I started out just planning to make dill pickles and salsa, to use the cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers I was growing, but I got bit by the canning bug and made quite a bit more than that:

13 pts. of Annie's Salsa
5 pts. of Dill Pickles
5 - 1/2 pts of Peach Amaretto Butter
5 - 1/2 pts of Spiced Peach Jam
6 - 1/2 pts of Candy Apple Jelly
5 pts. of Cinnamon Applesauce
6 - 1/2 pts of Carrot Cake In A Jar

I would have made more, but ran out of jars, and couldn't find any in the stores nearby.

The majority of what I made ended up being used as Christmas gifts, and the feedback I got from family and friends is helping me set my course for this year.

So hear is my report card:

Annie's Salsa - Everyone loved the flavor, but my brother and sister would like more heat. I had used sweet peppers in place of the jalapenos because my DH and younger children can't handle spicy foods. So this year, I will make two separate versions - mild and medium. I've purchased seed for some mild jalapenos - Senorita and Pizza.

Dill Pickles - Big hit with DH's boss and my oldest son, except I think the slices should have been a little thinner. I was afraid they wouldn't be crunchy enough, so I went a little thick.

Spiced Peach Jam - Awesome flavor, but didn't set completely. It wasn't as runny as a syrup, but not as thick as the other jams/jellies that I made. I didn't give any of these as gifts, because I was afraid people would think I didn't know what I was doing, LOL.

Peach Amaretto Butter - Not crazy about the flavor the Amaretto added to it. Would have been better without it.

Candy Apple Jelly - The kids loved it, and I wanted to make a second batch, but that was after I ran out of jars.

Cinnamon Applesauce - We used Honeycrisp apples and added just a handful of redhots and some cinnamon to it, and it was the perfect balance of tart and sweet. Will definitely make more than one batch this year.

Carrot Cake in a Jar - This was the sleeper hit! I had asked on this forum prior to making it if anyone had tried it, and no one that responded had tried it. Anyway, I gave all but one jar as gifts, and both my brother and one sister said it was their favorite thing that I sent! Not including the cookies and spiced nuts, of course. I was really surprised. I thought that maybe it was too sweet, but will make it again this year, since it went over so well.

I had fun decorating the jars, and sharing the harvest with friends and family. I just wish I had made more, so that there would have been enough to last us until next summer. Sadly, the salsa is all gone, and there are just a couple of jars of pickles, and peach jam and butter left.

Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone on this forum for their advice and encouragement. I'm sure I'll be back this summer with more ?'s.

Oh, and we just got a brand new dehydrator, and Excalibur 9 tray, that I can't wait to try out. Man that thing is HUGE! My DH likes to make jerky, and I use it for drying peppers and herbs. If anyone has tips or recipes for the dehydrator, I'd love to have them.

Appreciatively,
Bonnie

One thing I did read on here that was really helpful when drying tomatoes is to spray the trays with cooking spray first. It really helps with clean up.

Would you mind sharing your recipe for dill pickles? I really wanted to can some last year, but didn't have the cukes. I did do dilly beans and dilled green tomatoes and they are all gone already.

Thanks for posting the results of your work. It is really helpful reading.

My dills are made with gresh garlic slices, and fresh dill weed and dill seed heads when the seed heads are still swelled and green. I also like using part of a package of Mrs. Wages dill pickle mixes for these, as it seems to add more dill flavor without a ton of fresh dill being added. I also use the same dill mixes to make half sour dills that are simply salt and water for the brine. To get more long term crispness in vinegar based dills, adding a teaspoon of calcium chloride granules to each quart jar prior to filling them with brine, can keep the cukes crisper in the long term. The CC is found at Bulk Foods, but Ball used to also offer it up until last year.

Ksrogers, no this wasn't a real cake. This was also a recipe out of that same book. It was a jam that was made using crushed pineapple, diced pears, grated carrots, and some cinnamon. I did use the calcium chloride in my pickles, at your suggestion I believe, and they were nice and crisp. I just was nervous about it, so I erred on the thick side. Thanks for the suggestions on places to get jars, but I live in a small town, and there aren't many shopping options nearby. When Walmart puts theirs out this year, I will be sure to stock up. I doubt I'll get any of the jars back, since they were shipped out of state. That will just be part of the gift, I guess.

Bonnie

Keep in mind though that home dried food does not have an indefinite shelf life. I keep the whatever was dehydrated in the freezer until I'm ready to use it. I can keep dry apples, peaches, etc. on the shelf for several weeks without difficulty, but I try to use it up within 2-3 weeks.

We have been searching since last year for a dill pickle recipe that tastes like ones you get at the store. Thanks Ken, I'll check out the Mrs. Wages. I did get the CC thanks to your suggestion last year.

Our local Kroger all of a sudden has a huge stack of jars, so I am going to grab some up now. I ran out too early, too, so ended up freezing more than I would have liked. Although it's easier, I worry about losing everything if our electricity goes out for any length of time. That's what prompted me to think about canning, and everyone here was SO very helpful. Thank you all so much!

When I slice the cukes I use a crinkle cutter as it gives me nice ripples. Bread and Butter pickles also look nice. I even crinkle cut onions and add some dried sweet red peppers for color. I have both a hand too crinkle cutter as well as a crinkle cutter disk for my electric food slicer as part of my Oster Kitchen Center.

There are a devices you can buy that will allow you to switch to an external power source. A friend of mine has a diesel powered generator that self starts within 1 second of a power loss and then monitors the incoming line for it to return. Right now, I use a UPS for my computer and also have a big 1400 watt one for my sump pump that runs 24/7.