That’s a Wrap!

It’s hard to believe this learning project has come to an end already. I didn’t get nearly as many recipes done as I was hoping. However I still learned a lot about the canning process. One thing I definitely learned is how long it takes to complete a recipe. But I am looking forward to taking the knowledge I have learned these past few months and trying some more recipes when life slows down a little bit and I have more time. I’m thinking over Christmas holidays I would like to try a few recipes! Here is a summary of what I learned about canning:

Week 1: Too Many Tomatoes– I started by choosing this topic for my project because of all the tomatoes and apples I had from our garden. At this point I had high hopes and was going to have a basement full of canned goods (reality set in quick once I did my first recipe and saw that it nearly took me all day just to make salsa!) Although I do have about 5 jars of salsa left- so I will call that a win!

Week 2: My Canning Menu– This week I compiled a list of recipes I wanted to tackle in the coming months. I also gathered the materials I would be needing. Looking at the list of recipes I wanted to make, and what I actually made- I didn’t do too bad! I had 6 recipes chosen and I ended up making 3 of them. I made Salsa, Apple butter, and Caramel sauce. Jam is still at the top of my to-do list!

Week 3: Make Salsa with Me and CapCut!– This was the biggest part of my project, not only did I make the salsa but I also created a video of the process. The video was very time consuming, but it might be my favorite part of the project. It was really cool to see it all put together.

Week 4: What the Heck is Pressure Canning? -This week I took a bit of a turn and just did some research on the canning process. I noticed the terms “pressure canning” and “water bath” popping up a lot and I needed some clarification on what exactly the difference is. I found that pressure canning is a bit more complex and requires some more tools, as well as knowledge on the process in order to ensure safety when preserving food items. It’s not something I was ready to tackle, but perhaps if I continue with canning and get better then one day I would give it a try.

Week 5: How ‘Bout Them Apples? -My second recipe was apple butter. Which I don’t know if I would actually describe as a butter, it had the consistency of a spread rather than a butter. But this one was fairly straightforward and didn’t involve nearly as much chopping or prep as the salsa did. I still have a jar of this in my fridge and it tastes delicious on a piece of cinnamon raisin toast!

Week 6: Too Old for TikTok?– This week I explored Tik Tok to see what I could learn about canning. It was also my first experience with TikTok and I was pleasantly surprised what a useful tool it was. I always thought it was just full of silly, mindless videos. But this week really opened my eyes to the possibilities.

Week 7: The Value of a Good, Old Fashioned, Hard Copy Book– I know the point of this project was to learn everything online, but I also learned about a few books that many people recommended on canning. While I learned a lot of things online, I sometimes think just a regular book can sometimes also be helpful. I can see myself purchasing one of these books and following some of the recipes and directions from there. I was a bit overwhelmed at times on the amount of information I could find on canning, along with a few contradicting messages. So having a book would help clarify those things.

Week 8: Caramel Magic- This was my favourite recipe I made because let’s be honest, who doesn’t love caramel sauce! I was also amazed at how the process turned sweetened condensed milk into caramel sauce. I wasn’t sure it would work. Even my mom had stopped by my house the day I was starting and she kind of chuckled because she also didn’t think it would work. But I will never make caramel sauce another way! It was so easy, while it was time consuming the only thing that took time was the actual boiling. So as long as I am home I can be doing other things while the caramel sauce is boiling. I will definitely be doing this again!

Week 9: Canva & Caramel– This week was dedicated to learning about another creative tool- Canva. I created a graphic to show the steps to make caramel sauce. It was very user friendly and I plan to look into getting the free educator account for Canva.

Overall I would say I had a successful learning project and was able to learn the basics of canning, as well as try out a variety of recipes. It definitely opened my eyes to what is possible to learn online, as well as different creative tools that can be used to create content. This is not the end of my learning journey on canning!

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Canva & Caramel

I enjoyed making the caramel sauce so much that for this week’s post I wanted to create something that other people could follow to make their own caramel sauce. I wanted to try Canva because I find recipes are easiest to follow when they are on one page, and rather than a video I like to have the directions written down. I don’t have experience with Canva so this was my first project and I found it very user friendly! The biggest challenge was finding a free template to use, many of the ones I liked required payment. But I did find out that teachers can get a pro account for free! I haven’t had a chance to set that up but I plan to try it in the future.

I split the process into 6 easy steps. I included a headline, brief description, and photo for each step. My hope is that it is intriguing enough for draw attention, but simple enough that people can read it quickly and decide if it is a recipe they would try. Let me know if you think I achieved my goal!

Here is my final product:

Caramel Magic!

This week I tried out a recipe I found on TikTok. While exploring the platform a few weeks ago I saved this video because it looked super easy and great for beginners. Also who doesn’t love caramel sauce!?

TikTok account I found this recipe from

All of the canning recipes I have tried have been SO time consuming. This was something I didn’t anticipate when I chose this for my learning project. It is very time consuming and all the prep work takes awhile. So I was excited to try this one because although it took 3 hours to cook, the prep time was less than 5 minutes! With just sweetened condensed milk in a water bath, I created some delicious caramel sauce! I couldn’t believe how easy it was- it was almost magic! The slow heat was enough to caramelize the milk and make it the perfect consistency. The only thing I wish I had done differently was used smaller jars. I only had 500ml jars so it required a lot more water in order to immerse the jar. This resulted in the cooking time being more than 3 hours because it took so long to boil. As you can see my kids also loved it! Apple slices and caramel might be their new favourite snack.

The value of a good, old fashioned, hard copy book

This week I wanted to dive into a question that has been on my mind since the beginning of this project- is online really the BEST way to learn about canning? This question came up because I have seen so many online platforms suggesting recipe books for canning. It got me thinking about what can be learned online and what might need to be supplemented with something more “traditional” such as a hard copy recipe book.

I went back to some of the sources I have been learning from to see how many recommend purchasing a recipe book, which ones are referenced most often, and if they suggest any reason for purchasing a recipe book.

Available from Indigo.

This Ball canning book came up multiple times, as well as other versions. Ball seems to be a very reputable brand when it comes to canning, and many people suggested these are a necessity for canning, especially when it comes to safety and making sure you are following the proper steps.

An example from a Tik Tok account recommending this book.

Another one that seemed to come up regularly was this book specific to pressure canning.

Available on Indigo

Something that came up often with the topic of pressure canning was the issue of food safety. Almost all accounts or blogs that talked about pressure canning, recommended at least one recipe book to ensure you are following the steps exactly.

My own opinion is that in order to get the most information and ensure you are canning correctly, online is a great place to get ideas, learn about the process, and connect with others. When it comes down to canning in your own kitchen, a book is a really great way to keep track of your steps and make sure you are doing it correctly.

Too old for Tik Tok?

Conversations in class last week about how much you can learn from Tik Tok finally got me curious enough to create an account and officially dive into the world of Tik Tok.

source: knowyourmeme.com

I started with some basic searches… “canning”, “canning for beginners”, “canning and preserving”. These searches were enough to take me down the rabbit hole and I discovered a whole other world of canning I had not seen from the blogs I had been exploring.

From diving into Tik Tok I found myself immersed in an entirely different “canning” community. There were a lot of people who do a lot of canning for a variety of reasons. Some of them including:

-cost: when an item is on sale they will purchase in bulk and then can to preserve them. I found one video of someone canning butter, it was confusing to me but from reading the comments found that the reason for this was you can purchase butter when on sale and it has a very long shelf life when preserved properly. Another reason was people who live where there may not always be electricity.

-growing their own food: they grow their own vegetables or other things in their garden, then can because they have an abundance

-carbon footprint: many people talked about how making and preserving your own food is much better for the environment and reduces your carbon footprint

-health reasons: canning your own food means you can control what goes into your food, this way you avoid unwanted additives or preservatives found in the grocery store

This was a really interesting learning experience for me. I learned a lot about the benefits of canning and was exposed to different viewpoints. I must admit I was a skeptic about TikTok, but just this one experience allowed me to see the benefits.

How ’bout them apples?

This week I made apple butter for my learning project. This recipe also used a water bath canning method, which is what I also used for the salsa a few weeks ago. This recipe was super easy and didn’t take long. I wasn’t sure if it would turn out so I cut the recipe in half and only made 2 small jars.

Boil the apples, puree, and cook until thickened. Easy peasy!

My goal for my learning project this week was to follow a different type of media online. So far I have used mostly blogs to learn about canning. Today I used a blog recipe but then followed a visual step by step slide show they had created. I had the recipe printed, then followed the visuals. I actually preferred to follow along with the visuals, however it was tricky to go between the slides and the recipes. I would have preferred if the recipe was posted on each slide. (Maybe this will be an inspiration to document my learning during another week!)

So what was the final result? I had some on my cinnamon raison toast for breakfast and it was AH-MAZING! Looks like I should have made more than just 2 jars!

What the heck is pressure canning!?

This week I was away from home for a conference, so was not able to do any actual canning or hands-on learning for my project. But I figured this was a great time to dive into some of the more specifics about canning and learn a little bit more before I dive into making my next recipe.

I had been seeing the term “pressure canning” quite a bit and wasn’t sure what that meant. Most of the recipes I have read or used so far just require the lids to seal themselves because the food is hot, or placing the jars in boiling water until they seal. I was curious so did some exploring about the difference between what I have been doing and pressure canning.

I tried a few different platforms to learn about this, including TikTok! This is where I first heard the term “pressure canner”. (Also learned how to insert a TikTok video onto wordpress! Simply use the website version of TikTok and copy and paste the URL)

@thesophisticatedcaveman

Reply to @davianp01 What you need to start. #diy #canning #cooking #recipe #cook #hunting #fishing #garden #foodpreservation #lifehack

♬ original sound – The Sophisticated Caveman

What I learned about pressure canning:

-Only low acid foods require pressure canning. This includes meat and vegetables.

-High acid foods only require water bath canning. This includes fruits, jams, pickles, and salsa. This is why I had not yet come across the need for a pressure canner! All my recipes are with high acid foods.

For now I think I will be sticking to the water bath canning method and high acid foods, mostly because I don’t plan to invest in a pressure canner. But who knows where this learning project will take me in the future!? Maybe I will turn into a regular canning connoisseur!

Make Salsa With Me and CapCut!

For my learning project this week I made my first batch of canned goods- salsa! Turns out making and canning salsa is fairly easy- but documenting the process with CapCut proved to be more challenging than I anticipated. The app itself was straightforward once I figured it out, but the hassle of documenting every step of the salsa making was not my favorite. I kept thinking of all the different tiktok videos out there that are less than a minute long but they probably take people hours to make! It was definitely a bit of a “instagram vs reality” moment for me to take in. But once the video was completed and I added the music- I was actually really proud of the little piece of art I created! Check out my final product here:

My Review of CapCut

I chose CapCut because I had heard it was great for making videos where you needed pieces to overlap. I wanted this video to be super short, so I knew I needed to smoothly transition from one video to the next. I did all the editing on my phone, and it took me less than an hour to make this video from start to finish. Uploading all the videos was fairly quick, I had about 48 minutes worth of video to upload and it look only a few minutes. To upload new videos, simply click the + button.

Click the + button to upload your video clips.

After uploading all the videos, I sped them up to 6x the speed. This was easy to do, but I wish there was a way to select all videos and apply this to all (maybe there is- I just couldn’t find it).

