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Canning with Carrie

Posted at 5:25 PM on July 3, 2008 by Donna McClurkan (5 Comments)

"It has been said that no single discovery has contributed more to the general welfare of mankind than the art of preserving food."

This is not my pantry. It's been an inspiration for mine, though, as I've been itching to learn how to preserve food ever since this photo was taken last February at Archie and Mattie's.

Why?

- We'll know exactly what's in our food and where it came from.

- The taste is superior. We know this because of the generous gifts of home-preserved foods from friends. The peaches, tomato sauce, berry preserves, pickled asparagus and more helped us get through the winter months - lessening the impact of what Chicago food writer, Phil Vettel, calls Culinary Cabin Fever.

- Cost savings

- Camaraderie

Carrie and I have been talking about canning together since we started Chicken School, and mid-June, the plan was set in motion. We picked up 30 pounds of freshly harvested asparagus from Schultz Fruitridge Farm and placed them on ice in 2 large coolers. I arrived in Carrie's kitchen promptly at 8:00 a.m. the following day and started washing and cutting the pointy green delicacies. We thoroughly cleaned the jars in a boiling water bath, filled each of them with (local) dried pepper flakes, a whole clove of garlic, a grape leaf from Carrie's yard, our asparagus and topped them with a vinegar/salt solution. Then back into the boiling water they went - to cook the spears and seal the jars. Within a few seconds of being removed to cool on the counter, we were rewarded with the telltale "thwap" of airtight lids.

Our work paid off. The cost for these beauties was $1.15 per pint jar (excluding labor & utilities). A bargain for a little taste of spring - next winter!

(Many thanks to Freya Lake for sharing her mom's well loved and slightly stained Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving Recipes, 1937 - the source of the opening quote)

Comments (5)

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Dear Donna,

Wow! I can see how the picture of all those canned beauties would inspire one, but I am totally impressed with your beautiful asparagus....great job.

Vera

Posted by vera schabicki | July 6, 2008 7:04 PM

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Thanks for the comment, Vera. We'll have stories go with our beautiful pickled asparagus next winter; all part of the pleasures of eating locally and putting food by! Donna

Posted by Donna McClurkan | July 6, 2008 7:16 PM

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I'm envious of your help in learning the fine points of canning. My attempts to can tomatoes last summer were only marginaly sucessfull. This is if you ignor some minor second degree burns on my arms from flying tomato sauce, though I have to say fresh juice from the aloe vera plant really did seem to work wonders. One other comment; though I don't claim to be able to spell I did think that I knew what day of the week it is untill I looked at the calender for July on this site.

Mike

Posted by Mike | July 6, 2008 10:51 PM

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Dear Donna,
In the many joys of canning your own food is the joy of the learning process.(or learning to process)I've really enjoyed learning to preserve food and I've also enjoyed helping others learn from my experience. Seems there are so many different recipes and methods it would take one person a lifetime plus another lifetime to learn and taste them all. There should be a proverb or some old saying just for that.
Happy canning,
Carrie

Posted by Carrie | July 8, 2008 12:55 PM

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Mike - thanks for your comment. Hope the flying tomato sauce incident didn't cure you of your interest in canning again in the future.

Carrie - You have all those wonderful magnetic words on your refrigerator. Perhaps in all your free time you could use them to fashion a proverb or create a new/old saying to capture the essence of canning! Or maybe "many hands, light work" will do. Thanks for all you have taught me about putting food by - I look forward to learning more and the camaradarie that accompanies the lessons!

Posted by Donna McClurkan | July 8, 2008 7:32 PM