Short Takes

Canning

The process of canning is both nostalgic and current for me.  I experienced my mother canning.  I experienced my mother-in-law canning.  I have inherited the old and purchased the new varying paraphernalia to use in the process myself.

My mother considered the process too dangerous for her children to help with.  In that period I remember Mom using the oven method.  My fondest memory was not in the process, but in the outcome.  Mom canned the most delicious peaches that  never darkened.  I have not been able to do that.  In later years she used the canner/water bath method.  I can picture her handling the jars, etc., but I don't remember what she canned.  I do remember that she often made jelly, and sometimes preserves or jam.  A back yard crab apple tree provided the pectin rich juice.  My parents never did have a garden so produce was purchased either from the farm where we got milk, or from a fruit stand, or from an apple orchard nearby.  Rarely th store would have a good deal on peaches. 

After I was married, the freezer became an alternate way to preserve food.  I remember Lorene canning tomatoes and making something that was run through a old colander.  I am thinking it was tomato juice cocktail.  The tomatoes were combined with onion and other vegetables.  She also froze fresh cherries from their cherry tree.  Sometimes they were pie ready, sometimes not.  Every container seemed to contain a missed pit.  It was usually William or LaVerne who got the piece of pie with the pit.  I remember helping shuck corn, cutting the kernels from the cob, and placing them in freezer containers.  That fresh corn was soooo good later in the winter!  Lorene also canned tomatoes.  She froze peaches, but they always turned dark in the thawing process.  Having been farmers with a garden, Lorene had experience canning a greater variety than my mother did.

My canning ventures usually were a disappointment.  The tomatoes weren't too bad.  The grape juice didn't have much grape flavor.  The peaches were salty and turned dark.  The pickles were too salty and not at all crisp.  I had pretty good luck freezing a tomato cocktail type sauce to use in soups and chili.  My most successful attempts have been the green tomato relish, and jellies using either the crab apple juice from our crab apple tree or the grape juice from our grape vines.  The last batch of grape jelly turned out rubbery, but edible.  Some of the time I have frozen corn still on the cob and it has been wonderful, but the last time I did that it was so bad I threw away most of it.

Canning jars and lids have changed over the years.  My mom used separate sealing rubbers and lids.  The style and material of the lids has changed.  I still have some old aluminum lids with the separate rubbers.   They did not rust.  I remember some old glass flats that were used with a separate rubber.  They did not rust either, but they did not screw on so getting a seal may not have always worked.  Rims with separate flats that are coated with the sealing rubber have been used for many years now.  They do rust and that is another of those down gradings of quality.  The jars are of interest too.  Some were round.  Some were square.  Some were even oval shaped.  Thankfully the tops have remained standard.  They are either standard or wide mouthed.  

I have two jars tongs which I don't remember Mom using.  I also have two canning funnels which I do remember Mom using.  My canner is newer, but it is like Mom's.  Lorene's old canner was smaller and held only three jars instead seven.  It was a pressure cooker.  She had an old aluminum colander with a wooden masher.  I found it much better than the newer plastic ones.     

We are blessed to be able to buy canned and frozen food in the stores, but nothing beats the taste of home canned or frozen fresh produce.