Let the Canning Begin!!!

A blistering 92 degrees outside and what are we doing?  Canning!!  Good friends of ours were able to pick some early Nanking Cherries and offered to come and turn them into jelly with me and we had a great time!!

 I am a novice when it comes to canning.  Last year I made applesauce from our apple trees, but that is the extent of my experience.  Mr. Lyle, on the other hand, is a canaholic.  He is a pro and is willing to help me learn with each new opportunity.  Making jelly with small Nanking cherries turned out to be quite easy.  Everything came together smoothly:

Since the cherries are so small, we didn't have to pit them.  We boiled them and then put them through a sieve in order to separate the pulp from the juice.

Once we had our juice, we added our sugar and our pectin.  This had to be done at a rolling boil and had to be stirred constantly:

Once it was done cooking, we let it sit so that there was a solid layer, sort of like a fruit roll up, on top.  We scraped it off and then poured our jelly into the jars.  We sealed them and boiled them and now have 12 jars of jelly:

Our beautiful photographer:  Mrs. Jessica, who happens to be expecting twins.

And what were the kids doing while we worked in a sauna of a kitchen?  What kids should be doing...playing!

The great thing is that we are going to start over again next weekend with Flat Head Cherries.  We are getting them for a dollar a pound and are planning on buying about 50-60 pounds for our family alone.  We are having a pitting party at a friend's house and then canning the cherries whole.  We will then bring our cans home and turn them into jelly, syrup and pie filling.  Yum!!!  It will be a great time!!!

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a wonderful and blessed day.