Canning Season is Here!

There are plenty of reasons to love the warm months - great weather (well, except when it's 95+ out with 90% humidity), summer festivals, everything is in bloom... but for me and my kitchen, it's also peak canning season.

I started canning 3 or 4 years ago, while doing my PhD work at Georgia. There was a lovely peach stand on US 129 south of Athens, and one day as I passed by I realized that it had been years since I'd had any homemade peach preserves. My grandmother and mother made them years ago, but my grandmother passed when I was young and my mother had fallen out of her canning routines. I ended up buying a giant basket of peaches, drove home, and promptly called my mother to learn how to make peach preserves.

Since then, I've started canning much more than just peaches. Apple butter has become a fall favorite and it's not uncommon to see pepper jelly in my holiday gift baskets. When my garden is full of tomatoes, I fill tons of quart jars with them, in addition to what I dehydrate for tomato paste and other uses.

Last night, I finally started browsing through some cooking e-books that I'd downloaded well over two years ago. In that directory was this canning guide, written in 1920 by a woman who really knew her stuff. A number of the methods are quite outdated (preserving foods in tin cans is no longer advisable, for example), but it remains a fantastic general guide and a wonderful read. As I started in on the first chapter, I realized that so much of what she spoke to applies to society today. For example:

Before the World War, housewives had lost the good habit of canning, preserving and pickling. It was easier to buy California fruits by the case and canned vegetables by the dozen or half dozen cans, according to the size of the family. There is no doubt it was cheaper and decidedly easier to purchase canned fruits, vegetables, greens, soups and meats than to take time and strength in the very hottest season of the year to do our own canning.

But what was true then is not true now. The war taught us thrift. The crime of wasting even a few tomatoes or berries has sunk into our minds to stay forever; scientific canning methods have been adopted by the modern woman. Women who had never canned in days before the war had to can during war days. Food was so scarce and so high in price that to buy fancy or even plain canned products was a severe strain on the average housewife's purse. The American woman, as was to be expected, came quickly and eagerly to the front with the solution and the slogan: "More gardens and more canning and preserving at home."

Replace "World War" with "recession" and how true this sounds! We Americans have become very lazy with regard to our food sourcing. The modern reaction is hardly as severe, but there has most assuredly been an increase in home gardening and food preservation.

For me, the attraction of canning is not simply a matter of economics - I learned the techniques in order to pay homage to my roots. So few of us understand what it is like to taste homemade preserves and know that there is absolutely no store-bought, mass-produced substitute acceptable.

I had a mess of strawberries and plenty of cucumbers, so this morning I brought all of my produce along with me to my parents' house. My mother and I spent a couple of hours making strawberry preserves and bread and butter pickles. I'm waiting very impatiently for the next few days to pass so that I can taste the pickles, but my dad had a taste of the spoonful of preserves that didn't make it into the jar and gave his resounding approval.

If you have never canned before, this spring is a great time to start! All you need are some jars, lids, and rings, and a pot large enough to hold the jars and cover them with water. A jar funnel and canning tongs help as well, but I had neither for my first attempt at jelly-making and turned out just fine.

Below are some starter instructions on processing jars in a hot water bath, as well as the recipe I used today for my strawberry preserves. Once the pickles have a few days to cure and I can taste them, I'll share the results here.

How to Can Preserves in a Hot Water Bath

Hot water baths are the easiest way of canning jams and jellies. The only special equipment recommended is a jar lifter (also called canning tongs), which is inexpensive helps move the hot jars during processing.

First, wash your jars using very hot water. If the jars are new, you can run them through a dishwasher cycle without any other dishes or detergent in the machine. You can also hand wash the jars. The lids should be kept in a small pot of simmering water until the jars are ready to seal. Once you are ready for the lids, pat them dry with a clean towel. Place the lids on the jars and close tightly with rings.

Using the jar lifter, place the jelly jars in a large pot filled about 1/3 high with hot water. Once all of the jars are in place, the water should cover the tops of the jars by no more than 1/2". Close the lid on the pot and heat over medium-high to high heat for 7-10 minutes, or according to recipe directions.

Carefully remove the hot jars from the bath and place on a towel on the counter for about 2 hours, or until jars are cool. You will hear popping sounds while the jars cool as the lids create seals.

Homemade jellies are best eaten within 2 years, but have been known to last 5 years or longer when stored in a cool, dry cellar.

Homemade Strawberry Preserves

2 pounds strawberries, hulled and mashed

4 cups sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice (or 1-2 tbsp Fruit Fresh)

In a large pot, stir together the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice over low heat, continuing to stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring often until the mixture reaches a temperature of about 220F.

Pour into hot, sterilized jars, leaving about 1/2" room at the top of the jar. Add lids and rings to jars and process in a hot water bath for 7-10 minutes.