Kyle and I are still pretty new to this whole canning thing but we love it! We have already done lots this year: spiced pickled carrots, dilly beans, chile dilly beans, tarragon beans, and dill pickle slices. Tonight we are gearing up for pickle round two of the season. We will be making more dill pickle slices, bread and butter pickle slices, and pickled red onions… I bet our friends and family can guess what they’ll be getting for Christmas this year! What’s really amazing this year as that everything, even the garlic and dill, are from our garden!
Pickling is easy because it uses high acid vinegars which means it can be done with a hot water bath method (as opposed to pressure canning). You need very little in the way of supplies to get started. I’ve been asked about this a number of times so I thought I’d put together a simple checklist of what you need to get started with canning and pickling! These are the books and supplies we bought to get going…
PICKLING BASICS:
Canning Pot with Rack
Kitchen Scale
Jar Lifter
Mandonline
Canning Funnel
Tattler ReUsable Lids (optional)
Magnetic Lid Wand
Ball Jars and Lids (available at most stores)
BOOKS:
The Pickled Pantry
The Preservation Kitchen
Canning for a New Generation
Food in Jars
The Art of Fermentation (this is more of theory book that Kyle is using)
You will also need a few big bowls (for holding cut up veggies), a big pot with a lid (for your pickling solution), and lots of absorbent kitchen towels that you don’t mind getting stained!
In total the whole basic pickling/canning set up will cost around $120 for supplies (not including the towels, jars, and bowls/pots), and about $85 for the books but you could get started with one (we love The Pickled Pantry).
Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to answer them! Happy canning!
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