Candid canning

This past weekend I embarked on my first ever tomato sauce and pickling adventure. Saturday morning I picked up 20 lbs. of tomatoes from Black River at the Farmers' Market downtown, and 8 lbs of pickling cucumbers from Gilberts' Farm. I decided to start with the pickles first, because they were considerably easier, and I was expecting my copy of the final Harry Potter to arrive any minute. If it came down to canning or Quidditch - well, you can tell by the fact that I just used Quidditch in a sentence to figure out that the pickles had no chance. As luck had it, Harry didn't arrive until 5:00 PM, so I managed to get 8 pints done: 4 dill chips, 3 dill spears and one spicy experimental jar for Sal.

I started the tomato sauce on Sunday after finishing Deathly Hallows at 11:30 am. I could only fit about 17 lbs. of the tomatoes into my stockpot, but I went with it. The simmering tomatoes made the kitchen smelled heavenly - a far cry better than the vinegar infused steam bath of pickling the day before.

When all was said and done, I ended up with only 4 pints of Basil Garlic Tomato Sauce. Hmmm. I didn't expect to get a ton of sauce from 17 lbs of tomatoes, but I was a little disappointed with the outcome. Considering the cost of the tomatoes (actually a tremendous bargain at $1.50/lb) and the jars, each of my pints are a $7.00 investment. I can't think of a better alternative though, unless I come across someone who produces and sells their own sauce around here for less. We're already planning our garden expansion for next year to make room for additional tomatoes, so hopefully that cost will be cut down in the future. Plus, I have to consider the fact that we're currently spending about twice the amount that we'll (hopefully) have to spend in the winter due to all the prep work we're doing. So all of our expenses really are an investment-we'll just see how it pays off.