Homemakers all around the country are rediscovering the delights of canning. Canning is a procedure where fresh food is stored, preserved and sealed in glass jars that have been cleaned and sterilized.
There are many rewards to this old-fashioned pastime. Food can be preserved without adding commercial preservatives, extending their shelf life. Canning is environment-friendly; the materials including the containers, which are glass mason jars, can be reused.
Canning is quite a hit with frugal women (and men) because of the money saved. Buy fruits and vegetables when they’re in season and cheap, can the lot and then you can use them for months afterward. For avid gardeners, canning is a good way to make use of all your harvest and avoid wasting excess produce. Pick your produce when they are most ripe and can away. Canned fruits and vegetable can even come in handy as presents; they’re practical but also pretty in ornamental glass jars. Lastly, health enthusiasts can attest, homemade trumps commercially produced. They taste better and the quality of the food is good, it’s therefore more nutritious.
And with the Bernardin Home Canning Starter Kit, canning my own fruits and vegetables is as easy as 1-2-3. It’s loved and praised by both novices for it’s simplicity, and skilled canners for its efficiency. It provides everything we need, and then some, for getting started on our own marmalade, homemade preserves and pickled vegetables. The materials are of good quality and durable, so they last long. And the price is pretty reasonable; considering that we can reuse the materials again and again, the value we get from the kit more than makes up for its price.
The kit includes the following:
– a rack which is placed inside the pot and on top of which several jars are arranged
– a 21 quart canner, which is an enormous lidded canning pot for making several jars of preserves at one go
– a jar lifter with rubber covered grips for holding jars firmly when we transfer them
– a funnel with a wide mouth for smoothly scooping the preserves into the jar
– a lid lifter
– pectin, which is a type of fiber from plants used as a thickener for food, makes mixtures smooth and glossy
– an air bubble remover
– 4 fancy-looking lidded jars
– a booklet with recipes of canning products
– an instructional DVD of Bernardin Executive Chef Emerie Brine demonstrating one of the canning recipes and how to use the materials in the kit
The only drawback I’ve seen, so far, and it depends on who you ask, is the size of the canner or canning pot. Like I said, it’s enormous, so if you’re preparing just one or two jars, it takes too much time just to boil the water in the pot. If you are, however, making around half a dozen jars, then this pot considerably cuts down your overall time.
This canning kit is a great find which we can use to make wonderful jams and preserves, not just once or twice but several times, harvest after harvest, year after year.
WIN Bernardin Home Canning Starter Kit!
All entries must be submitted using the Rafflecopter form below. After you complete the mandatory entry, you can do as many extra entries as you’d like to increase your chances of winning. This giveaway is open to CANADA!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I would love to win because I am an amatuer canner! This will be my second year doing canning and I would love to expand my ability to do so. I really enjoyed canning and finding recipes to worked with and try out. Thanks for the opportunity to win!
I would love to win this as the canner I have is so old and rusting in the bottom
I just pulled all my veggies out before the frost and I need to can them.
I’d love to can my own produce, this way you know EXACTLY what is going into those cans!
I would love to win this Bernardin set! I had to throw mine out at the end of last year due to rust. I had my canner for 15 years and used it immensely.
A garden full of tomatoes….need I say more! lol
I am just starting to be interested in canning, I can use all the help I can get.
Canning is my next step in our whole/real food discovery! Id love to have a set to get started.
I have been wanting to learn to can but I’m on a budget and can’t afford to get started
There is nothing better than canned pickles. Thank you
I’ve always wanted to give canning a try!
I have lots of tomatoes to be canned
I’d love to win because I want to learn how to can fruit and veggies!
My mom cans so I’d love to win this for her
I love canning and would like to Bernadin products.
I use to can everything and want to get back doing it so this would be perfect!
I would love to get back into canning. Its been years since I have canned and could really use a starter set to get me back into it 🙂
we do a lot of canning here, would love to win this.
I just used all my jars for pickles – wanting to can some other things!
I would like to win because I have been wanting to learn how to can.
I’d love to win because I have a ton of zucchini that is crying to be canned!
I would love to win because I would love to make salsa with the fresh tomatoes, onion & cilantro from our garden
I have been wanting to do some canning for a while now but have just not gotten around to it, this contest has given me some motivation.
I would love to win to gift this to my older sister! I already have a Bernardin canning set but my sister would really love one. With one income and a husband that is unable to work due to health concerns, she’s the breadwinner for her family of 6 (4 girls) and could really use this to help stretch the budget.
I would love to win so that I can start making my own jam, pickled beets, pickles and so on.
I would give it to my Mom she would love it ..
I would like to start making jam and pickles.. This would be a great starter
I would love to win this because i have been wanting to try canning,this would be great.thanks for the chance 🙂
I would love to win this!!!
Would love to finally learn how to can!!
I would love to win so I can finally start making my own tomato sauce.
What a great giveaway! I would love to win this so I can preserve this year’s wares. It is so much healthier as you know what is in your food! Thanks for the chance!
Id like to win because I have a great food processor that I would like to use to make home made spaghetti sauce and then jar it up.
Garden full of different tomatoes. Thanks for the chance. Cheers
I would love to win because I always have to borrow my mother’s canning supplies and it would be awesome to have my own!
love to win this im all ways canning ty
I use a ton of Bernardin products so this would be great
would love to win this and then i would be motivated to try canning
I do a lot of canning, so would definitely use this!
I would like this so I could make my homemade stewed tomatoes and salsa and the list goes on
I have a whole whack of wild blueberries I want to make into jam and sauce.
I grow a garden every year and this set would come in handy at harvest time.
My hubby does some gardening. This would be great at harvest time.
this would be great for all the veggies from the garden
I have always wanted to make my own jams and jellies, but didn’t know how to start. This would be a great way to learn.
I have find memories of canning with my great grandmother. This would be a nice way to start making memories with my own grandkids.
Ive never done any canning before but would love to learn how!
Canning fruits and vegetables always reminds me of my grandmother who filled the basement shelves with jars and jars of delicious pickles,jams and jellies. Now my son and his wife keep up the family tradition!
Ihve canned for years andlove the results.
I have quite a large garden and have only put veggies and fruit away in the freezer – it would be lovely to try canning for applesauce, tomato sauce, pickles, jams etc. It is so nice to know what you are eating!!
I don’t really can but I’ve been wanting to start. Winning this would be a good motivator to get started.
My husband and I made jam this year for the first time and would like to continue – this would help.
Id love to win because ive been wanting to start canning, but canning supplies, are somewhat out of the budget. This would be perfect!
I have been wanting to try to make some jam and this would give me motivation to do it.
I would like to take some lessons from my step-mom and have some fresh canned goods for winter!
I would love to win as I garden and have lots of excess produce I would love to start canning!
There are so many things I want to try! Pickles! Jams!
I would love to win because my parents have canned since I was a kid and I would love to be able to give this to them!
I like to can, but could use some newer tools for it.
I would love to win because I have been saying I am going to make preserves for so long but stil haven’t!
I would love to win to try and preserve our abundance of fruits and vegetables we ended up with in our gardens this year. I only have so much room in my freezer and we are pretty much full on that end but still have lots I would love to be able to preserve to enjoy throughout the year.