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I can’t can

by Leah Koenig · August 21st, 2007
Community Agri., Farmer's Markets, NYTimes, New York, Region, Seasonality

Well-seasoned foodies might find Sunday’s, NY Times article, In Pursuit of Farm Fresh Flavor, somewhat (excuse the pun) ”behind the times.”  The article’s basic theses were that local is the new organic, people like feeling connected to their food and farmer, and that those same people are hesitant to pay more for organic/local food.

Yep.  I’ve read that all before.  (I’ve even written that all before, as have many other food bloggers and writers.)

The article did, however, indirectly point out one interesting trend, which was summed up by Southampton resident, Sandra Fox’s comment: “If you live [in the Northeast] you know that the supermarket is for winter.” 

It seems that local food enthusiasts get more complacent about where their food comes from once the weather gets cold.  As the farmers markets close up shop and the CSA season ends, the overwhelming urge is to grit one’s teeth and return to the supermarket’s fluorescent haze and the waxy produce from far away lands. 

This phenomenon occurs, I think, because most people in our society (myself included) do not have the basic skill of how to preserve food through canning or freezing.  We may have nostalgic notions of freezing our luscious summer corn kernels and canning those perfect strawberries into jam to be enjoyed during the frosty months.  What we lack is the know-how…and perhaps the free evenings or Sunday afternoons to actually do it.

It would hardly be possible (and certainly not pleasurable) to survive on preserved local foods alone during the winter - but increasing the practice of preserving would allow us to enjoy the warmth of summer foods, without having them shipped from warmer places.  Besides, what could be better than Chanukah latkes topped with homemade applesauce that has been waiting patiently in the freezer since the first fall apple harvest? 

My “New Year’s” (meaning Rosh Hashana, of course) resolution is to spend an afternoon learning how to can before summer’s harvest disappears. 

For basics on canning from the USDA (!), click here.  If you have any other preserving tips, or suggestions for foods that can well, I’d love to hear them.

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5 Responses to “I can’t can”

  1. Michael Croland Says:
    August 21st, 2007 at 6:45 pm

    The title is brilliant!!

  2. Jackie Topol Says:
    August 21st, 2007 at 9:56 pm

    Hi Leah,
    This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Here at Adamah, we’ve been freezing a great deal of summer squash and zucchini. Today was the first day we pureed a whole crate full of our delicious tomatoes in tomato sauce and our pickling is still going strong (though it’s slowing down). I’ve learned a lot from being here and I hope that I’ll be able to adapt what we’re doing here in my own home oneday.
    Anna and I went peach picking at a local orchard on Sunday and I’m making my first batch of peach preserves EVER on Thursday night. I’ll let you know how it goes !
    -Jackie

  3. Tzimmes-Maker Says:
    August 21st, 2007 at 9:57 pm

    canning workshop at the dec food conference? eh?

  4. Sarah Tuttle Says:
    August 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 am

    Oh! (can you tell i found your blog today? its made my morning). We live in New York, and have canned (not this season yet). Its actually really sad, because its gotten quite expensive to get cans & bands and the like (I suspect because so few people do it these days). Easy long term canning? Water bath. I’ve never used a pressure cooker. They freak me out. I’m sure if we actually had… dirt, and therefore much of a garden, I might get brave. Water bath canning requires more acidity, so fruity things are easier, or tomato things… which is great, because those are two things that are terrible in the winter (unless they come alllllll the way from watsonville, CA….)

  5. Jackie Says:
    August 26th, 2007 at 8:15 pm

    Hey Leah! The canning went really well on Thursday. Here’s how I did it:
    1) Boil peaches for 2 minutes. Now the skin is easy to peel off.
    2) Once all skin is peeled, chop up peaches. (I wanted my preserves to be a little chunky so I chopped them into 8ths)
    3) Put cut peaches into large pot and add sugar - no water needed! (I used enough sugar to equal about 1/3 the amount of peaches - if you use less it will be less sweet and syrupy and add more if you want it to be more sweet and syrupy). Feel free to add a little lemon juice (I did) and other accompaniments (like minced ginger or almond extract- which I’ll have to try next time).
    4) Heat up on the stove top so that everything comes to a boil and then bring down the temperature so that it simmers. (I let my preserves simmer for about 45 minutes but it depends on how syrupy you want your peaches to get and how many peaches you have in your pot.)
    5) While everything is simmering, sterilize your jars ! You can do this by (carefully!) dropping your jars into a pot of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Remove jars and set aside to cool.
    6) Once peach mixture has simmered long enough fill each jar with preserves leaving 1/4″ room at the top.
    7) Screw on lid tightly (but not too tightly!) and drop jars (again-carefully!) into a pot of boiling water. You will notice little bubbles coming up from the jars. This process will properly seal the cans so that they are shelf stable. Let the cans sit in the boiling water for 20-30 minutes.
    7) Carefully remove sealed jars from pot and set on counter to cool for 24 hours.
    8) Enjoy your peach preserves during the winter (and now if ya can’t wait to try ‘em)! ;)

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