Canning vegetables, jam, and fruit is a practical way to extend the growing season. (And as many people have discovered, it's also a lot of fun!) But sometimes we go a little overboard and can more than we can possibly eat in the year or so ahead. What do you do with your canning surplus?
It wasn't that long ago that successful canning literally made the difference between life and death when winter set in. But today? I'd guess that isn't the case for most people. Of course, by definition preserved goods are going to last a long time, but sometimes we let the joy of canning get the best of us. (No matter what we do, we can't consume those 50 jars of strawberry-balsamic jam all by ourselves.)
Most soup kitchens and charitable organizations cannot accept home-canned items due to Heath Department regulations. So what to do? Here are a few ideas to spread the love and use up some of your delicious surplus.
• Gifts! This is an obvious choice. Giving away your beautiful, jewel-like jars of jam is a wonderful thing... until it isn't. Be careful not to overload friends and family. Try keeping track of your giving so you don't show up at your next dinner party with a jar of your amazing applesauce — for the fifth time.
• Swap! Emily has written quite a bit about food swaps for The Kitchn. Look for a swap in your area or consider starting one of your own. Emily is also the co-founder of the Food Swap Network which helps you find or create a swap in your area.
• Party! Have a party that will use up several jars of pickles. Give away your jams as party gifts, but with caution (see Gifts! above.) Or leave a pile by the door with a free sign and a few bags for toting. Use your jam as a filling for a layer cake. Or make thumbprint cookies, like these from Marisa of Food in Jars:
• Get the recipe: Preserves in Action: Thumbprint Cookies from The Cookiepedia at Food In Jars
• Barter! See if there's a win-win situation among your friends: use your canning project surplus as currency to get a few projects done around the house.
• Innovate! Think outside the box when it comes to your canned goods. Jam, for instance, can do more than provide flavor on your morning toast. Fill a cake or use it as a sweet counternote in a spicy barbecue sauce. Applesauce makes a fine cake or gingerbread. Sauerkraut is great raw but it works when heated, expanding its recipe potential.
• Free Shelf! Take some of your canned goods to work and leave them sitting out with a free sign. Or if you have a free area in your apartment building, leave a few jars there. Having a list of ingredients will really help and, if you're comfortable with this, putting your name on it will help, too. People are more apt to pick up something when they know who made it.
What have you done to use up a surplus of canned goods?
Related: For High Volume Canning, Use This!
(Image: Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars via Flickr)
How To Make Perfect Bacon in the Oven
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Straw Mat from The ...
Find Your Style: 20 Classic to Contemporary Kitchens to Add to Your Inspiration Board
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
We usually only do preserves and jams (just sweet things) and I find their shelf life is much longer than the recommended year. We just hold on to whatever extras we have after gifting a big chunk of it and when we go to use it, just check its alright. So far so good. I'm sure this isn't nearly as easy with canned veggies.
I second your use-in-baking idea! we have more orange marmalade than I know what to do with, and I don't like it very much (despite having made it). So I've used it on cinnamon rolls and in cake balls to great success! But, outside of that, I gift them away.
I just started canning this year, I love it, but it is a challenge to use up the results, among other things:
- I make my own yogurt, a couple of spoons of a jam or curd are good!
- Put a dollop of jam inside pancakes.
I would also suggest keeping your canned items visible. Most of mine are in the basement -- outa sight, outa mind. I've been trying to keep more -- a least one of each canned item -- in with the purchased food in my kitchen. That way, I'm more likely to think about using the food I preserved.
I totally just bartered with a friend at work. So glad to unload some of my stuff in exchange for his!
Two words: Food bank. Many have programs to help home gardeners and canners reduce their surplus while increasing nutrition for low-income seniors, kids and working families. Here in Bellingham, WA, the local food bank has its own organic farm, and a gleaning project to help gardeners and farmers not waste produce. In particular, food bank clients report they have need for protein, dairy, and fresh/canned produce appropriate for their food traditions. This time of year, take a look in the freezer and pantry, estimate what your family really needs before the next harvest, and give the rest away. For us? Way too many pumpkins and other winter squash. Gave away last week rather than let them rot.
BTW: Some food banks support gardeners to actually PLAN to grow to much. Back to the "Victory Garden" concept, but include your community along with your family's needs. Examples: http://www.bellinghamfoodbank.org/our_programs
Good question, and one I'm addressing this week! I just used some extra hot pepper jelly (Sweet and Hot Pepper Jelly, or, Questionable Parenting Advice, or, NO SEX PLAY) to glaze some chicken, but I could see stirring it into soups, mixing it with cream cheese, or bringing it to tons of potlucks along with a log of goat cheese and some fancy crackers.
I also have a ton of corn and pepper relish which I'm mixing with black beans this week and spreading between corn tortillas along with some cheese to melt down into OMFG quesadillas.
And, as usual, I made far too much Pink Applesauce (Sugar-Free Pink Applesauce, or, I Have No Impulse Control and It’s Fun!), but that's an easy one. Aside from throwing it into practically every quickbread and cake recipe known to man to cut down on oil/sugar, I like to just eat it with meat or yogurt or oatmeal or whatnot. Plus, I just invented a recipe for Applesauce Dressing (Applesauce Dressing, or, Apparently my Status as a T-rex Concerns No One) to use it up even faster.
Hope that helps!
Bad Mama Genny
Do you have some formatingk problems going on? All the text shows in one loooooooooooong blocparagraph.
I work as a bartender and I had some extra marmalade that I pureed and use in cocktails.
Is there a good reason why none of those jars have rings?
@Grumpy Girl- because you are not supposed to store the jars with the rings on them.
You aren't supposed to store the jars with the rings on but it defeats the purpose if the jars are stacked. You don't store them with the ring on because if the jars unseal themselves the rings may put pressure on the lid causing it to reseal... so obviously a jar which will put more pressure than the ring can cause resealing to. We can a lot and we store all of our jars with rings, I'm not worried about the unsealing and resealing. We also are eating jelly that we made 3 years ago. I say give as gifts if you have too much or use in recipes. Depending on what it is jelly's you can use in pastries, coffee cakes, yogurt and we use our tomato sauce obviously over pasta but also in chili, other soups and pizza.