I love to can. Every year I haul out my jars and kettle and have at it, putting up tomatoes, pickles, peaches, jelly ... I only recently used my last jar of tomatoes from last year. You just can't beat them for fresh taste.

The Ball jar is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year with a bunch of commemorative products. They include a 1-gallon decorative jar and limited edition anniversary lids. There is also a new edition of the Ball Blue Book and new recipes.

Go to freshpreserving.com and browse around. If you are new to canning, you'll find general directions there, although the Ball Blue Book is among the best resources for this.

The jars were invented in 1884 by five brothers in upstate New York. Only four of the original amber-colored jars, made between 1884-86, are known to exist.

An exhibit, "Can It! 125 years of the Ball Jar," opened this month at the Minnetrista Cultural Center in Muncie, Ind., home of Ball's parent company, Jarden Home Brands, and where canning products are still made. It continues until Aug. 23.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for new looks at canning, a few books crossed our desks here at Food & Flavor that are worth a peek. Dive into these now and you'll be ready to can-can with the best of them when the season ripens.

My favorite is "Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques For Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods" by Eugenia Bone (Clarkson Potter, $24.95).

Ms. Bone writes about preserving with a true canner's love and a sense of humor. Her book offers a modern, hip touch to preserving, and includes recipes that incorporate that approach (preserve Green Olive Tapenade and use it with mackerel; put up Strawberry Balsamic Jam and pair it with panna cotta).

Like many a diehard fresh food junkie, she gets carried away by the lush array of fruits and vegetables at the farmers markets and admits it.

"When my husband sees all the food I cart home, he inevitably gives me the 'you need to join a group' look," she writes.

She has learned to pull back and can smaller amounts, and that is one of the useful attributes of her book: Even in her tiny Manhattan apartment, she preserves.

Ms. Bone also pressure cans and preserves foods in oil and by smoking, techniques for which she learned from her Italian father and by taking classes from extension services and mining service resources. (The Penn State Extension Service's Home Food Preservation page is at foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/preserve.html and includes links to many resources.)

Her book includes well-written information about what you need to do to preserve safely and why, including nice details about the little buggers you have to kill when you preserve.

"The Complete Book of Pickling: 250 recipes from Pickles & Relishes to Chutneys and Salsas" by Jennifer MacKenzie (Robert Rose, $24.95) is perfect for those of you who like to pucker.

Packed with classic pickle recipes, as well as clever twists on them (Bread-and-Butter Pickles with Onion and Red Pepper), this book is put out by the folks who also published in 2006 the fine "Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving" by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine.

"Pickling" gives the usual tips on safety, equipment and how-tos but hones in on giving a kick to garden veggies.

Pickle everything from fiddleheads to garlic scapes with this book; put up salsas and barbecue sauces, too. Done particularly well: Tips and serving suggestions that come with each recipe.

Finally, "Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Other Cooking Projects" by Karen Solomon (Ten Speed, $24.95) goes beyond canning to recipes for making and storing everything from crackers to bacon.

And lard.

Yes, lard.

"Homemade lard is an amazing culinary fat with a rich flavor and very high smoking point," Ms. Solomon writes. "And unlike the shelf-stable variety, it does not contain partially hydrogenated anything."

Hmm. I might add it to this year's preservation tally. It freezes for up to a year.