Canning Your Foods

Most of us have two things in mind when we shop for groceries these days. We are looking for healthy food and we try to save money at the grocery store. Well, the truth is, much of the food that “looks” healthy really is not. And, it’s really hard to save money on our food bill when food prices just keep climbing higher and higher. Few things are more depressing than being expected to pay a full dollar for one cucumber that obviously is no longer fresh. I refuse to buy. I also refuse to buy green and yellow squash at about $1.50 per pound, bruised and limp, and definitely beyond it’s prime. These vegetables are actually a waste of money and belong in the compost bin where they can be recycled back into the garden as mulch.

So, what choice do we have? Well, we have two choices, and both are so important these days that I consider them essential. The first is to grow at least some of our own food right in our own backyard garden. The second is to preserve some of the bounty right in our own homes. In this way we control and purity, freshness and nutritional value of our food. Home food preservation is also one of the best ways possible to save literally hundreds of dollars on food costs through the year.

Never preserved any food at home before? Wouldn’t know where to start? Well, let me put your mind at ease. Home food preservation is not hard….it’s actually quite easy. Preserving your food at home is very safe. Just know that you need to follow the rules and directions, especially when it comes to sterilizing your equipment. In the end you will have much more control over the purity and nourishing value of the food you eat. And I should add that the taste will definitely be superior to anything you can buy. Back to the cukes and squashes. These two vegetables are noted as prolific producers and you will, like every gardener, be giving them away for free. The difference is in the travel time. Garden to house is just a few feet. Field to produce shelf can easily be over one thousand miles.

I’ve been preserving food for at least four decades (and gardening even longer than that). Everyone who has preserved their own food in any way has had success and failures. Not all jars will seal properly 100% of the time. You can put them in the refrigerator and use that food first. Not all jelly will jell just because you think it should. However, you might check it in a few months as I did, and be delighted to find it did jell in it’s own time. We all have our favorite methods and mine is definitely dehydration. My least favorite is pressure canning, though I know people who do no other method. That’s the beauty of home food preservation. You are the boss, you are free to choose your preferred method. The result….pure and nourishing food…….is the same, no matter the method of choice.

In review, here are ten very simple reasons why you can and should take the time to control your own personal food supply.

1. The health benefits of home preserved food are far superior, because home preserved foods are
processed at the height of their freshness.

2. The nutritional value of home preserved food is retained because “shipping time” is from backyard
garden to kitchen. Even time from your local farmer’s market is more acceptable than one thousand
miles from grower to retailer.

3. Fresh food grown in your own backyard garden in healthy soil has the highest levels of vitamins and
minerals. These are the nutrients that keep us healthy and strong. Home food preserving protects
food nutrients.

4. Food purity is paramount to home food preservation. Preserve chemical free foods from your garden,
your local health food store or farmer’s market and your food will be as pure as possible.

5. The key to more wholesome food is less processing. Many foods require some processing time, but
by preserving your own food you control the amount of processing. This is the one single reason my
first choice as a method of food preservation is dehydration. Drying doesn’t destroy nutrients.

6. Many canned foods do require processing with heat. Heat will destroy some vitamins. It’s inevitable.
Still, home canned foods are not nutritionally dead. Canning your own foods also allows you to control
the sugar content of your finished product.

7. Foods preserved by dehydration is by far the most simple and effective way to insure nutrient rich food
for your family. Drying is easy to do. And, it’s fun too. Dried food takes very little space to store and
requires no refrigeration. Drying also eliminates the need for special equipment, however, you will
absolutely love your dehydrator!

8. Pickling the commercial way doesn’t come close to pickling foods at home. Home pickled foods are
fermented the natural way with vinegars and time. The taste, texture and variety are endless.

9. Some people make jelly and jam with artificial sweetners. I choose not to. It’s all about the taste.
Let’s face it, jelly is not a “health food” as such. But homemade jelly is a sweet treat that is also an
appreciated gift for anyone. Go “wild” and make chokecherry jelly. Ditto for wild plums.

