My Home Canning Project (part 1)

I  love to put up preserves and vegetables. I am afraid with the heat and drought this year I am not getting much out of my garden. My corn was under developed and everything is taking so long! Usually I can put up enough to see us through until the next season so this year is going to be skimpy. I love fresh from the garden canned goods over store bought any day.

But I was lucky this year, I found Chokecherries through a group on Facebook and I also found Crabapples so I  happily made my juice.

I wash and clean them.

and then I boil them whole

 When they get soft I drain and reserve the juice that is there . 

 Then I mash the apples

and I pour water over them and boil them again.

Once they are boiled I strain the juice out of the mush. 

 Some people don't but I squeeze the juice out to make the process faster.

I end up with my juice that I use to make my jelly with: