CANNING SUPPLIES

Still searching although I have come up with 2 suppliers, one in the UK and the other abroad. Knutsford Wares have a variety of Leifheit jars that resemble Killner Jars and are compatible with the Ball products offered in the USA. I have managed to put a water canner together using a very large stock pot and a round rack from the microwave to put the jars on. This should allow me to can apples, nectarines and peaches, plums, tomatoes and chutney, jams etc. What I cannot do are green beans who require a pressure canner. These are not available over here although I have now researched that Lehmans provide a good selection and ship internationally. I have made the decision that this year will be water canning and when the budget stretches I will get a pressure canner. There are things that I will not be canning such as tomatoe sauce, based on the fact that the jar costs the equivalent of 20 tins of chopped tomatoes, I will however be making tomatoe chutney which is delicious with cheese, bread and cold meats. All this equipment needs an initial monetary investment and it can only be done in stages. Why would I want to can, I have explored that in earlier posts, I remember rows and rows of fruit and vegetable jars in some of the country homes I stayed at as a child and it really sounds simple to turn the produce from the garden into jars and jars of goodies that will last us through the winter and remind us of the summer days.

I spent some time today clearing the larder shelves to create exactly that, a working food storage area instead of just being a dumping ground for everything that cannot be placed anywhere else such as swimming trunks, flip flops, sleeping bags and a variety of rucksacks. There is a lot of space there now which will hopefully show rows of produce soon.