The Mad Canner: Southwestern Corn

One of the few vegetables the Lord of the Manor willingly eats is corn. Years ago we discovered a corn from either Green Giant or Del Monte called Mexicorn. I guess it became politically incorrect to call a product "mexi" anything because it went bye-bye and Southwestern Corn took its place. 

Southwestern Corn, from Del Monte, is at this writing $2.09 a can. I'm not paying that for a can of corn with a smidgeon of peppers tossed in. 

I made my own southwestern-style corn, and it was pretty good, good enough that I decided to try canning it. 

Corn is easy to can. Peppers and onions can only be canned in small bits as part of a larger recipe, which is what I did. Because seasonings can turn bitter during the canning process, I used kosher salt only. I'll add a pinch of cumin and chipotle when I open a jar for a meal. 

I processed eighteen half-pints of corn at a cost of $5.50.  And in smaller jars, none will go to waste. That's for the corn, the pepper and onion, and the jar lids. The jars are indefinitely reusable so they aren't part of the cost. They'd all been used before and unless I drop one, they will be again. Eighteen cans of the Del Monte corn would cost $37.62.  

And that is why I'm now The Mad Canner.

The Lady of The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, Del Monte Southern Corn, home food processing, rural living, country lifestyle, canning, food preparation, survival skills, a writer's life, saving money

This may be the only time I can red beets

We like beets. We may not eat them every week of the year, but we have them at least once a month. I tried to grow beets last fall, and while the tops were gorgeous, the plants didn't actually form beets. I decided to forego trying to grow them - for now - and buy beets. Luckily, we have several wonderful farm markets and orchards mere miles from home. 

Yesterday, the lady at one of the small farm markets called to say she had a bushel of beets. I hopped into the pickup and went to see what she had. I was a bit disappointed in the quality, but she made up for the fact the beets had been cut by either a plow or shovel during harvesting by slashing the price considerably. It pays to be on good terms with people. I also suspect the "half a bushel" I took held more than that.  

Home processing beets is very labor intensive. The beets need to be washed, boiled, chilled in cold water so the skin slides off, peeled and trimmed, sliced and/or diced, and reheated. Only then may the hot beets go into a hot jar and the jar into a hot canner. I may never can beets again unless I manage to grow my own and can carefully harvest them without creating blemishes. Quite a bit went in the bucket for the woodland critters. But I still ended up with twenty-six pints which will do us around two years. Every jar sealed. 

It was a good day's work. 

The Lady of the Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, home food processing, canning beets, gardening, a writer's life, rural living, country lifestyle, farmer's market, labor-intensive job