Whirlwind Week

Good Morning Blogworld,

It's been a terrific week and a busy one, as well. I had the opportunity to talk with both Lorie Hutson, staff writer for The Spokesman Review in Spokane, Washington, and Debbie Arrington, of the Sacramento Bee, in Sacramento, California.

Lorie was working on an article for the food section of the paper about preserving food for folks with specific dietary needs. Our discussion centered on reduced-sugar jams and jellies and preserves made with sugar substitutes. The folks at Team Equal have been especially helpful in this regard. So, if you or someone in your family is diabetic, this is a great way to still indulge your sweet tooth and have some strawberry jam or other fruit spread on your morning English muffin or toast. Go to www.equal.com for some specific recipes.

The other topic we discussed was salt. You don't need to add salt when you're canning vegetables. It's not a preserving agent, but is there strictly for flavor. So, feel free to omit!

Debbie and I got into tomatoes! My favorites for canning are San Marzano and Roma. These are the meatier types and hold up well under processing. Their thicker cell walls give you a nice, firm product.

For your liquid, use tomato juice, instead of boiling water to fill the jars. This is where other varieties, such as Early Girl, Big Boy, and their juicy cousins come in handy. There's nothing in the rule book that says you can't mix and match varieties in the same batch.

Wednesday's topic is mixed veggies!