I chose “misc” for my applesauce, apple butter, and apple cider vinegar post, but I would love to have a canning tag. Though some canned things could be “dishes” on their own, I think they are more related to each other than to a side dish or snack category.
To go more broad than canning, maybe “food preservation” could work! It would cover a variety of ways to preserve like canning (pickles, jams, sauces), fermenting (saurkrauts, hot sauces, tempeh), drying (fruit leathers, herbal tea blends), meat curing (salamis, salted meats), candying (fruits, ginger)… I would love to see things like this under a common tag!