Winter Canning

Many will think that canning is only done in the summer and fall, but for me, it is a year-round adventure.

One item I can regularly are beans, specifically pinto beans for our Mexican feasts. Canning beans is really quite easy, and they taste much better that the refried beans from the store. I also can red beans for chili, and northern beans for ham and beans.

Today, I was anxious to try a recipe that I had found at the Creative Canning Blogspot. It was for coleslaw. (http://creativecanning.blogspot.com/2009/01/coleslaw.html)
I've tried freezing coleslaw in the past, but found it was not only too sweet, but a little too soggy. This recipe also uses a sugar syrup, but suggests to rinse off the syrup, and then adding your favorite mayonnaise based dressing, BRILLIANT! Since cabbage was one sale this week for New Year's, I decided to try it. I'm going to let it sit a week or so before opening up a jar to see if it really does stay crisp.