To speed up your video, simply click “edit” then “speed”

Trimming the length of each video was really slick, the videos kind of overlapped and you could drag one over to where you wanted it to start at the end of the previous clip. Then I added the finishing touches of a bit of text and some music. I did struggle a bit with the music. I tried to upload a song from my Apple music but I couldn’t get it to work. I ended up just adding a song from the CapCut library which was easy enough.

CapCut had a good selection of music to pick from in their library.

A quick upload and save and the video was in my camera roll. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out! Next time I would play around with some of the transitions and maybe try to make the text more creative. Overall I would say CapCut is very user friendly as I am not the most techy person and I didn’t have trouble creating this video.

CapCut in the Classroom

I think this would be a useful tool if students were making videos in the classroom. I asked my 10 and 12 year old niece about the app and they were familiar with it and use it often to make their own videos at home. In regards to the SAMR model, I think it would fall under modification because it offers a new platform for students to showcase their learning. Rather than creating a paper and pencil product, students could showcase their learning through video and speaking. It would also offer some useful skills on video editing.

My Canning Menu!

This week my focus was to narrow down my plan for the learning project and come up with the recipes I plan to make as well as gather the supplies I will be needing. This is great timing because my bucket of green tomatoes have almost all turned red- so I will need to get started on my salsa and tomato sauce fairly quickly! My parents also gave me a huge bag of apples from their apple tree, so I was on the hunt for some delicious apple recipes too.

I am going to start with this collection of recipes, and depending how these go I will likely come across some other recipes I want to try (or I may end up having to try again if I mess up!) I did try to include a variety of platforms such as blogs, you tube videos, instagram, and tik tok.

This tik tok video helped me determine what I needed to get started. I know nothing about tik tok but am trying to expand my knowledge on different social networking platforms so here we are! https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFePKAyf/

Materials:

Jars and lids- got these from my mom. I will have to go to the grocery store to get more, and probably some larger ones

Stock pot- purchased from the grocery store

Water bath canner and tongs- borrowed from my mom. I have learned that this is what you use to sanitize the jars and also to seal them.

Apple Recipes:

Apple butter: https://heartscontentfarmhouse.com/apple-butter-for-canning/

I plan to make this one with my slow cooker! I hope this one turns out well because I know my kids would love this!

Apple pie filling: https://practicalselfreliance.com/canning-apple-pie-filling/

Tomato Recipes:

Salsa: https://www.delishknowledge.com/the-best-homemade-salsa-for-canning/#h-the-salsa-canning-process

Tomato Sauce: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUD9ViRP_jM/?igshid=NDRkN2NkYzU=

Jam Recipes:

Strawberry Jam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU3OJIfB1Lw

Other Recipes:

Candied Jalepenos: https://youtu.be/SFoxWvrYTcQ

Stay tuned for my next post to see how my first recipe goes! Thanks for reading.

Too Many Tomatoes

For my learning project this term I have decided how to can. (Can that be a verb!?) To explain how I came up with this idea I will show you the 5 gallon pail currently sitting in my kitchen:

I have always had a garden and every year I end up with an abundance of tomatoes thinking, “I should really learn how to make salsa!” Yet every year we eat tomato sandwiches for a month straight and there is still no homemade salsa in my pantry. I figured this was the perfect opportunity to finally learn something I have been wanting to do for years. But I don’t want to stop at just salsa- I am still trying to decide what options to explore. I know I for sure want to do salsa, tomato sauce, and jam. But I would like to get creative and try a few more things, I’m just not sure what.

Since I have no experience in canning I think my first step is to gather the supplies I will need. I know my mom has a few things I can probably borrow from her. My other plan for this week is to do some more research to find a few more things I would like to learn to can. Once I have these things done then I think it will be time to get started. I plan to come up with a rough guideline or schedule as to which things I will be making throughout the weeks. I think this will help keep me on track! Salsa and tomato sauce will come first so I can use up these tomatoes before they go bad.

Do you have any experience with canning? If so please comment below with any helpful tips!

If you have an idea for something I should can, please also comment below! I am open to any ideas.

Thanks for reading.