10.Storing your home preserved foods is quite simple. You need a cool, dry area and you need to rotate
your containers so you use the oldest first. Most home canned foods will last for years, though the
nutrient level will diminish a bit. Most importantly, you food storage area will represent money in
your pocket when it comes to food shopping. As well, your food storage is self reliance and
preparedness in action….your hedge against possible disruptions and emergencies in your life.

My Grandmother's Pickles

Of all the precious memories I have of my childhood on my grandparent’s Kansas farm, the aroma and taste of Grandma’s old fashioned sour pickles just stayed with me through the years. When I decided to try my hand at preserving food I retrieved the recipe and have shared it over and over, so, here we go one more time. You enjoy! The pleasure is all mine!

MY GRANDMOTHER’S OLD FASHIONED SOUR PICKLES

DIRECTIONS FOR ABOUT 8 QUARTS OF PICKLES

The night before, wash about 60 small to medium cucumbers.
Place them in a large enamel, glass or stainless steel container
or crock. Cover with water to which you have added and mixed
in 3/4 cup to l cup of pickling salt.
The next morning, rinse the cucumbers and let dry on towels.
Wash and sterilize 8 to 10 quart-size canning jars.
Make sure there are no chips or nicks on the rims. I prefer
wide-mouth jars.

In the bottom of each jar place 2-3 cloves of garlic (peeled), one small
red hot pepper ( or a couple of slices of jalapeno pepper) and a generous
handful of dill. Fresh is best, but dried works great too. Use just
the top half of the plant, or the entire stem…you choose.
Add the cucumbers to the jars in an upright position. You can
keep packing some dill as you go, or add another generous
handfull on top after you’ve packed the cukes in. Wipe the
jar rims with a clean wet cloth.

Now the brine………In a large enamel or stainless pot bring to
a boil one quart of good cider vinegar, 3 quarts of water and
3/4 cup of pickling salt.
Put lids and rims in boiling water and keep them hot.

Carefully fill jars one at a time with simmering brine to 1/2 inch
from the top. Wipe jar rim clean and place lid on the jar. Gently
screw on rim to a firm, but not tight fit. Place finished jars
close together on a clean towel and cover with several
thicknesses of towels (like a tent) to keep warm until
the jars seal (you will hear the familiar “pop”). You now have
8 beautiful jars of the most delicious pickles you will ever
eat….period.

More tips: You can water bath your pickles if you like. I never
have. You can make these pickles in a crock buy placing all the
ingredients in a large crock, placing a plate to keep the pickles
in the brine and covering with a cloth to keep out pests. A scum
will form as the pickles ferment in a warm place. Do as Grandma
did…..reach in, get one, wash it off and enjoy!

More tips: Canning pickles does occasionly have it’s hurdles, like
a jar that refuses to seal. Simply put it in your fridge and eat it
first. If you really have a sealing problem it is possible to go back
and replace the lids, then water bath for about 25 minutes.

More tips: Get and use the right equipent. I use a 2 cup plastic
mixing cup with pouring spout to transfer the brine to the jars,
and tongs to remove lide and rings from the hot water.
The whole process will be more enjoyable and successful if you
have organized everything you will need and be very sure everything
is as clean as possible.

More tips: For the best possible results, use pickling cukes,
not those for slicing. And, always use pickling salt, not
table salt. Table salt can make your pickles soft and mushy.
Yuk! Also make sure your enamel canning equipment is free
of any damage to the enamel itself.

Lots of us remember when our grandmothers canned food and the sealed jars lined shelves in the cool, damp cellar that doubled as a safe place in case of a tornado.   I can still smell the aroma of the smoke house on my grandparents farm….and that was definitely long, long ago.  My mom wan’t into canning.  She liked the grocery store.

For many years I was actually scared to can anything for fear of poisoning my family with botulism.  How stupid was that?  Along about the mid-sixties a friend gifted me with homemade pickles that tasted just like those my grandmother made year after year.  I LOVED those pickles then, and still do to this day.  Of course I got the recipe…….and you will find it on this very site shortly.

