I was recently out at Greensgrow, an urban farm in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood and got a chance to take a peek at their canning cabinet. They have just about everything a home canner could want (and at competitive prices, too).

Greensgrow
2501 E. Cumberland Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125

If you have a local shop or market with a good selection of preserving tools and equipment, take a picture and send it over along with the store’s information and I’ll feature it here!

Related Posts:

• Canning 101: The Tools of the Trade
• Canning Equipment Basics
• Juice Jar Sources

I had every intention of putting up an Urban Preserving post tonight about small batch apricot jam. But instead, I’ve spent the evening working myself into a frothy panic over the cookbook revisions I must turn in tomorrow by 3 pm. Who knew I could get myself so worked up over different styles of fruit measurement?

So I’ve decided to give myself a pass tonight, skip the recipe and move straight on to the giveaway that was going to go at the end of that post. The apricot jam will hold for a day (or two). I know you guys understand.

The nice folks at Ball have given me one of these nifty Home Canning Discovery Kits to give away to a lucky Food in Jars reader. These are great for beginning canners, as well as those of you who are fans of smaller batches. That green plastic basket can stand in for canning racks and large pots and will work in any pot that will hold it (and provide a bit of boiling room up at the top).

Here’s the “fine print”:

1. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post and tell me what you’ve canned most recently. If you have a blog and wrote about that particular canning endeavor, feel free to leave the link.
2. Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Thursday, July 21.
3. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only (apologies to my more far-flung readers).
4. One entry per person, please.

Disclosure: Ball (aka Jarden Home Brands) has provided the canning kit for this giveaway. While they didn’t send me a canning kit (the pictures above were from a giveaway I ran last year in which I bought the kit myself), they did send me some of their new canning tools for review (that post will be up when I can wrap my brain around it). Though I didn’t actually express any opinions in this post, had I done so, they would have all been mine and would be totally uninfluenced by the box of goodies. You get the picture.

Related Posts:

• Fresh Girl’s Guide Giveaway Winner
• Giveaway: The Fresh Girl’s Guide to Easy Canning and Preserving
• Cuppow Winner

Most of the time, I make jam on my turquoise, 45 year old, electric stove. I’ve also made jam on a camp stove, on an induction burner, on an plain gas stove and even on a high-powered commercial gas range. And now, I’ve even made jam in a bread machine.

Several months ago, I spotted this post on the King Arthur Flour blog, in which they make a batch of strawberry jam in a Zojirushi bread machine. Being that I’m fascinated by all things having to do with jam making (don’t tell me you didn’t notice), I determined that this was something I wanted to try. In the interest of science, of course.

I got in touch with the folks at Zojirushi and they very nicely agreed to give me a review unit so that I could see how this whole bread machine jam thing worked. It arrived on my birthday (which was more than a month ago now) and I spent at least a week circling it warily, uncertain whether I wanted to trust my fruit to an automated machine that wouldn’t let me control the heat source.

Finally I unswaddled it from boxes and styrofoam, mashed up two cups of strawberries and got to work. The instructions that come with the Zojirushi say to combine 2 cups of crushed berries, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. For the first round, I followed the instructions exactly and cooked the jam without any additional pectin.

Fruit, sugar and lemon juice go into the pan. Then you close the lid and set it to the jam setting (don’t be fooled by the 3:45 time in the picture above, I took that before I set it run the jam cycle. It only takes 1:20 to make jam in the Zojirushi). When the cooking time is up, the machine issues a couple of friendly beeps so that you can rush over and check on your jam (that is, if you weren’t hovering very nearby, occasionally lifting the lid a little to peek at the progress).

So here’s the good news. This machine, which was designed to bake bread, makes perfectly adequate jam. It gets quite hot, the paddles keep the jam moving to prevent any scorching and it’s dead easy to use. If you’re the type who likes to freeze fruit and make small batches of jam throughout the year, making your jam in a Zojirushi is a really good option. However, it has a major flaw as a jam maker and that is that with the lid closed, you’re just never going to get the necessary amount of evaporation to get a really thick jammy jam.

