by Rosamond Ricketts, Rozy’s Jams –
Back in the day, canning the harvest bounty was a necessary survival mechanism. An enormous fruit and vegetable garden, combined with a housewife who preserved, could make the critical difference to a family during the long harsh winters. Learning preserving was deemed an essential part of a young girl’s education. They had no fridges, freezers or 24-hour grocery shops, so bottling was of paramount importance. Treasured recipes were passed down the generations.
Nowadays, people are still canning. Granted, it’s not quite to the same extent, and perhaps for slightly different and less critical reasons.
For example, I as a know-it-all 14 year old was baffled that my Mum went to the effort of making Seville marmalade the old-fashioned way. She claimed that Dad preferred it to store bought.
Years later this caused a lot of laughter and teasing when my parents flew out to Canada to visit our first-born and found me running a successful preserves company that I had started by making 12 jars of jam for my husband when I was a shiny new bride!
Modern canners, it seems, often make a social event of a preserving day. Whether it’s a Grandma/Mum/Daughter “canning and high-tea party,” an aunty-and-niece reunion or five bridesmaids making chutney as a team for a wedding, folk are still getting together for canning. I’ve come across busy working mothers who get together on a day off – each bringing their different backyard harvests to a team preserving day. Each lady goes home with a multi-pack for her pantry.
There are folk who’ve been claiming that some of the old ways and skills are dying out, but I have seen an astonishing amount of evidence to the contrary. Younger generation canners are out there – quietly getting on with this delicious and useful tradition. Whether it’s guys canning their salmon after a manly fishing trip drinking beer and telling goofy stories with their buddies, or modern kindergarten-aged little girls learning to make scones and blackberry jam as gifts, canning is still going on.
Three notes, for any potential new canners out there: Preserving is huge fun! Other canners are friendly and helpful (if you get in a pickle or a sticky situation). The end of the day is so satisfying looking at the jars of yummy, useful food that you have just created. It can all become a bit addictive!
It’s also nice to have complete control over what goes in your food: no yucky synthetic nonsense. We here in B.C. are surrounded by vast amounts of food at harvest time, but as a province we have an embarrassing number of children who go to bed hungry each night. So, for so many reasons, home preserving is wonderful.
I would recommend the safety chapter in Bernadin’s Guide To Home Canning as a “must read” for any new canner. To welcome rookies to a yummy new hobby, here is a nice, sweet, summery Nectarine Jam recipe:
Heat and stir together until 60 seconds of rolling boil: three cups pureed nectarines, 50ml lemon juice and 5.5 cups sugar.
Add 75ml liquid pectin, stir furiously and ladle into sterilized Mason jars. Lid and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Happy Preserving!
