‘Jelly Jars’

Jelly Canning Preparedness

You can never be too prepared when it comes to getting ready for jelly season, for it comes suddenly and with vigor and with full force!

Before you know it, the grape jelly crop will ripen on the vine and baskets of luscious jelly grapes will beckon and call your name. Now is the time to plan for your coming needs, for if you wait, you’ll find jelly making supplies scarce, if available at all. Some small towns have actually disappeared in smoke and fire as irate jelly makers set about burning down the local jelly canning shop due to scarcity of jelly canning goods! The fire spreads to the adjacent older buildings lacking fire barriers, and with a whoof and a frump, all is lost. Don’t get caught with your jelly down!

Whether you fancy yourself an expert grape jelly maker, or a snidely little novice, jelly canning supplies should be tops on your list in the off season when savvy shop keepers are facing bankruptcy with unsold inventory.

Grape jelly canning supplies include jars, lids, pots, pans, jelly spoons and jelly thermometers. You can often find these goods on the shelf early in the season while your competition, the jelly slackards, are sleeping or ice fishing.

Thrift stores are a great place to prowl for jars. Run your fingers carefully around the rims to check for nicks. If you pull away a bloody stub, move onto to more likely jars!

Throw away nothing! While that old portable tape recorder weighing a mere 40 pounds may be quite out of date, the reels may actually serve to spin up your delicious grape jelly mixture into a homogenous slush of grape jelly juice suitable for canning. Likewise, those old mayonnaise jars are a delight to the home grape jelly maker. Simply scrape out as much mayo as possible and carefully sanitize the empty container for later use in your grape jelly making pursuits!

Estate sales are also a great place to lard up on the leftovers from previous generations of jelly makers. Often the jars you will be able to procure will actually still have jelly in them. Vintage jelly from the past can be a wonderful delight to the palate, if you’re dumb enough to imbibe. Good grape jelly year jellies sometimes fetch a tremendous price on the open market and modern vehicles like Ebay. Don’t overlook profits from your activities.

Each time you go to your local grocery emporium snatch up a handful of grape jelly canning lids, rings, and jars. You’ll be surprised how quickly your stash builds up. Bury your excess in the back yard. In case of nuclear war, your grape jelly supplies make excellent trade goods. That cracked jar may one day save your life when grape jelly crazed nuclear charged mutants come knocking on your door.

Don’t be so quick to overlook grape jelly canning equipment sales. Occasionally, large unmarked trucks will park in local abandoned store parking lots and open their back doors for quick sales of grape jelly canning supplies manufactured in Mexico and China. While not as good as American goods, your Nafta provender will be good enough to last for a season or two. Just be careful to wash out your new jars very carefully, for often times, overseas goods come complete with lead residue or traces of antifreeze fluid used as sweeteners in underdevloped grape jelly making nations.

It may not seem to you now, at this moment to be the perfect time to be concerned about loading up on grape jelly goods, but you’ll be darn glad you did when the time approaches to get busy in the kitchen. When the time comes to turn the juice of the grape in the most delicious of condiments, it’s already too late to run down to the store for more supplies. Your backyard blockhouse should contain all the sugar, jars, lids, rings, grape jelly stirring spoons, pots, pans, and the rest of the implements of the trade.

After your spate of jelly making is concluded, then it’s time to begin the hoarding process all over again. It is a great pastime, particularly if you are unemployed in the worsening recession. At worst, if your finances permit, you’ll have all the wonderful grape jelly that your tummy demands to eat with your day old bread and eggs. Don’t get caught with your jelly rolls down!