Interesting. What our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers often saw as drudgery and a whole lot of messy work is now becoming an incredibly popular trend among this generation's new homesteaders. It's called canning, or putting up (or down or by) or preserving and it's not just women's work any more!
Elizabeth reported on canning from the New York Times article last week. This week, were taking a look at a few of the many exciting canning projects happening in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It's an old tradition that women would gather together to help each other put up the harvest. Canning and pickling can be hot, back-breaking work so many hands make light work indeed. These days, men and women are getting into canning and they're doing it for a lot of reasons: to stretch their local and seasonal harvest, to be social with other like-minded people and to have some fun while creating a practical and delicious addition to their pantries.
Here's a few events happening in the Bay Area this summer:
- For a list of on-going classes in canning, preserving and pickling in the Bay Area, Happy Girl Kitchen is an excellent resource. They even have a cute little movie on how they got started.
- Yes, We Can has an interesting approach. Calling themselves a community canning project, they will meet three times this summer to can local fruits and vegetables (apricots, pickles and tomatoes.) You can support them by either purchasing a box of canned apricots, pickles or tomatoes or by participating in a workshare where you are on hand to help out and learn something about canning in the process. (The workshare has already sold out, unfortunately. We hope this inspires Yes, We Can to offer more of this fun project!)
- 18 Reasons has a Jam It Salon with Karen Solomon on June 4th. Bring a taste of your latest canning project or just come along and mingle with like-minded kitchen DIYers.
- Cultured Pickle Shop, an amazing pickle store in Oakland, doesn't offer classes but a visit to their shop would sure be inspiring. Check out this very informative Chow Obsessives on Alex Hozven and Cultured.
- The venerable June Taylor will offer conserve classes in Berekley. There is still room in her July and August classes, which are limited to 12 people and involve tasting fresh fruits and conserves as well as making and preserving a jar to take home.
- Kathryn Lucas of Farmhouse Culture is often in the Bay Area teaching workshops on making sauerkraut. Keep an eye on her website.
What canning opportunities are happening in your City? Let us know in the comments and help spread the word to create canning communities everywhere!
(Image: Yes, We Can)
It still amazes me that this is so popular all of a sudden. I've been canning the last few years--my mom taught me how to can when I was a kid--and now it's all the rage. We've done applesauce many times in the fall, pumpkin butter, pickles, and jam. This year we're hoping for more.
view sweetpeacooks's profile
I wish we had something like this in DC!
view BetsyGinDC's profile
I too find this sudden popularity interesting...I grew up with my grandparents and parents canning all of the veggies we ate. As my grandparents grew older, and they sold their farmette, we don't can as much, but will still do green beans, tomatoes, salso, applesauce, and last year we canned peaches for the first time in a long while. We pressure-cook can ours outside in the garage, using a 2 burner propane hook-up. It keeps the house cooler! I also make jams, pickles, and freeze corn too. I can't wait! :)
view PAErin's profile
I hope this spreads--it's more about making it a social thing like a quilting bee or some such.
My grandparents always canned and froze bounty they purchased from farms. I fondly remember deveining(?) green beans and shucking corn. And if I could only replicate those pear preserves! I finally have a garden of my own and a kitchen I can do more than turn around in, so I'll be trying my hand a canning and pickling this year.
view ValHalla's profile
Please remember when canning that if you learned from your mom or your grannie, that you probably aren't doing it safely by today's standards. In the excellent book "Putting Food By" they talk about the resurgence of canning in the 70s, and how this was also accompanied by a huge spike in sickness and death from improperly canned foods.
In the NY Times article referenced, they say that recipes dating pre 1990 are not to be used!!! This is another way of saying what I just said above and have been saying for years : if you learned how to do it from your mom or your grannie, it's time to update your skills. Get a good book! There are several good ones recommended in the NY Times article.
view Bushidoka's profile
If anyone knows of any programs like this in L.A., I'd love to know about them!
view Faith (L.A.)'s profile
I'm teaching a series of four canning classes in Philadelphia this summer at Foster's Homewares (www.shopfosters.com) and I'm working on putting together a community canning project at Philly Kitchen Share sometime in late July.
view Marisa McClellan's profile
Bushidoka: You're right! People definitely need to update their skills, but you don't neccessarily need a book. Check the USDA website, they've got all the information you need to update your canning skills. Here they are in one convenient chunk: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html
I use older recipes all the time, but I also make sure they follow the modern guidelines. Those yummy canned peaches aren't worth it if they kill you horribly. >_
view deliriumsama's profile
deliriumsama - that's still a book. Just because it is free and online, does not make it any less a book :-)
view Bushidoka's profile
I am helping with canning/preservation classes in Columbus, Ohio :)
view Lindsay722's profile
I LOVE the graphic!! Kudos to the designer.
view slipperymarshmallow's profile