The Right Tools!

  When you have a bushel of green beans on the kitchen table just waiting to be snapped and canned, you sure need the right tools for the job.  Canning green beans is not as simple as making jelly or pickles or even ketchup.   Since the beans are low-acidic, you need a pressure canner to get the job done correctly.  I have three.  Yep, I have three pressure canners and do not plan on parting with a one of them any time soon.  Eventually, one will probably go to each of my kids since they have all learned to do home-canning.  Once the kids are ready for a canner, each can pick a favorite but, for the time being, the pressure canners can stay where they are.  They are being used quite often. This week alone, over two hundred jars of goodies have been canned and are lining the shelves nicely.  Of course, a good many filled jars will find their way to my daughter's house.  She is in the healthcare profession and, right now, has no time to even think of doing domestic things.  I shall do them for her.  Canning for two households is not a big deal especially with Son's help!  He can do this with the best of them!  Those green beans are in the jars and ready to eat whenever needed.  

  The pressure canner that I used was given to me by my cousin.  When my aunt passed away, Michelle had no use for the thing but knew that I did.  She generously offered the equipment to me and I readily accepted.  I was excited about this particular canner simply because it is a lot larger than my others.  Both of the other canners are from the 1940s making it hard to find replacement parts.  I had just found a place to order new gaskets and pressure valves when my cousin made me the gift of the gold canner.  My new "pride and joy" is a "newer" model being made in the 1970s!  (See, I am not so far behind the times as folks think!  Well, yeah, I am but as long as the equipment works, it shall be used.)  

  With all the work happening in the kitchen, as of late, I have to make mention that it sure looks fine to have the pantry shelves filled.  The garden is producing crazily so the "happy canners" will be in use for a while yet this season.  (Note...even though the canner is the correct color, my kitchen is not pink as it appears in the photo.  I am not a "pink" person!)