WOW! Makes me hungry. I may try this with the first habs I pick this year. It has not been a good year for the habs thats for sure. I was hoping to get a few by now, but I figure good things happen to those who wait! Here is a link that might be useful: The Pepper Guy's Blog

There's a reference to carmelizing onions on America's test kitchen website. They use the oven. Here's their recipe in case you can borrow some of it from step 1. And they say they think you can make the onions up to three days in advance. Seems like you would only need two Dutch ovens since your requirements are twice what is in this recipe. They also have pictures on the site and some more details. The site requires registration but doesn't cost any money, just your email address. from: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=4746&iSeason=9 Best French Onion Soup from the Episode: French Classics, Reimagined Sweet onions, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla, will make this recipe overly sweet. Be patient when caramelizing the onions in step 2; the entire process takes 45 to 60 minutes. Use broiler-safe crocks and keep the rim of the bowls 4 to 5 inches from the heating element to obtain a proper gratin of melted, bubbly cheese. If using ordinary soup bowls, sprinkle the toasted bread slices with Gruyère and return them to the broiler until the cheese melts, then float them on top of the soup. We prefer Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth and Pacific Beef Broth. For the best flavor, make the soup a day or 2 in advance. Alternatively, the onions can be prepared through step 1, cooled in the pot, and refrigerated for up to 3 days before proceeding with the recipe. Serves 6 Soup 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces 6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (see illustration below) Table salt 2 cups water , plus extra for deglazing 1/2 cup dry sherry 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (see note) 2 cups beef broth (see note) 6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine 1 bay leaf Ground black pepper Cheese Croutons 1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices 8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups) See Illustrations Below: Golden Onions Without the Fuss 1. For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour. 2. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.) Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes. 3. Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper. 4. For the croutons: While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside. 5. To serve: Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Couple of tings here....once the sugar begins to smoke, it is burning and I toss it out. Secondly if you add butter to melted and browned sugar it will sizzle and bubble and be almost impossible to mix. For camelized sugar, say to pour over a cake in threads or to line a flan dish, I do like The "pro" says and melt the sugar in a heavy pan until it's caramel color....but I remove it well before the smoke point. For a sauce, I mix 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup butter and 1 cup of heavy cream, cook slowly and stir, and continue to cook for 4 or 5 minutes after it starts to bubble. That's Ann T's recipe....and it's perfect!

Can it if you like, you don't need to convince me that it's safe, you only have to convince yourself. If you are comfortable, do as you wish. As I have said, commercially available products are processed with equipment that the average person doesn't have access to or can't afford. They can heat things to higher temperatures or at greater pressure than can be done at home and so are able to preserve things that the average home preserver cannot. Not only does the product have to reach a certain temperature, it needs to reach it within a certain time and maintain it for another particular period of time. Very thick or dense items can be problematic, as the heat may not penetrate to the center for a long enough period of time or quickly enough to avoid spoilage or toxins. Other things just aren't tested, so there is no way of knowing whether they are safe or not. Other things are not recommended because of quality, like that rutabaga. It gets "strong". People don't like it. The recipe goes away. It's not unsafe, but the quality suffers. Some of the canning recommendations break their own rules. The NCFHP has a recipe for 3 bean salad that calls for oil, but you aren't supposed to can "fats". I leave the oil out because I don't like the final product, but it's tested and safe. There's also a recipe for lemon curd that calls for butter and egg yolks, although it's recommended that you use it within 3 months because it separates and discolors. Again, a quality issue. But it's been tested for safety at specific times and temperatures, it's not a "I guess that's going to be good" time or process. The fact remains that there are no caramel sauce recipes that have been tested and found to be safe for home canning. Maybe it is OK, but how do you KNOW? Simple answer is that you don't know, you just think it is, or guess that it's OK. If that's enough for you, then can away, but if I can't guarantee it's safe, I'm not going to tell other people that it is. I'll tell them I don't have any way of knowing and let them decide for themselves. So, do as you wish. Lots of people take risks. They do shark diving and bull running and free climbing rock faces hundreds of feet off the ground. Some die or are horribly injured, others survive. Whatever risks you are willing to take are yours to take, whether it's canning or riding bulls. And, if you're really set on canning caramel sauce, the closest I found was this. I love pears, so it sounds really good to me, but it's not actually caramel, there's no cream. Close, though, and contains only high acid fruit (pears are 3.5-4.6 pH) and sugar, along with some vanilla. Pear Vanilla Caramel Sauce from Food in Jars 2 pounds ripe pears 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste 1 teaspoon sea salt 3 cups granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups water Prepare a boiling water bath canner and four half pint jars. Core and chop pears. Place them in a blender with the vanilla bean paste, salt, and 1/4 cup water. Puree until smooth. You should have between 3 and 3 1/2 cups pear puree. Combine sugar with the 1 1/2 cups water in a sauce pan. Place over medium-high heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the sugar reaches between 250°F and 290°F and darkens to the color of an old copper penny (the higher the temp, the more assertive the caramel flavor). Do not stir the cooking syrup. Instead hold the handle and gently swirl the pot to move things around. Once the syrup has reached your desired temperature, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the pear puree. It will bubble and spatter, so take care. Stir puree into the sugar and return the pot to the heat. Continue stirring and cooking, until the pear caramel sauce reaches between 215°F and 225°F (the higher the temp, the thicker the finished texture will be). As you stir, take care to really work the bottom of the pot, so that the caramel doesn't stick and burn. Remove caramel from heat and funnel into prepared jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Annie