Pinging...

It's the sound you hear as jars seal after they've been canned and boiled in a water bath. It was music to my ears last night after putting up my first batch of tomato sauce!! Nick and I spent many hours boiling, peeling, pureeing, seasoning and waiting for our sauce to be ready. We finished around 2 a.m. in the wee hours of Tuesday morning - the time most canning projects end it seems! The sauce tasted yummy and smelled divine. We originally thought the recipe would make only 14 pints, however, we ended up with 21 pints, and had some leftover tomato puree' so we were able to freeze some straight tomato puree' for soup base and other things. Our next project to tackle is making our own ketchup - stay tuned! If you are interested in the tomato sauce recipe, you can find it here.

Also, my mom gave me another great canning/preserving resource - the cooperative extension in your area can really help with any questions or concerns you might have about canning and/or preserving. Click here for the link.