I did one batch without pectin (sorry, no pictures of the jam with pectin, I knocked it over just after pouring it into the jar and splattered my kitchen entirely in sticky fruit spray) and one with and both remained stubbornly runny and without the body that a good jam should have (though the batch with 2 teaspoons of powdered pectin did firm up more than the batch without).

The picture below pairs a stove cooked jam (on the left) with the jam cooked in this bread machine. You can see the difference in the body of the jam. The stove top jam reduced by more than 1/3 during cooking, resulting in a thick-set, glossy jam. The bread machine jam on the right is juicier and has saturated the bread with its syrup. Not a bad thing, but an imperfect thing to use on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It would be perfect stirred into yogurt or drizzled on ice cream though.

I will say that I’ve been absolutely blown away by the quality of the bread that the Zojirushi makes. Of course I couldn’t resist using it to bake up a few loaves while it was hanging out in my kitchen and wow. We haven’t bought bread in weeks thanks to this machine.

Now comes the fun part. Zojirushi has given me one bread/jam machine to giveaway to one of my readers, so that you can experience with making your fruit preserves on your counter top. To enter, leave a comment and share a story of jam making (when I taught canning classes at Terrain at Styer’s last summer, I made jam in a barn. That’s where we used camp stoves. It was really, really hot). One entry per person. United States residents only. Winner will be selected at random. Comments will close on Friday, June 24 at 11:59 p.m. and the winner will be posted the next day. Good luck!

Disclosure: Zojirushi gave me a bread machine in which to make jam as well as the one I’m giving away (all of this at no cost). However, my opinions are all my own.

Related Posts:

• Fresh Girl’s Guide Giveaway Winner
• Giveaway: The Fresh Girl’s Guide to Easy Canning and Preserving
• Cuppow Winner

Canning jars, at least as we know them now, have been around since 1868. John L. Mason developed the system of a threaded jar with a lid designed for sealing (he used lead lids with a rubber seal, not exactly the two-piece lid we know now, but very close). The technology hasn’t change much since then.

It used to be that there were a number of canning jar manufacturers. Ball. Kerr. Atlas. Drey. Mason. Globe. Mom’s. Knox. Golden Harvest. However, as so often happens, through a process of competition and consolidation, the number of jar producers grew fewer over the years.

In 1993, the Ball Corporation (which by that time was the only domestic canning jar manufacturer) spun off their canning jar sector into the company that is now known at Jarden Home Brands. They make all the Ball, Kerr and Golden Harvest jars currently available in stores. One of the reasons that canning jars can be so pricey is that there’s been no competition in this sector of the market.*

However, thanks to the growing popularity of canning in recent years, we’re finally going to start seeing some new canning jars hit the market this season. Walmart has a line of mason jars called Mainstays, as well as a fancier variety branded with the Better Homes and Garden name. And soon, a variety of stores will be carrying Penley Mason jars (these are not the jars that Walmart is carrying). Those Penley jars are the ones I want to talk about today.

I recently had an opportunity to preview the line of jars made by the Penley Corporation. Up until now, they’ve been in the business of making and distributing clothespins, matches, toothpicks, plastic cutlery and drinking straws. Canning jars are a departure for them, but from the examples I’ve seen, they are doing an amazingly good job with their new product.

In most respects, they are physically nearly identical to the jars most of us currently use. They make pints and quarts in both regular and wide mouth and an embossed half pint in a regular mouth. Lids and rings are interchangeable between Ball, Kerr and Penley, which is fabulous for those of us who already have a stash of lids or who are planning on using Tattler lids this season.

When I met with the Penley rep, he pointed out the fact that they intentionally left the back of their pints and quarts smooth to better accommodate the labels that so many canners apply to their jars. I was happy to see that particularly since I’ve always hated the round of wheat and fruit on the back of the Ball jars (in researching this post, I learned that it’s been there since 1970).

As far as performance goes, I’ve canned in these jars several times now and they’ve been perfect, not a failed seal among them. What’s more, they just feel good in the hand. They are sturdy and solid, just the way I expect a good canning jar to be. As you can see from the picture above, there’s a water spot left on that jar from a run through the dishwasher, there because I’ve used this jar for leftover storage and the transportation of iced coffee to work. They’ve seamlessly become part of my collection of working jars.

