A Canning Renaissance

When I was a little girl, late summer meant sitting on my grandmother's front porch, a few sheets of newspaper on my lap, a half bushel basket of freshly picked green beans beside me, and the familiar ping of breaking beans tossed into a metal pot. While my mom, my grandmother, my aunt, my sister, my cousin, and I diligently strung and broke the beans, my grandfather would man the big, scary pressure canner nearby, which we watched out of the corner of our eye, always just a little bit afraid it would blow up. There would be stories and laughter, and sighs at the endless baskets of beans that seemed to keep appearing, to be stuffed into jars, salted, pressured, and then lined up on basement shelves like eager little soldiers. Come August, it was time for tomatoes, but us kids could usually escape most of the grunt work when it came to tomatoes, since more heat was involved in the boiling, peeling, chopping, and cooking that led to bastions of pasta sauce, salsa, and plain crushed tomatoes standing sentry with the green beans. Plus, we were probably back in school at that point anyway. In October, it was time to do apples. And then came winter, time to eat and rest.

As a child, I didn't mind all this. In fact, I thought it rather a fun, festive time. My teenage self still secretly enjoyed it, although by this time I had gathered from the cool and hip police that really I should prefer hanging out at the pool or the mall with my friends, few of whom measured their summers by something so quaint and old fashioned as canning. In the late 80s and throughout the 90s, canning was something only poor, backwoodsy people still did. It was decidedly not cool.

Today, with high unemployment rates, depleted savings, and terrifying news stories of a contaminated food supply, home food preservation is making a huge comeback. In fact, I don't think it would be out of line to say that canning has become downright trendy! And I think that's a very good thing.

When seeking a simpler life, what you're really doing is getting back to the basics. By avoiding the frenzied surplus of cheap consumer goods that numb the soul and drag you further and further into the never ending cycle of debt and empty desire, you free yourslef up to focus on the things that really matter. Any hierarchy of needs pyramid you look at will obviously state food as one of the most basic, fundamental human needs. So, rather than overstuff ourselves with prepackaged convenience foods loaded with unhealthy artificial flavorings and preservatives, it makes sense to reevaluate, and take back the reins regarding your food supply.

Home canning and gardening often go hand in hand. It makes sense that if you go through all the work (pleasant, rewarding work, to those of us who love it, but hard work just the same) of raising a garden, any surplus left over should be preserved for later use, preferably in the dead of winter when growing things becomes a bit more of a challenge (although not impossibe, check out this book on four season gardening, truly inspiring....). If you have a sunny window or porch/deck, a pot, and some dirt, you can begin to grow at least some of your own food. Home gardening takes many forms, and urban dwellers are doing marvelous things within extremely limited spaces. But even if gardening is outside your area of expertise or interest, preserving fresh, local food is still within your reach and incredibly worthwhile. A box of tomatos bought in peak season from your local farmer's market can yield enough pasta sauce for dozens of meals for long, cold winter nights. Obviously, you're going to come out ahead financially, but even more importantly, you've made the transition from consumer to producer, a vital step in a more simple, sustainable life.

If you're a canning novice, there are countless books and web resources available to guide you through the process. My favorite book is the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which contains fabulous recipes as well as detailed instructions on method and technique. In my opinion, canning is best undertaken as a communal adventure, one to be enjoyed with a group of friends or family. In addition to the great fun these "canning parties" can be, you have the added benefit of sharing costs, and two or more heads are (usually) better than one when challenges arise.

Happy Canning!