I have been a canning machine this year.  I’m not sure why.  I’ve never canned this much in my life.  Maybe, subconsciously, I’m preparing for a zombie apocalypse.  Or maybe because it’s 2012, and the end times are nigh (have you witnessed the crazy weather this summer?!). Or maybe I’m just tired of eating crappy frozen green beans and wooden-tasting fruit in the middle of the winter.  I was looking for a better way, a tastier way, to preserve our food.  Besides, I busted my ass on that garden all summer, and I don’t want to waste a single cherry tomato.  Enter canning and my new canning bible, Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry, by Liana Krissoff.

Here’s what we’ve canned and preserved thus far:

Of course, there’s also my awesome sour cherry preserves, radish pod pickles, and a very yummy batch of hot cumin pickled squash, as well.  There’s still more to come, too – we’ve barely begun the harvest.  By the end of the summer, we’ll have enough in the cold storage to hole up in the basement for days, and by the time the zombies break in, I’ll be too drunk to care!

Do you have any stellar canning recipes? If so, please share! I’d love to hear from you.