Finally (and best of all), they are going to be less expensive than Ball or Kerr jars. While it will only be a dollar or two difference, if you do a lot of canning, that can add up quickly.

As far as I can see, there are only two drawbacks to these jars. The first is that they’ve left no space on the lid for writing. As someone who always writes on the lids of my preserves with a Sharpie, this is a minor annoyance. Second is that the jars are made in China. I pass no judgment on Penley for making this choice as in today’s market it is really the only way to make a lower cost product. If you are someone who avoids things made outside of the U.S. I wanted to make sure you were aware (and as you can see, they’ve clearly printed the origin on the bottom of all the Penley jars).

Penley jars will be available at limited locations around the country this season and more widely available next year. Keep your eyes peeled for them in your local grocery store. Additionally, thanks to Penley, I have one case (12 jars) of these jars to give away to a Food in Jars reader (the winner gets to choose the size they’d like).

To enter, leave a comment and share your favorite unconventional canning jar use. The contest runs through Monday, May 9 at 11:59 p.m. One comment per person, please.

Disclosure: The Penley Corp. gave me an assortment of jars and lids to try. However, all thoughts and opinions expresses herein are my own and untainted by the free loot.

*There are the Leifheit jars, but they are so much more expensive (around $20 for six jars) than Ball and Kerr jars, that I don’t see them as a viable alternative for people who do more than the most basic recreational canning.

Related Posts:

• Guest Post: Joel McCharles from Well Preserved Makes a Case for Ratios
• Where to Buy Jars for Canning
• Vintage Canning Jar Art

I have been a bulk section shopper for most of my life. Growing up, my family was devoted to the bulk bins and it was always a great thrill when my mom would let me fill up the bags with rice or granola or grains. As I got older, it felt natural to keep buying oatmeal, dried fruit and beans that way. Of course, the bulk section has its inconveniences too. At Whole Foods, it’s far to easy to rip the plastic bags on the conveyor belt at check-out, leaving a trail of flour, sugar or quinoa all over the check stand. And, being that I’m not the most spatially minded person, I’ve never been good at determining exactly much product is going to fit in the assigned jar at home.

Lately, I’ve been taking clean, empty jars with me to Whole Foods for my bulk section purchases. This solves both issues of ripping bags and overestimating jar volume. It does require a bit more advanced planning than a spur-of-the-moment dash into the grocery store, but saves on plastic and frees me from some of those bulk section frustrations. I just pack up the jars and make a quick stop at customer service so they can weight the jars and make note of their tare prior to being filled, so that I’m not paying for the weight of the jars. Oh, and if I can just add a tip here, I recommend bringing a wide mouth funnel with you to the store. It will make your jar-filling life so much easier.

In addition to my jars, I have a few of these very lightweight, reusable bulk bags that I try to bring with me each time I go to a store with a bulk section. They’re designed to hold bulk section food and be light enough so that they don’t need to have their weight subtracted from that of your food. They’re also washable, so I just toss them in the laundry after each use, to ensure I don’t mix nutritional yeast with my whole wheat pastry flour. These bags allow me to make a few bulk section impulse buys without reaching for a plastic bag, which I like.

I’m certain that there are some of you out there who have been shopping like this for years. However, it’s a very rare day that I see anyone else at my urban Philadelphia Whole Foods store with their own containers. Thing is, I think this is the direction more of us should be headed. It prevents waste by keeping plastic bags out of the system and means that you’re not buying more food that you can use (I confess that there were times in the very distant past when I would just trash the few spoonfuls of grain or fruit that made the storage jar overflow instead of bundling it up and saving it to use up). And it’s just one more chance to show off all those gorgeous jars I know so many of you have!

Let’s hear from you guys. Do you take reusable containers to the grocery store with you?

Related Posts:

• Nothing to see here.

Back when I first started canning, I didn’t know that you were supposed to remove the rings from your jars once they were cool. This led to some very frustrating moments in which I went to open jars and found them stuck fast. An irritating situation, indeed.

