The innards of my canning cabinet. And yes, the cans are totally organized into groups based on ingredients and recipe. I'm a food nerd.
About once a year, I like to ask, what is in your canning cabinet? This year, I’m really proud of mine. For the first time ever, I have room in my actual kitchen for my canned goods–two entire shelves, in fact!
More food porn and peeks inside my canning cabinet after the jump.
Like a true food dork, my cans are organized. On the far left are the cans that were made in 2009 and need to be eaten asap, which includes a can of pickled beets, some ketchup, an experimental jar of pickled blueberries, and pickled dill brussel sprouts. As we move to the right, we progress to pickles (fruits, then veg), relishes, chutneys, and then jams.
Close up #1 of my canning cabinet. My favorite side--the pickles!
It is difficult to tell from the photo, but in my pickle section, I have ten jars of pickled cherries, and that is not counting the two or three in my fridge that didn’t seal. Why so many pickled cherries? If you have not experienced the magic that is my pickled cherries, please do. It may change your life. Or just really make your mouth happy.
I’m really happy with the 12 oz tall jelly jars I found for my pickled asparagus this year, which enabled me to have nice, long stalks. But after popping open a jar, I realized that it could stand to use more dill and garlic, so next year, I’m bulking up on it for sure.
The middle of my canning cabinet.
In the middle, you find a myriad of relishes that I recently made, and some old chutneys (carrot with caramelized shallot and apple cranberry spicy chutney). Which reminds me—I need to make more chutneys. They rock on cheese plates, as a garnish for soups, and as a condiment on your favorite grilled cheese. I’m thinking mango…and perhaps a tomato chutney with raisins? Who knows.
We also see the start of my jams, and the lonely row of spiced rhubarb jam I made. It’s delicious, but a bit heavy on the five spice, so definitely not a personal favorite. Any one want to trade a jar of this for something from your collection?
The end of my canning cabinet, with room to grow!
And the jam section, full of strawberry rhubarb jam, apricot jam, tomato basil jam that is newly made (gonna try it out with some goat cheese this weekend!) and a lonely jar of blood orange port marmalade that is great, but a bit bitter for my tastes. Anyone want to trade me a jar from your collection for my marmalade?
So now the big question my mind is, what the heck is in your canning cabinet? Feel free to tell me in the comments, or better yet, a post a link to your own post with photos! Happy Friday!
~LTG!
