Have you ever done any home canning? If you haven't and you think it would be fun, now would be a good time to give it a whirl. The Broad Ripple farmers market every Saturday is a great place to find the fresh fruits and veggies you will want to use in preserving at home. Some of the kinds of canning you may want to try would be: pickles and relishes; jams and jellies; tomatoes and fruits. These are all processed using the boiling water bath method. This is the easiest and most successful for the beginner. You can even find many recipes for home made jams and jellies for the freezer. These don't need the processing--Just make it and freeze it. How simple is that.

So why would you want to go to all this trouble? Simple. You control the ingredients you use. You choose the freshest farm-grown produce. If you choose organic, all the better, no chemicals getting into your food there. You decide how much sugar or salt goes in these jars of food. You are not adding any other additives to help keep the color or flavor stable for years at a time. In other words, you decide what you and your family are consuming.

The supplies and equipment are readily available these days. You probably have most of the equipment already. A large stock pot or other deep pan with a lid to do the boiling water bath processing. Assorted measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls and at least one long handle spoon for stirring without steaming your hand too much. And jars, lids and screw threaded bands. The jars can be bought at many stores this time of year, but you might already have a few sitting around in your kitchen from the gifts others have shared with you. Also try goodwill for odds and ends of jars if you don't want to put too much money into jars. The lids and rings, though, should be new. The lids are a flat disk of metal with a circle of sealing material on one side. These are used only once. The rings that screw down the lids to the jars can be used many times. But if they rust, pitch them.

If you are truly serious about trying some home canning, look for a copy of the 100th anniversary edition of the Ball Blue Book. It has everything you need: the most up to date information and the best of the basic recipes. You will also want to check out the recipes in the packages of pectin you will need to make the jams and jellies. These are tested over and over so they are practically foolproof. I use the recipe on the Certo pectin box for my cherry jam. It is the best.

In my days of home canning I have made many kinds of jams and marmalades. My bread and butter pickles are wonderful, if I do say so myself. And my favorite catsup recipe is listed below. This is the recipe I used when I was a teen and mom had too many tomatoes from her garden. I hoarded it like it was gold. It is just that much better than store bought.

Let me know what you try and how it turns out!

Wash, and core tomatoes. In an 8 to 10 quart kettle, combine tomatoes, onion and cayenne. Bring to a boil, stirring as needed to prevent scorching, and cook 'till tomatoes are soft, about 15 minutes. While tomatoes are cooking, in small saucepan combine vinegar and spices, cover and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand 'till needed. When tomatoes are done, press through a food mill or strainer to remove the peel and seeds. Return to the kettle and add the sugar. Simmer briskly 1½ to 2 hours, until reduced by half. Watch carefully, stirring often, toward the end to prevent scorching. Strain the spices from the vinegar and discard the spices. Stir the vinegar into the tomato mixture. Add salt. Continue cooking 'till of desired consistency. Pour into clean, hot jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Adjust lids and rings and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Yield: 2 pints.