Seasonal Canning is Ongoing

I moved to the Midwest last year after over 30 years in the South. One of the things I do like about the Midwest is corn. Here we grow every possible kind of corn: sweet corn, feed corn, popcorn, even broom corn (which is not really corn, but a member of the sorghum family.) In Kankakee County, Illinois, there is a local variety of sweet corn that is incredibly tasty. With stands selling corn at almost every rural intersection, this is the season to eat corn on the cob for every dinner and to preserve some of that goodness for winter eating. In the photo, you see my corn relish, a blend of corn, vinegar, peppers, and pickling spices.

To the right you see my blackberry preserves. I got these berries on sale at a local store, but I have fond memories of picking blackberries off a back road as a child and taking them home for Granny to make into yummy preserves. Buying them from the store saves on scratched arms.

These are added to my lemon-zucchini jam (an unusual recipe in one of my Amish cookbooks) and apricot-date chutney in my pantry, canned earlier in the month. I didn't get peaches this year, but I still have some peach butter I made last summer.