Jarring economy spurs rise in canning

To Amy Hobbs Harris, a dozen jars of strawberry preserves are worth $391 -- the amount she estimates she'll save in a year by canning the fruit herself.

Not that she normally would spend that much on jam. But the savings add up once she factors in other uses -- giving them away as gifts, for example, or stirring the preserves into plain yogurt instead of buying pricier flavored cups.

Harris, 33, of Tipp City, Ohio, started canning for the first time last summer, putting her a bit ahead of a trend seen around the country: As food prices rise and the economy declines, more people are turning to home canning.

I started canning to save money," said Harris. I really love the self-sufficiency of it, that I know where the produce started and what the process is."

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