This is how I do.... I am not usually about measuring, I forget to write things down sometimes. But, I do make some kick ass pickles and preserves, when things work. There are some basic rules you HAVE to follow for safety, so be careful, and do your research. Some sites I suggest to read before embarking on preserving are:

Home Canning FAQ

Canning safety

All About Canning

wellpreserved.ca

foodwithlegs.com

Bernardin

Be safe, err on the side of caution. If it doesn't smell, look, or just feel right to be eating something you made, then THROW IT OUT! 

Here are two older recipes from when I was just starting off:

Preserved Lemons

Pickled Asparagus and Garlic Scapes

Tomato Stewing Base

12-15 Tomatoes

Large Onion

4 cloves of garlic

Kosher salt to taste

Lemon juice (for canning)

• Chop tomatoes in to rough pieces
• Thinly slice onion and garlic
• Soften garlic and onion
• Add tomato and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes
• Add lemon juice to sterilized jars
• Fill jars with the cooked mixture
• Seal with sterilized lids
• Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes
  

Daikon Pickles

Daikon

2 cups water

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup rice vinegar

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup salt

1 tsp mustard seed, cumin, tumeric

• Slice daikon into thin pieces, and add to a sterilized jar
• Combine ingredients and bring to a boil
• Add brine to the jar, and fill to within 1/2 inch of the top
• You can process, or simply refrigerate
•  

This recipe (as with most of mine) is part science and part guestimating, and personal taste. I made mustard last year, and like the idiot I can be, I lost my notes. It was a full grain mustard mixed from 2 separate recipes, and the result was amazing. Shame. This time I went a totally different route, and did some more research before making this batch. Last time it was too acidic, and a lot of compensating had to be done. I think the problem was soaking the whole seeds in just straight up vinegar, instead of adding some water or other liquids, and over soaking the seeds.

My Tomato Ketchup aka "Kinda Ketchup"

1 kilo tomatoes

Malt vinegar

Carrot

Onion

Garlic

Celery salt

Cumin

Cloves

Cinnamon

Bay leaf

Kosher salt

Brown sugar

• Bring to a boil all ingredients except sugar
• Simmer 30 minutes, covered
• Uncover, cooker 15-20 minutes stirring often
• Discard cinnamon, bay leaf
• Blend and strain out liquid in to a bowl
• Add sugar and simmer until thickened, and sticks to the back of a wooden spoon
• Remove from heat and ladle in the liquid you reserved until it reaches the desired smoothness
• Fill sterilized jars
• Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes
  

Peach Ginger Rosemary Jam

6 peaches

zest and juice of 1 lemon

large chunk of ginger

8 tps sugar

1 cup water

2 cups of syrup from pickled apricots

1 tbs rosemary extract

• Chop and simmer peaches, water, ginger, and rosemary, covered, until soft
• Uncover, add syrup and cook for 20-25 minutes
• Remove from heat and process
• Add sugar, lemon and zest, simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes, until thickened
• Cool and add to sterilized jars
• Process in a water bath for 30 minutes

Rosemary Extract

• Clean and destem enough rosemary to fill a small mason jar
• Fill the jar with the cheapest vodka you can buy
• Store in a cool dark place for 4-5 weeks
• You can discard the rosemary at this point, or leave it and refill once the level gets low

Peach Jalapeno BBQ Sauce

1 lb peaches, cubed

¼ cup ketchup (I used homemade, recipe here)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 Jalapeno (I used one that I had pickled last season)

2 cloves of garlic, finely diced

1 tbs ginger, finely diced, OR 2 TBS of ginger simple syrup

2 tbs honey

1 tbs worchestershire sauce

2 tbs vinegar

2 tbs grainy mustard

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

• Bring all ingredients to a high simmer and cook for 10 minutes, until peaches are soft.
• Use an immersion blender to incorporate everything together, making sure all of the peach gets fully blended.
• Cook an additional 20 minutes, or until you reach the desired consistency.
• It will be thick, so if you want it looser you should add some extra ketchup.

Pear, Fig, Onion Chutney

Onion

3 Pears

1 Apple

6-10 figs

½ cup balsamic

½ cup honey

¼ cup brown sugar

• Sauté onion until soft
• Add remaining ingredients, except brown sugar, cook covered for 30 minutes
• Uncover and add brown sugar, cooking until thickened
• Add to sterilized jars, and refridgerate, or process for 30 minutes in a hot water bath 

Pickled Apricots

1:2:8 white vinegar:water:sugar

Clove

Allspice

Cinnamon

• Boil your pickling solution
• Add the spices to your jars
• Add cleaned fruit to sterilized jars and fill with the liquid
• Seal and process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes

Pickled Beets

Beets

2:1 Malt vinegar : Water (reserved from boiling beets)