Now that I remove the rings for storage, as well as to check the seals and rinse the jars (if there was any pesky siphoning during processing), I don’t face that sticky issue. However, while I was working my way through those older jars, I discovered an easy trick to get those stuck-on rings. It involves a bowl, filled a third of the way up with warm water.

You simply invert the jar in the bowl and let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes. Check the ring every so often, eventually it will turn easily.

Now, before you ask, here are the reasons you store the jars without rings.

1. To fully check your seals after processing.
2. Without a ring in place, you will know if something inside your jars has gone off. When bacteria grows it produces gas. Those gases will eventually loosen your lid and will make it easy for you to know that that is a jar that should be discarded.
3. Keeping rings on the jars can actually damage the quality of your seal, as it applies unnecessary pressure to the lid.

Related Posts:

• Canning 101: A Field Guide to Jars
• Canning 101: Is It Safe to Can Products That Contain Some Oil?
• Canning 101: How To Get Rid of Canned Goods Gone Bad

I’m veering a bit off the beaten canning path today. I find myself in need of small kitchen appliance advice and I know of no better place to turn than you lovely, well-informed people.

So. Here we have my kitchen. It’s not a large space (it has a footprint of 80 square feet), but as you can see, I manage to squeeze a lot in there. This is where nearly every cooking project you’ve seen featured on this site was created. Never let it be said that you need a giant, gourmet kitchen to make good stuff.

Here’s my primary small appliance area. Microwave (that curvy, space-age looking device), toaster oven, Vita Mix (best blender in the whole, wide world) and beloved Soda Stream.

And now to the toaster oven, the focus of our little tour here. I am a devoted user of toaster ovens. Yes, they’re good for morning toast (that then gets slathered in homemade jam). However, they’re also great for roasting sweet potatoes, reconstituting leftover pizza and baking up a few frozen cookies when a late-evening dessert craving strikes.

Up until last summer, I had an ancient Black & Decker that was paneled in fake wood grain (much like my cabinets) that I bought at a thrift store in the first weeks I moved to Philadelphia in 2002. It was ancient but highly functional. However, after eight years of heavy use (and who knows how many before it came to me), it slowly stopped working effectively. It started taking three full toasting cycles to get a nice brown on a slice of bread and so Scott and I decided to replace it.

Because that original model had been so good to us, we bought what we thought was the newer model of the same toaster oven. Sadly, it has not proven to be as wonderful as my thrift store oven. Ten months in, the spring on the door has already broken. The rack is really hard to scoot in and out. And it heats really unevenly. All in all, it’s been a stinker of a toaster oven. I use it at least once a day and so the decision has been made that as soon as we get through tax season, we’re buying a new toaster oven.

This is where you guys come in. I’m looking for a reliable, unfancy toaster oven that can fit in the space over my microwave. If you have a toaster oven you love, please let me know. Alternately, if you know a particular model to be poorly built and frustrating to use, please tell me that too. Thank you all!

Related Posts:

• Nothing to see here.

Recently, after panting after them for years, I finally broke down and ordered a dozen Weck jars*. For those of you not in the know, they are a brand of canning jar that is produced in Germany and is quite popular across Europe. Instead of using a disposable lid with the sealing compound embedded in it (like our familiar Ball and Kerr jars), these jars depend on a rubber ring for their sealing power.

They are much like the bailing wire canning jars that were once quite popular across this country (I wrote about canning in those jars here, if you care to give a gander). One of their primary benefits is the fact that because the lid is made from glass, the only thing that’s in contact with your food is glass (just like the Tattler reusable lids, there’s no BPA-imbued surface to worry about when you use these suckers). They also feel a bit less wasteful than the Ball/Kerr jars, because the only piece you end up throwing away is the rubber ring, not an entire lid. The primary downside of Weck jars is that they are expensive. I have hopes that if enough people start buying them, they’ll become more accessible and affordable here.

The Weck jars are made up of four components. The first is the rubber ring, which is the analog to the sealing compound in American lids. And just like our lids, these rings need to be submerged in boiling water for a few minutes before use in order to soften up. Keep them in the hot water until the moment you’re ready to use them to maximize their sealing abilities. These rings should also be given a once over before use, to ensure that they don’t have any cracks or tears. Another way these rings are like conventional lids is that they can only be used once.

