Can

This quiz will determine your preserving personality and once you read your results, you will be given some helpful suggestions for how to improve your canning game. We are all here to grow, right? Read on for the quiz, Wildflowers!

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This quiz will answer the question that is in the air at every farmer’s market, at every U-Pick, and when you take a look at your pantry shelf.  Take this quiz to find out what kind of preserver you are, no matter if you have never canned a thing, or if you are an experienced preserver.

What’s Your Preserving Personality?

Read each question and jot your answer down on a piece of scratch paper. At the conclusion of the, What’s Your Preserving Personality Quiz you’ll be able to check out personalized recommendations for products, blog posts, and more than I think you’ll love.

 

1. You are strolling the local farmer’s market and see a huge flat of your favorite fruit- peaches!- at a bargain price. You know you cannot possibly eat them all fresh, and your corgi isn’t a fan of stone fruit. What do you do?                                         

A. Feel certain that you shouldn’t risk making yourself sick; you can’t miss work! And those peaches look a little wrinkly…or fuzzy? That must me mold, so you move on.    

B. You love a challenge but you failed that one time you tried to make Beef Wellington and you know canning those peaches must be waaaaay harder than that. You know your great Aunt Nadine used to can, but she lives in a different time zone, and can’t hear on the phone very well, so you leave the stand wishing you were a little more kitchen savvy.                              

C. Haul that flat home! You will crack open a canning cookbook and a cold one, follow the recipe closely, remember to check the lids carefully before storing, and pat yourself on the back for your industry.            

D. Call in reinforcements to help you take them ALL. You buy every peach in sight, seek out high-quality vanilla beans and some small batch liquor to flavor the syrup, and bake a cheesecake while the jars are processing. Easy peachy!

 

2. When it comes to preserving food at home, your greatest worry is…                                                                                            

A. Botulism. Get that, and you’re a goner. That’s what Napoleon died from, right?                                                              

B. Burning yourself. You’re edging towards the “hot mess” descriptor when it comes to cooking and though you like being in the kitchen when things get complicated, you tend to screw things up.                                  

C. Breaking a jar in the canning pot. So much work wasted when that happens! Now how to figure out how to avoid it in the future.                                                                                            

D. Failing to get a perfect set when you make marmalade, or too thick a lemon custard. Those pesky eggs cook in a hurry if you’re not careful with the custard!

 

 

3. You’d like to give homemade gifts for the holidays. You…

A. Are sure you’d send your friends to the hospital with homemade jam so you buy some cutesy jars of jelly from the organic section of the supermarket and ignore the outrageous price tag.

B. Open that old canning cookbook your mom gave you but the long set of directions including lots of pots coming to a boil deter you. You gift homemade cocoa mix in mason jars which is cute but you feel a little lame for giving the exact same thing as every other vaguely crafty gal around.

C. Pick a canning recipe you’ve made before, get some tiny jars, follow the cookbook closely, and you end up with a dozen ruby-colored jars, a messy cooktop, and a happy heart. Your family will be so impressed!

D. Have trouble deciding on which flavor and color theme to tackle but decide on making a medley of canned champagne jelly (so festive!), a batch of roasted pepper hot sauce (your uncle looks forward to it every year!), and a delicious concord grape and walnut conserve. Stockings are stuffed yet again with the fruits of your labor.                                                                                                                                                                             

 

4. You are in charge of hosting a large family dinner. You feel…

A. Very overwhelmed. You want to do things the right way, and do a good job, but you feel like the only choice is to go to a fabulous restaurant.                                                                          

B. Somewhat stressed. There’s so much to cook and you never know what to cook when! You need an assistant! Yikes!            

C. Like you need to make a long list of tasks to be done before the dinner, the day before, and the day of. You call your Uncle who is so great at roasting meat for advice, you get your sister’s recipe for those great rolls, you spend a lot of time reading cookbooks in the meantime and pinning recipes you think (you hope!) will be good, and you do your best by following the lists, the recipes, and calling for help when need be. 

D. A little bored. You do this sort of thing all the time and your traditional family isn’t really interested in eating a wildly different meal. You’ll just prepare all the courses like usual and try to choose an exotic cocktail to spice things up.

 

5. Complete this sentence: Canning is…                                            

A. A great way to get food poisoning. You’ve read about it! It also can cause an explosion in the kitchen if you aren’t careful with that metal lid.                                                                            

B. Um, the way food gets into cans? Right?                                  

C. A way of preserving food in glass jars.                                    

D. A method of preservation where hot food fills hot jars, a lid is applied, they are submerged in a boiling water bath, the oxygen is forced from a canning jar which creates an airtight seal, and the resulting food product is shelf stable for up to a year.

 

6. Respond to this statement: Canning and pressure canning are

A. Risky business. Those lids can shoot off if the pressure isn’t released.

B. I’m sorry. There are two kinds of canning?

C. Different but I’m not quite sure how.

D. Different means of achieving the same result. One is meant for preserving high acid foods, and the other for low acid foods.                                                             

 

7. Jelly is…  

A. Delicious and I wish I could make it myself.                                

B. Probably crazy hard- it is so clear and pretty!                          

C. I think you use pectin or a green apple to make it stiff but it is basically just fruit juice and sugar, right?                                  

D. A clear preserve in which all fruit matter is removed except when purposefully left like in a soft marmalade. That gelled juice suspends slices of grapefruit beautifully!

 

8. The most appealing part of canning is…

A. Giving homemade jam or applesauce would really show my effort and would be a unique and enjoyable gift.

B. It seems really practical; jars upon jars in the pantry of ready-made pasta sauce for way cheaper than store-bought, or a healthy snack that you don’t have to remember to add to the grocery list- yes, please!

C. It is so satisfying! You can spend an hour and then you have a dozen or so jars of jam, or applesauce, or pickles…you can eat them yourself, impress your mother in law, give as gifts…the sky is the limit!

D. Within its rules and structure, you find limitless creativity in ingredients, ratios, and application of the finished product. Does it provide you with farm fresh taste year round and what home cook doesn’t want that?

 

If you answered with mostly A’s, click here!

Mostly A's!

If you answered with mostly B as your choice, choose this button!

Mostly B's!

If you chose more C’s than any other, click this button!

Mostly C's!

If you selected D most often, click this one!

Mostly D's!

What do you think, Wildflowers? What type of canner are you? How about your friends? Share this blog post with them and see which one they choose. You’ll know where to head for your next holiday meal if nothing else 😉