Canning Asparagus

I grew up with a side dish of asparagus with Velveta cheese sauce served at most big family dinners.  It is still a favorite dish, especially when I go home to my mom's home.

Jon and the kids aren't big asparagus fans, but it has grown on them as they've gotten older and realize I'm going to serve it from time to time. Although I grew up on canned asparagus I also really like fresh asparagus.  But, I'm not always thrilled at the almost $5 per pound price for fresh or $4 per can price. 

This week Tom Thumb had my favorite veggie on sale for under $2 per pound.  I purchased twelve pounds of the green stalks of goodness.  Home canning asparagus means it doesn't get as mushy as the canned version.  

This is the link I used for canning the asparagus. The only variation I made to the recipe was I used a little less salt and added 1/2 teaspoon or chicken bullion to each jar tall pint jar.  When you can asparagus the spears are cut to the length of the jars, which means there is still a lot of the good veggie that is usable but not canned when you are packaging them in spears.  I canned all of the spears and then made the rest of the pieces into asparagus soup.  

When we were all finished my twelve pounds of asparagus yielded 12 tall pints of spears and four quarts of soup! Not bad for a twenty-five dollar investment! Well, only $25 if you already have the jars and equipment! 

 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.  Romans 14:2-3