While I was toiling away at work, today, Victor was at home making a big batch of sauce. We haven’t had any sauce downstairs for weeks – and I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed it. I really get the concept and convenience of jarred pasta sauce – I’ve just never found one I liked well enough to actually buy. And the sauce Victor makes is just perfection. It can be used as-is or played with for any number of different dishes.
Contrary to popular belief, canning really is easy. It takes about an hour to can 7 quarts of sauce – the maximum amount of quart jars that fit in my pressure canner – and most of it is unattended. During the 15 minute actual pressure-cooking time, the most important thing is merely making sure the pressure stays at 11 pounds – and all that takes is adjusting the flame under the pot.
Not difficult – and the payoff is spectacular.
There are scores of websites out there with great information, starting with The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia. It has the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2015 revision. I don’t know if there is a more recent version, but considering the state of our government, right now, I’m mildly surprised there’s still a 2015 version online. Lots of good information.
Victor made 11 quarts of sauce, but since the canner only holds seven, I set three aside to freeze and we had one for dinner, tonight.
Victor puts pork or sausage in his sauce and this time around, he used some pork chops. I shredded one of them up to add to our dinner, tonight, and the other three will go with the three quarts in the freezer.
Total instant dinner.
I can’t wait for the garden to start producing. I see a lot of canning happening this summer.