photo by coconinoco
...is what we were saying to ourselves when we received almost 100 free canning jars/lids off of Freecycle. This was exciting, because someday we'd love to have a big garden and can tons of our own food, and hey, we love free stuff.
The catch? These canning jars were full. Of canned food. From 1995.
So after loading them up into the car (pint, quart, 2-quart, you name it), we drove them back to the apartment, hunkered down next to the curb and proceeded to pry the lids off of every single one and dump out the contents. Some, like canned tomatoes, slid out easily. Others, like applesauce, took some hard shaking. And then there was what we termed "black mash"- a black, sticky concoction, like molasses or something, that had to be dug out with a knife. The food we sloshed into a garbage sack (we ended up creating two full yard-waste-sized bags of what looked and smelled like vomit) and put in the dumpster, and the jars we carried in, rinsed out in a sink of hot soapy water, and then ran through the dishwasher. Some of the lids were salvageable while others weren't; we're not sure if they can be reused for canning, but we figured they would work fine for dry storage (grains, beans, flour), which is something else we like to use jars for.
All in all, I'm glad we have the jars, but I'm also glad that's over. And glad that I was in my second trimester when we did it. Now we just have to figure out where we're going to keep all of them.
The catch? These canning jars were full. Of canned food. From 1995.
So after loading them up into the car (pint, quart, 2-quart, you name it), we drove them back to the apartment, hunkered down next to the curb and proceeded to pry the lids off of every single one and dump out the contents. Some, like canned tomatoes, slid out easily. Others, like applesauce, took some hard shaking. And then there was what we termed "black mash"- a black, sticky concoction, like molasses or something, that had to be dug out with a knife. The food we sloshed into a garbage sack (we ended up creating two full yard-waste-sized bags of what looked and smelled like vomit) and put in the dumpster, and the jars we carried in, rinsed out in a sink of hot soapy water, and then ran through the dishwasher. Some of the lids were salvageable while others weren't; we're not sure if they can be reused for canning, but we figured they would work fine for dry storage (grains, beans, flour), which is something else we like to use jars for.
All in all, I'm glad we have the jars, but I'm also glad that's over. And glad that I was in my second trimester when we did it. Now we just have to figure out where we're going to keep all of them.
1 comment:
And how much bubble wrap you're going to need to haul those things back to the midwest in a couple years. In the meantime, I'd trade you 3 quart jars plus 3 jelly jars for one 2 quart jar. If you had extra. Need it for my tibicos.
:-)
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