Eat First

Yes we CAN!

 
Maybe you see the shelves of canning jars and lids and assorted gear at your farm market or grocery store and think to yourself: “Canning? No can do! It’s not worth the time and energy.’’

Yes, canning is precision cooking (see Organic Gardening’s home canning basics). And it is a bit of a time suck. Begin a canning project and everything else in life is takes a back seat.

So why do we can when we could buy?

There’s no one answer to that question, but as sure as summer goes by in the blink of an eye, we do it. Every year. It has become a bit of a compulsion. A way to seize the moment – and what’s in season – and make it last.

The question has become: Why not can?

Here are seven reasons you might find us carrying home a flat of late-harvest tomatoes, daydreaming about doing something – but what?!? -- with local apples, bathing cucumber slices in brine and spices for days on end and sweating over the stove:

 

1. Preserving the local harvest 

The same things that draw us to the Regional Market and other local markets in the first place – connecting with farmers for fresh produce, learning about their crops and knowing where our food comes from – inspire us to get out the canning pot and jars.

Last week, while speaking to a friendly farmer from Sodus who proudly showed off the sun-ripened, blushing nectarines he brought to market – I knew my next batch of jam would be nectarine jam.

2. Connecting with the past

The sight of strawberries in June and tomatoes and Concord grapes in late summer takes me back to the days when Mom canned. Boy, did she can: Jams, jellies, pickles, tomato sauce, chili sauce, you name it. Her mother canned, and so did her mother’s mother, no doubt.

A few recreational jam sessions today is a walk in the park compared to the days when, for many women (and men), canning was a ritual born of absolute economic necessity.

3. Eco awareness

The reuse-recycle aspect is part of the appeal of canning – the box of jars we buy today will get lots of mileage: They can be used again and again.

But it’s more than that. Growing something or purchasing something homegrown at the market, bringing it into your kitchen, putting it in jars and storing it for later use reduces “food miles’’ – the distance food travels to reach our plates. Canning is one more way to eat local.

4. Save money, honey

Nine jars of Sodus nectarine jam cost all of $5 to make. That’s the cost of the fruit, essentially. You can’t beat that!

On hand already are the other necessary ingredients (sugar, lemons for juice) and gear (jars, lids and rings).

5. Personal satisfaction

Hearing the “ping’’ of lids as they seal is almost as good as hearing the pop of a wine or Champagne cork.

Seeing the growing assortment of food you’ve made lined up on shelves in the basement? Now that’s food you feel good about. 

6. Good taste

Let’s not forget the appeal of shmearing plum-vanilla or strawberry-rhubarb jam on something hot out of the toaster or oven on a cold winter day. Take that, Smuckers! There is simply no comparison.

7. Gifts from the kitchen – and the heart

Stocked shelves of homemade jams, jellies and pickles ensure we have host/hostess gifts at hand – and something to put a pretty bow on for everyone on our holiday list.

Rare is the person who doesn’t like to receive something you’ve made by hand. Hopefully they’ll give your “product” a positive review – and return to you a clean jar to use again.

You, too, can CAN!

A canned version of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que pickles

Boiling water, hot food, scalding-hot jars and lids, perfect timing, critical moments, fear of failure: It's so easy to come up with reasons NOT to "put food by''  that we sometimes forget all the reasons IN FAVOR of doing so. 

Such as: The promise of real, wholesome food, using produce at its peak of freshness with no additives and preservatives, prepared by you in your kitchen and enjoyed for months to come.

Canning is not rocket science but it is a project. Invest in a good canning reference book, like the classic "Ball Blue Book,'' or check a book out of the library. You'll also need a large pot with a lid and canning rack.

Stop in L&M Wines, Etc., at the Regional Market Commons in Syracuse for jars and lids. Do this on a Thursday or a Saturday, then head over to the market and select something in season now that you would really, really enjoy eating in the middle of the winter: Peaches? Plums? Blackberries? That makes canning less of a chore and more of a labor of love.

Need inspiration? Here are my Top 5 reasons to can.

Tart cherries, grown in Oswego County, rinsed and ready for jam.

1. Capture summer in a jar. Those jars of strawberry-rhubarb and peach-ginger jam stowed away on shelves in the basement are going to remind me of warm summer days come January and February.

2. Know your food and where it comes from. The cucumbers in my pickles came from a sweet, elderly Oswego County farmer at the Regional Market, who very nicely tossed in a few extras for me. The strawberries in this year's jam came from Skaneateles, the rhubarb from Suzanne's mother's garden in Baldwinsville. The ingredients didn't have to travel very far to get in a jar. The sweetener is sugar, rather than the corn syrup found in supermarket jams and jellies, and there's not very much of it.  That's food I feel good about.

3. Cheap thrills. Preserving food is inexpensive. The cucumbers that yielded 12 jars of pickles cost $3, plus a few more dollars for pickling spices and vinegar. I bought two boxes of jars this year (about $20), but some years it's necessary only to purchase lids.

The biggest investment is time,  but there is something very rewarding about making jams, sauces and pickles, and hearing the "ping" of canning lids sealing properly, ensuring good (and safe!) eating down the road.

Cherry-Vanilla Jam, inverted to encourage proper seal.

4. Canned goods make great gifts. My uncle once said of presents: "If I can't eat it, drink it or read it, I don't want it.'' I laughed, but there is something to be said for that, whether the recipient is 80-something or 30-something. Friends and family members on my gift list are always pleased to receive something homemade. Sometimes they even rave about what's in a given jar!

Blueberry-Pineapple Jam and a favorite cookbook.

5. Reuse and recycle. Empty jars usually make their way back, and they go out again later in the year, with something new and different and, hopefully, delicious in them.

It's a cycle that's very satisfying.

Jam session: Cherry-Vanilla, in progress.