The pickle deal opened the door to many canning and preserving adventures (and sometimes mis-adventures) over the years.  I certainly wouldn’t call myself a master-canner, if there is such a thing, but I got pretty good at it.  I’ve developed my favorite pickled beets and an old Shaker recipe for bread and butter pickles.   My beautiful storage shelves of pickled fruits and vegetables, canned fruits were my pride and joy.  They were also the source of the perfect gifts for almost every occasion.

I still am not friendly with pressure cookers, so can’t speak from experience about actually canning low acid vegetables, meats and other things like that.  However, with my family of eight I kept two freezers filled, thus avoiding the pressure cooker.  I know people who swear by them….I’m just not one of them.  Whatever method, the cardinal rule is to follow directions exactly, and make sure all equipment and containers are clean and sterilized.  Anyone can do it………I did.  So can you.  I guarantee you’ll never regret capturing the season’s bounty and enjoying it all winter long.

Canning isn’t the only good method of food preservation.  Dehydration is one that I personally love doing.  It’s almost impossible here in the humid midwest to dry tomatoes without a dehydrator.  However, when I lived in southern Utah, the low humidity made the drying very quick and easy before storing the beautiful chunks in good olive oil.  Humid or not, I won’t part with my dehydrator.  Not just any food dehydrator, it’s the biggest Excalibur Food Dehydrator with the most shelves and an automatic shut-off.  It came with a good size full color manual so I would know what I was doing, I suspect.  You can take a good look at a variety of Excalibur Food Dehydrators at www.amazon.com.  You can even buy a new or used one there too.  Mine has hundred and hundreds of hours on it, and still purrs like a kitten.

I couldn’t chat about the world of food preservation without mentioning one of the most fun and tasty aspects of storing food.  That is making jams and jellies, butters and a whole list of sweet conctions (which also make great gifts by the way).  Homemade jams and jellies are easy to make.  Just get organized and follow the rules.  No store bought spread can come close in comparison.  Here, you can really go unique. You can make and share gifts not available at any price.  Mine are homemade chokecherry jelly and homemade wild plum jelly.  Not for sale anywhere!

There are quite a few other methods to preserve food and lots of interesting history to go with recipes from generations long gone.  It will be my pleasure to share it all with you.  I’ve even got some interesting stuff on winemaking around here somewhere.

Gosh, I planned to focus on welcoming you to the new Food Preservation Guide with a laundry list of topics to be covered, but the conversation took it’s own way. Must have been the smell of Grandma’s pickles that I imagined.  That said, I want to invite you to begin preserving food.  There are good reasons.  One is that it’s a very smart way to save money.  Another is that you know what’s in the food you and your family eat.  Another is your personal effort to be self-reliant….to be able to care for yourself in an emergency.  And, finally to enjoy the satisfaction of creating something useful, tasty, nourishing and beautiful.

So, you don’t have the huge garden your grandmother had.  Maybe you don’t have a garden at all.  Food preservation doesn’t have to be a monster job, although when that meant survival itself, it often was. Today we have lots of choices.   The grocery store comes to mind………..overloaded with all sorts of produce in season.  The farmer’s market where locally grown food is yours.  You’re neighbor who prays someone will take her squash off her hands.  Take it, dry it and use it in soups, casseroles, breads and even unique potpourri (yes, I said potpourri!)

Go foraging for the wild stuff.  Depending on what part of the country you live in or near, the choices abound.  We have loads of wild sand plums that make an exquisite jelly.  Here’s a good tip.  Make enough for at least THREE years in a good year.  Frost and nature have a way of messing things up.   In my experience, the best chokecherries grow in Wyoming, and that’s where I get them.   

Be on the lookout for what grows in your area.  Look for apples, crab apples, peaches, apricots, pears.  Ninety-nine percent of the time if you just ask, people are happy that you actually want to make their ground cleanup easier.  Give them a sample of what you created from their generousity and they’ll love you and welcome you back……guaranteed!

So, I welcome you to the new Food Preservation Guide and invite you to visit often for lots of great information and recipes that will make preserving food one of your favorite activities.