Preserving the Harvest - Round 1

I have realized that if I am going to eat something from my garden every day this year...then that means throughout the growing season, I will have to preserve something every day as well to make up for the days nothing is growing.  If I really stretch it, I could count the growing season as being May to October - and only because I planted greens for the spring and jerusalem artichokes and brussel sprouts for the fall along with a few root veg.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Preserves

I'm not so sure about this one.

The idea was great, but I don't know what to expect with the finished product.  The recipe is from "The Joy Of Cooking" which I normally love, but I have never used the canning section.

The recipe starts out with rhubarb and sugar...

 This is half of the sugar...I wanted to stop here...but it was my first try, and I am told you have to follow canning recipes exactly in order for them to be safe.  So I continued...

This is all of the sugar.  Um...what?  Can this be right?

So I cooked it up like it said...and added:

...the strawberries.

Then it said to simmer it until thick, about 15 minutes.  Well, I simmered it for about 40-45 minutes and it never got thick.  It was thicker than when I started, but it never thickened.  Now nowhere did it say to add gelatin.  Not in the recipe, not in the preserves section it said to read first.  So I don't know if I was supposed to add some or not.  I got three jars of the preserves and a little bit in a third jar that is in the fridge.  I didn't have time to check it this morning.  I am hoping that it thickened up a bit overnight in the fridge.  Otherwise, I guess it will be a "sauce" for the winter...maybe on oatmeal???  Come to think of it, that sounds delicious.

So, here is my question of the day...if you could have only ONE canning cookbook...what would it be?

Gonna go link up to the Carnival of Home Canning over at Laura William's Musings, and while I'm there, maybe I will learn something.