Next comes the flat, glass lid. Prior to use, make sure to give them a careful inspection, to ensure that the lid is free from chips, particularly on the edge that comes in contact with the rubber ring. Even the smallest chip can prevent a quality seal. Keep in mind that if you’re planning on processing something in these jars that will be in the boiling water bath canner for less than ten minutes, these lids need to be sterilized along with your jars.

I have found that the best way to assemble these jars is to caress the rubber ring onto the lid and then place the lid on the jar. Before you settle it into place, make sure to wipe those rims. It’s just good canning practice.

Now come the clips. All Weck jars come with two stainless steel clips. They do the work that our screw-on bands typically perform, holding the lid in place so that air can escape during processing and cooling, but no air or liquid can get in. I believe the best way to attach a clip is to hook it over the lid and then firmly (but carefully) push down. There should be a satisfying click when the clip is in place and there should be no wiggle or movement. I have found that it often requires just a hair more pressure than feels appropriate. Take it slowly and make sure to hold onto the jar (wrap a towel or pot holder around it so you don’t burn yourself) so that you don’t slosh the product on to your counter.

Once you have the clips in place, quickly check the status of the ring. It should still be flat and even between the top of the jar and the bottom of the lid. On one occasion, I have had the ring wrinkle up while I was finessing the clips onto the jars. Had I not caught it before the jar went into the canner, I could have compromised my potential seal.

Now that your jars are filled and the rubber rings, lids and clips are in place, it’s time to process. This step is just like all other boiling water bath canning. The only caution I have to offer here is to take care with your jar lifter placement when working with Weck jars. I once nearly tipping several jars over while maneuvering in and out of the pot because my lifter caught on the clips. They hold tightly enough that you shouldn’t be able to dislodge one with the lifter, but it is something to be aware of.

Once the jars are finished processing, let them cool fully. Once they are totally cool to the touch, you can remove the clips and check your seals. There are two easy ways to ensure you’ve got a good seal. The first is to grab onto the jar holding onto just the lid and lift the jar just a bit (I will never be a hand model). If it holds, it’s good.

The other way to check the seals is to take a look at the tab. It should be pointing down, like it’s sticking its tongue out at you. Also note that Weck jars should be stored with the clips off when it’s on your pantry shelf. This is for the same reason that we store Ball and Kerr jars without their rings. If something happens to grow inside the jar, the off-gassing will break the seal and you’ll know right away that the product is compromised.

When it comes time to open a Weck jar, it’s incredibly easy. Just grab hold of the tab and gently pull it, until you hear air rushing in and the seal breaks. Do this slowly, so that you don’t run the risk of popping the lid off the jar with too much vigor. While the jar lives in the fridge, you can use the clips to hold the lid in place, or you can invest in some of the snap-on plastic lids that Weck makes as well.

I  made my recent purchase of Weck jars through a really lovely online store called Kaufmann Mercantile. They offer a full array of Weck jars and shipping is free if your order is over $25. Because they’re awesome, they’ll also be giving away a six-pack of Weck’s 1/5L tall mold jar. It’s the same jar that’s been pictured throughout this post (it holds a bit less than a half pint). What’s more, if you sign up for their newsletter, they’ll give you a $7 gift card code that you can apply to the cost of your first order.

You can also order Weck jars directly from the U.S. distributor (they finally have launched an online ordering capability), but the shipping charges vary widely and can get really expensive. Updated: An eagle-eyed canner just did the math and discovered that buying Weck jars through the U.S. distributor has gotten much more affordable than it was when last I checked. Please make sure to compare pricing before placing your order, to ensure that you get the best deal possible.

To sign up for this Kaufmann Mercantile giveaway, leave a comment on this post and tell me what the first thing you’d like to can in Weck would be. One comment per person, please. The comments will close and the giveaway will end on Friday, March 11th at 11:59 p.m.

*Though this is the first time I’ve owned my own Weck jars, I have used them many times before and have even taught classes with them. Rest assured, I know what I’m talking about.

