Since we don't have a range this year nor a real kitchen at the moment (while we live in the garage) I wasn't sure if I would get any canning done this year. I haven't done as much as normal but I am kind of excited about what we have gotten done. Also I have learned that I kind of like canning over a campfire. I would still love to have a kitchen sink to work with as I process my foods but I don't mind the canning over a campfire - it works pretty good.
This year we have been able to can 2 loads of tomatoes, 2 of salsa, 2 of applesauce and 1 of mince. Not a ton- but something for our cupboards and I am pretty happy. The tomatoes were all thanks to my parents and most of the apples were thanks to being able to pick at a friend's.
We have been doing all our waterbath canning on the campfire but this week my parents brought over a cute little old woodstove to cook on outside (since I like cooking outside and my parents thought that it would be nicer to have something higher up, that didn't make all of my pans black and didn't get smoke in my eyes so badly) and it was wonderful for cooking up my applesauce. When I had cooked the applesauce on the campfire before I had gotten it to hot and scorched a batch. The stove doesn't get as hot so it worked perfectly.
On these chilly days (guess how many layers I have on in the picture above) it is pretty nice to work around a fire or a woodstove. We are thankful for all the woodscraps from the house to burn and all the wood from clearing earlier this year. We are just wishing we could manage to have a woodstove here inside but have decided it might not be worth all the work and expense since we will hopefully be in our house soon.
Have you ever done any canning outside?
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We've canned outside, but used our big stock pocket over a turkey fryer burner. I think we've only ever used that thing as a fryer once - maybe twice. But we've used it dozens of times as a canner. The only drawback it has is we have to set the timer to every 10 min or so because it has an auto-shutoff switch. It's so nice to be able to keep the heat and humidity outdoors during the summer instead of dragging it inside!
(stock pot ... not pocket :)
That sounds like a good option for canning. Fun to hear that you also do your canning outside.
Hi Abbi, I LOVE that stove!!! Very handy :) I do our canning in our sun room on a small butane camp burner stove. I love it since it keeps the house cool in the summer but it would make me nervous to can outside in the cold weather. Have you had any jars crack on you when you take them out of the hot water bath? I would love to hear any tips on the subject...
Thank you also for sharing your wonderful posts on the Art of Home-Making Mondays!
I love that you are making due with what you have. And what a fun little stove. Thanks so much for sharing at Simple Lives Thursday; hope to see you again this week!
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