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Some time back I had a conversation with a friend about huge harvests of apples and turning them into enough applesauce to last several years. She told me how much her kids loved the stuff and that they had it practically at every meal and even for snacks and still they never ran out of the stuff before they had yet another huge harvest and put up more jars of the yummy, wholesome, homemade, no-preservatives-added applesauce.

When the talk came around to the actual work involved and I mentioned how horrible my hands look after peeling all those apples, she laughed and said, "We just throw the apples into a grinder and make the sauce, peels, stems, cores and all. It's easy as can be."

I gaped at her. "But surely you know apple seeds are toxic. They contain arsenic. Don't you get sick from eating all that applesauce laced with arsenic?"

She looked as if I'd hit her with a ten pound bag of apples. "Arsenic? Like the poison?" she squeaked. Obviously apple seeds containing arsenic was news to her.

After an awkward silence I asked, "So, ever make tomato sauce? Tomato seeds aren't toxic." It was lame, of course but I had to try. I'm rather certain she never made applesauce again.

Having probably destroyed a family tradition for this woman I vowed to rectify my blunder by touting the value of preserving the garden bounty safely and with no chance of poisoning your loved ones. It is indeed a very simple process though canning is a bit time consuming but well worth it. Imagine having the things you grew in your own garden put up in neat little jars to supply your winter fair with the taste of summer. How amazing is that?

And the best thing is anyone can do it. With the right equipment canning is easy as pie. Of course, that's assuming you know how to make pie. But that is the trick, isn't it? Knowing is everything so here are a few tips for successfully preserving your bountiful harvest.

For proper canning you'll need a large kettle, or canner, one big enough to hold several canning jars with enough room to spare for at least an inch of water over and above the jars. A canning rack to hold the jars in place and for easier placement and removal is good to have and often comes with the canner along with tongs to safely grasp the burning hot jars. Pot holders needless to say are also a must. A wide-mouth funnel is great to have and makes filling jars a snap.

Jars is next on the list. They come in all sorts of sizes and shapes and are sold in quantities of a dozen at supermarkets

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