- Erin Cooks - http://erincooks.com -

An Erin Cooks Giveaway: You Can Can Can


Note: This contest has now ended. Thank you all for entering! Kristin of Meringue Bakeshop just happened to be lucky #43. Congratulations Kristin!

Now that I’ve been getting my Farmers Market on a bit here in San Francisco I think it’s definitely time for me to make my annual attempt to can something. Three years ago I made strawberry jam that ended up being strawberry sauce. I blamed my lack of proper equipment because I had EXCELLENT personal tips and notes from my canning expert friend Marissa.


Then last year on a lark I went to H-Mart, bought literally a zillion jalapenos for something like $2 and decided I was going to make pepper jelly. This time I was prepared. Really prepared in fact as two separate family members had purchased canning kits for me at Christmas time. Thank you Gram & Amanda! The kit itself was fantastic. What wasn’t fantastic was my too small stock pot. You see, for some reason I thought it would be OK to read while I was stirring my boiling hot cauldron of peppers and sugar and was shocked beyond all belief when it proceeded to boil over everywhere. I scrubbed sticky green ectoplasm from the floor, stove, and counters forever.  I did manage to save enough of my jelly though to can it and even though it totally slimed me I thought it turned out deliciously.

As an aside, all of this talk of canning has made the Can Can song from Moulin Rouge stuck in my head on a constant rotation. If you aren’t familiar then I’ll happily share the song-insanity with you.

This year it appears that Ball has updated their canning repertoire a bit with a number of new and reformulated products. Lindsay at 360 PR was kind enough to send a sample of these items along to me. I’m personally covered in the canning department and honestly as much as I’d like to hoard more awesome paraphernalia the small stature of the new apartment has made that an impossibility so I’d love to pass along the following awesome goodies to you:


1. Ball Home Canning Discovery Kit
2. Ball Blue Book
3. Fiesta Salsa Mix
4. Classic Pectin
5. Kosher Dill Pickle Mix
6. Ball Dissolvable Labels
7. Collapsible Funnel
8. Secure Grip Jar Lifter
9. More Classic Pectin & Fiesta Salsa Mix

Are you ready to test your luck at potentially winning all of these Ball products? If so, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post letting me know what you’d like to attempt to can over the summer.

In addition, If you share the link to this contest on your own blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ account etc… you may have one additional entry for a total of two possible chances to win. If you choose this option please leave a link to your shout out as your second comment.  A winner will be selected via the nifty random number generator next Friday, July 22 at 5:00 PM PST and then I’ll promptly arrange to have the loot shipped to your home. Best of luck! Note: Sorry readers, but I can only ship this prize to those of you in the Continental US.