the season and available at lower rates in your area. Buying from the local farmer's markets you will also be supporting the local vendors at the farmers markets and local economy of your area.

Local foods in season are the best to use for home canning. By buying local food in-season, you can stay away from any shipped processed food items that come from thousands of miles away. Eating fresh, non-processed fruits and vegetables is a step towards healthy eating.

Home canning is the best way to preserve your garden gains. If you have your own garden or buy seasonal products in bulk, you can make the harvest lasts for months by learning the easy ways and recipes for homemade canning In today's world with so much of food adulteration, it becomes necessary that we stay away from any such food items to stay healthy.