50 ml kosher salt

150 ml sugar 

cloves

peppercorns

Vanilla beans

Cinnamon sticks

• Scrub and boil beets until soft (about 30-40 minutes)
• Remove and place in a ice bath
• Cut tops and bottoms and rub between finders removing all skin
• Boil liquid, sugar, salt
• Place remaining ingredients in sterilized jars and pour hot liquid over, and process sealed jars in a hot water bath for 30 minutes

Pickled Carrots

1 kilo heirloom carrots, cleaned with tops left on

1:1 Rice vinegar (Asian style) or Cider vinegar (Regular pickle) : water

50 ml kosher salt

Asian Style Spice Mix

Ginger

Clove

Peppercorn

Coriander

Brown sugar

Regular Spice Mix

Bay leaf

Peppercorn

Mustard seed

Clove

Garlic

Hot pepper flakes, or habanero

• Fill sterilized jars with carrots
• Bring all ingredients to a boil
• Pour hot liquid over carrots, seal with a sterilized lid
• Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes

Pickled Hot Peppers

Hot peppers (I used jalapenos, pimentos, and other small hot peppers)

2:4 vinegar (½ malt, ½ white) : water

50 ml kosher salt

25 ml sugar

Peppercorn

Coriander

Garlic

Bay leaf

• Place whole hot peppers of various varieties in to a sterilized Mason jar
• Pour hot liquid over peppers, seal with sterilized lids
• Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes 

Pickled Onions

I used David Lebovitz’s Pickled Red Onions Recipe (http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/09/pickled-red-onions/) and changed it a bit to my own taste. 

1.  I like the stronger flavour of a yellow cooking onion for this application, so I subbed that 2. I love tumeric and the colour it brings to the onions in this recipe, great for photographs of the food and colour contrast. 3. As well, I prefer the heavier flavour of a malt vinegar

Here is my take on it:

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup malt vinegar

3 tablespoons (50gr) sugar

Tsp salt

1 bay leaf

5 allspice berries

5 whole cloves

1 dried chile pepper

1 tbs tumeric

1 large yellow cooking onion, peeled, and thinly sliced into rings

• Add all ingredients, except the onion, into a pot and cook, until boiling
• Add the onions and cook for 2 minutes
• Remove, let cool
• Transfer onions to a jar, fill with the strained liquid
• Refrigerate

Pickled Plums

1 kilo Italian prune plums

2 vanilla beans

2:1 Apple cider vinegar : water

1 cup honey

• Clean, pit and half your fruit
• Boil liquid ingredients
• Pour the liquid over fruit and a ¼ of a vanilla bean in your sterilized jars
• Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes

Pickled Radishes

Radishes

2 ½ cups vinegar (1 part white, 1½ parts cider)

1½ cups water

150 ml sugar

100 ml kosher salt

Peppercorn

Mustard seed

Coriander

Bay leaf

• Clean and half radishes, place in sterilized Mason jars
• Bring ingredients to a boil
• Pour hot liquid over radishes, seal with sterilized lids
• Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes

Pickled Tomatillos

12 tomatillos

1:2 rice vinegar : water

50 ml kosher salt

• Slice tomatillos and place in sterilized jars
• Bring brine to a boil and pour hot liquid into sterilized jars
• Seal with sterilized lids
• Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes
  

Tomato Marmalade

1 kilo tomatoes

1 cup white sugar

1cup brown (demerara) sugar

cinnamon stick

1 tbs cumin

1 tsp pepper

(optional) cardamom pod

lemon and orange rind

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

• Simmer crushed tomatoes for 30 minutes to reduce water content
• Add sugar and spices, cook an additional 30-45 minutes until thick
• Strain through a sieve, pulling out the tomato skins, cinnamon, and cardamom (optionally you can de-skin the tomatoes before cooking)
• Fill sterilized jars
• Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes
  

Adapted from http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to-preserve-tomatoes---easy-recipe-for-tomato-jam-a247282

Tomato Sauce (Basic)

Tomatoes - I used cherry heirloom variety and roasted them whole

Garlic

Onion

Olive oil (you can use a flavoured one, I used garlic)

Kosher or smoked salt

Pepper

Lemon juice (for canning)

• Roast tomatos in oil and salt in the oved until very soft, about 20 minutes at 425
• In a pot, soften onion until translucent
• Add all ingredients except lemon juice, bring to a boil, simmer on low for about 1 hour, or until you reach desired consistency, stir frequently
• Add a squirt of lemon to each sterilized jar before filling
• Process in a hot water bath for 45 minutes

Tomato Sauce Version 2

Tomato puree

Garlic

Onion

Basil

Parsley

Kosher salt

Pepper

Cinnamon

Sugar or Honey

Lemon juice (for canning)

• Soften onion until translucent
• Add all ingredients except lemon juice, bring to a boil, simmer on low 2-3 hours or until you reach desired consistency, stir frequently
• Add a squirt of lemon to each sterilized jar before filling the sterilized jars
• Process in a hot water bath for 45 minutes