Canning

I have stumbled into the world of canning and once I got there I fell flat on my face. I walked into the store to buy my supplies knowing exactly what I would need and had a game plan set. My recipes awaited on the counter for later in the evening when I had time to devote to the task at hand. I was so excited to get started. I figured I would start with my very least favorite vegetable in the garden, the radishes. I only eat them in salad and try to get out of even doing that when I can so when harvest time came and I found myself looking at 20 radishes I knew I had to come up with something quick. So that is how I arrived at this idea of canning. I decided I would pickle the radishes for the husband. After I was finally able to get the kids in bed for the night and clean up the mess from dinner all that was left to do was chase the husband from the kitchen. "I am going to start canning", I announced and boy did he disappear. I set up the pots. One for boiling the rings and seals and another that would function as the water bath. I made my pickling brine according to the recipe, going back and forth to the recipe every two seconds. While looking at the time constantly to make sure the jars were in the water long enough to be sterilized. I packed the jars, added the brine and applied the seals and rings. Then I put those cute little jars into the water bath and processes them for the exact time the recipe stated and set them on the counter for the night. I cleaned up my mess and felt so smug and proud of myself. I had done it! I had really done it! I went to bed feeling satisfied and as I lay there I replayed all of the wonderful events over in my head. Then with shock I remembered something. SALT! I never put the salt into the brine! I measured it out and put it on the ledge of the stove then got distracted by my husband, who had passed through the kitchen and asked how it was going. I got out of bed and went and looked at the stove ledge and there was my salt. The jars certainly were cute but the radishes they contained were definitely not pickled.