Can, Can, Canning!

This weekend I pulled out the canning equipment 

from a back shelf in my laundry room.  I haven't 

used it in years!

I didn't grow up with much canning in my family.

If we came home from Bramhall Woods with a pail

filled with blackberries and the scratches to show 

for the effort, my Mum would take pity and whip

up a batch of jam but it wasn't something that 

happened on a regular basis.

Her brother on the other hand was mad for gardening

and always put up some of the fruits of his labor.  Uncle

Ed would make the best zucchini pickles and once we 

said to him, "Unc, the zucchini is great but we fight over

the onions at the bottom of the jar."  Wouldn't you know,

the next season he put up jars of just the onions.  We 

would pull off a piece of Italian bread, spread it with

some brie and top it with the pickled onions ~ it was

heaven!

When I moved to the Midwest twenty-five years ago

(25!), I was in my Country Living phase.  I dreamed 

of living in an old farmhouse and going down to the

cellar to shelves lines with jars of things I canned 

from my garden.  Of course, I didn't know how to can

but I was moving to the Midwest and thought I would 

learn.  About 30 minutes away from where I lived at 

the time was Muncie, Indiana, the home of the Ball

Corporation, the canning jar people.  I marched into

their corporate office building one day and admired 

all the old jars in their lobby and asked where do I

find out information about canning?  They looked at

me like I had two heads.  They had no idea.  I told them

they should...

I had to teach myself through books and I generally

stuck to just fruits.  I would go to the strawberry farm

every June and pick 30 pounds of strawberries and make

jam.  When the kids were little, we had friends who 

lived in the country who had grapes on their property.

We would fill the station wagon with boxes of grapes and

go home and make a big mess and enough grape jelly to

last us all year.

Then life got too busy for canning but luckily we had our

Uncle Jamie who was a mad scientist in his kitchen and 

he whips up all sorts of chutneys and pickles and preserves.

Every Thanksgiving he comes with boxes filled with goodies

so we really relied on his delicious efforts.  

When we were at his house after the big trip this summer he

served us a snack that used his Pike County Tomato Preserves.

Kate and I were crazy for it and we said we'd make some for 

ourselves this summer.

It is tomato season in our neck of the woods and this

was the weekend to "put up" some preserves.  I went 

to the Farmer's Market at Minnetrista yesterday

morning which coincidentally is where the Ball Brothers

lived years ago, their mansions still stand on the property.

The first table I went to had a display of Ball canning items

and the ladies were making Bread and Butter pickles. 

They gave me some good info on where to find the best

stores with the largest selection of canning items.  We

picked up some tomatoes from another vendor and also 

stopped at a farm stand near our house.

I made two batches of Pike County Tomato Preserves.

The recipe calls for tomatoes, an orange, a lemon, sugar,

salt and pumpkin pie spice.  Mine aren't as good as

Uncle Jamie's but I'm happy for my first attempt.

We like to eat ours on a thin cracker spread with whipped

cream cheese and topped with the preserves.  Num!

In the stores I was happy to see a big selection of

canning supplies.  There must be a resurgence of 

interest for major retailers to give up that much shelf

space to canning.  I had to take home these little jar

toppers.  They are made to look like a fabric and 

ribbon top that we have all used at one time or

another but they are made of silicon so they keep

your jams or jellies fresh in the fridge since it keeps

the jar airtight.  

I'm already thinking about zucchini pickles...