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| Canning is fun again! |
It seems that the old standby that your grandmother or great grandmother used to do is coming into favor again. Canning, that old way of putting food up for long term storage, is becoming more popular among younger people.
That's something I wondered a few years ago when I saw that "Ball", arguably the country's number one canning and preserving supply company, changed their lids and rings from an old school "gold" color
to stainless steel color, sleek and stylish to go with, I presume, the rapid rise of stainless steel in kitchens.
On Friday, I attended a canning class at the Viking Cooking School. It wasn't a class full of Grandmothers, haha, it was a cross section of people, mostly young! It was great to see such diversity. Young single people, men, women, couples, young and old. This is a popular class and I believe this was the first one they have done. We made all sorts of delicous things during the class and I took pictures and will post them later to show you what we did. I'm hoping they have more classes in the future!
One thing I learned, and what I wanted to get from the class, was that you can't be intimidated by the "thought" of canning. We didn't get into the more advanced pressure canning, this was the basics, water bath canning, but we made jams, preserves, hot sauces, and pickles and it was so NOT intimidating. Just follow the rules, have your stuff ready to go and it's just more a patience thing than anything else.
This is something I've always wanted to learn, my Grandmother did it for years and while I helped her often when I was growing up, I never really paid attention. I wish I had now. Fortunately, I do still have her recipes, so once I become more proficient, I can start recreating some of her delicious recipes that are memories from my childhood.
One of the first things I want to do when the farmhouse is finished, and the kitchen and gardens are up and running, is to start stocking our pantry with stuff from the garden.
One thing I did learn this weekend, after bringing home jars of what we made, is that it's SO rewarding to eat something you made with your own hands, and tastes 100 times better than what you can buy at the store. Plus you KNOW what ingredients you put into it.
No chemicals or preservatives, it's all natural and good for you.
I'll post tomorrow the pictures of what we made in class and more information.
This was my second guess. We didn't do much canning around here. We made "dilly beans." They are basically pickled green beans. They are better than they sound! However, the main purpose around here is to use them in cocktails, much like you do with olives.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had fun, and your back to a chiropractor!!!
A little late to the post (came here from Annie's Kitchen Garden)-but I wanted to say that if you do can, you ARE connected to your Grandmother. My Grandmother got her home ec degree during the depression and boy, could that woman CAN! I, too, regret not paying more attention when I helped her can. I mostly remember it being very hot and my Gramma being a bit frazzled. I've been canning for 1 year and my older cousins have commented that my Gramma would be proud. It connects you to the past-to those victory gardens-in a way like nothing else does. Putting up food has been such a pleasure for me to do and when I look at my bursting-at-the-seams shelves in the basement filled with the yumminess that *I* canned, I know my Gramma would be so pleased. =)
ReplyDeleteGive it a go-you'll be so glad you did!
Wow, thanks for the kind words. I have done a bit more in the city house, but I'd rather wait until we have "good" veggies to use and I need a dedicated space to just go out and do it. Be organized. By the way, I'd kill to have a basement, ha, we can't have those down here. But I can envision our mudroom shelves filled with jars (and besides they are not only delicious but pretty too!). Thanks for visiting. I'm jealous of your rain barrels by the way, ha!
ReplyDeleteha ha rain barrel AND basement envy!
ReplyDelete