**There was no pay to play in the making of this post. I bought my jars from Kaufmann Mercantile with my hard earned money. They just happen to be awesome folks who want to make the day of one Food in Jars reader a little bit brighter.

Related Posts:

• Weck Jar Giveaway
• Canning Jar Safety
• Canning in Vintage Jars

One of the things I love about cooking is that despite all the modern advances available to us in the kitchen, so much of it is essentially timeless. Take for example how often you reach for something made of wood in the process of making a meal. I pull out my favorite wooden cutting board at least three times a day and reach for a wooden spoon or spatula all the time.

The only issue with wooden tools is that on occasion, they need a bit of care, particularly in my dry, 20th floor apartment. I used to simply give my wooden utensils and cutting boards a quick wipe with straight mineral oil. About a year ago, I learned a better way from Stephanie at 3191 Miles Apart. Spoon butter (or spoon oil, as she calls it. However, it looks and feels more like butter to me, so that’s what I call it).

It just takes two ingredients to make spoon (or board) butter – mineral oil and natural beeswax*. Put a quart-sized jar in a small saucepan and fill it about a third of the way up with water. Put a quarter pound hunk of beeswax (it smells so lovely) in the jar and gently bring it to a simmer. As it melts, slowly drizzle in the contents of a 16 ounce bottle of mineral oil, until they’ve totally come together. Use a wooden implement to stir it together if it needs a bit of help.

Once the butter is cool to the touch, start smoothing it into your spoons, spatulas, boards and bowls. Let them sit for a couple of hours (or more – sometimes I leave them overnight). When most the butter is absorbed, rub everything down with a clean cloth and return them to normal use.

One of the happy side effects of lubing all your wooden tools with spoon butter is that your hands will feel incredibly soft and well-tended (I think that’s why I like to butter my spoons this time of year, my hands are dry and cracked December through March). I also love how appealingly luminous all the wood looks after it’s been treated.

The spoon butter will keep in a closed jar under the sink or in the pantry for quite some time. It would also make a very nice thing to share. I’ve been imagining a wedding shower gift of a couple sturdy-yet-graceful spoons paired with a small jar of spoon butter and a charming note card with instructions on how to use it. Thoughtful and useful, don’t you think?

*I get my beeswax from Bee Natural in Reading Terminal Market. I don’t remember exactly how much it cost last time I bought it, but I don’t remember it being particularly outrageous.

Related Posts:

• Nothing to see here.

Earlier this week, I got walloped by one of those 36 hour stomach bugs. I spent a day bundling to ward off feverish chills and nursing a very tender belly. I couldn’t handle anything more than a few Saltines and a sip or two of liquid every hour.

During my childhood, ginger ale was my mother’s prescription for any stomach trouble. We weren’t allowed to have it until the worst of the troubles were over (there’s no point in putting something in if you’re not yet capable of holding on to it) but goodness, was that first sip of sweet, bubbly soda divine.

Not wanting to head out into foul weather (and yikes, has our weather been terrible lately. Earlier tonight, we had a crazy confluence of snow and thunder) but needing a dose of that familiar remedy, I simply used what I had. I combined 1 cup of cane sugar, 1 cup of filtered water, 1 cup of chopped ginger and 2 teaspoons of powdered ginger to create a super concentrated ginger syrup.

After half an hour of gentle simmering and an hour of unheated steeping, I ran the syrup through a fine mesh sieve into a pint jar. Then it was just a manner of spooning a small amount into a glass and topping it off with a pour of sparkling water (I adore my Sodastream for just this sort of thing). After a day of slowly sipping this homemade gingery ale, I felt much better. By the end of yesterday, I was even able to graduate from crackers to poached eggs over brown rice.

If you decide to make your own ginger syrup, don’t feel like you have to replicate my proportions. As you can see, my approach was just to combine equal parts fresh ginger, sugar and water. I added the powdered ginger mostly because I wanted to ensure a super gingery kick, however it’s entirely optional.

I still have half a jar of this gingery balm tucked into the fridge, and I’m continue to combine it with fizzy water or drizzle it into hot tea. There’s just nothing like ginger this time of year.

Related Posts:

• Nothing to see here.