Can Jam

Ah, canning. There's nothing more satisfying to a Homespun girl than seeing rows of full Mason jars on a shelf. Its almost difficult to open them up, but oh, the sound of that seal releasing!
Let's clarify for those new to the game that canning does not refer to sealing things in cans, but rather putting things in glass jars and making the lids airtight. Another nice turn of phrase often used in the South is "putting up", as in "My Mama fell and hurt her hip, so the ladies from the Baptist church came over and helped her put up her okra."
Canning can be hot work, especially in the summer, what with all those jars simmering away on the stove, so I usually wear a bikini, and not just any bikini: the canning bikini. This is the top to a bikini that a friend gave me that I would never wear in public because it's too skimpy, and I am not that type of girl. But, for standing in a kitchen with four burners blazing in August? It's perfect. (I'd recommend actually wearing shorts or pants rather than a bathing suit bottom- you need a little coverage with all that boiling water).
You can start with the easiest thing to go into a jar: jam. Crush some berries, add whole bags of sugar (well, practically), cook it, and seal it up. This is really very easy, but with one caveat: your mental state. One time, I was in what I thought was a serious relationship, only to be broken up with without actually being told. (True story. Perhaps for another time). Anyway, while I was alternately on crying jags or angrily throwing plates, a friend and I decided to make jam. Although we had done it many times before in the same kitchen, it burned. Horrible. Scorch drawn all the way through. She maintained it was my attitude, and we named the jam "bitter berry". Bad attitude = Bad jam.

Canning is a way to take the best of the season and make it last all year. The specifics of how to can are like a science experiment from high school: be properly outfitted, read the directions, take care around an open flame. That said, don't be intimidated- even something that gets messed up can still be used. A jam that doesn't set? It's a fruit sauce! Pickles that don't seal? Eat them that week!
All that needs to be said and learned about canning can be done by reading the Bible of home food preservation, the Ball (that's a mason jar to you) Blue Book. If you'd like to can, the BlueBook is the best investment you can make. You can even buy it on Amazon.com with a little kit that includes some canning tools.

So, How can canning work for you? On with the show, my bikini-clad friends!