Canning…. the great mystery.
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Well, it may have all started with tomatoes, but you have to do something with all those tomatoes. There are only so many salads and BLT’s you can eat. When we started our first garden I don’t think we really had any idea what we were going to do with what we grew. You know, that was OK; we had learned that we could grow things. We really had a lot of vegetables for that first year. I remember the entire island covered in tomatoes. In order not to waste all of our hard-won bounty, we needed to come up with some great way to use all of our produce. So we decided we were going to make salsa… and can it.
What a great idea! We will make salsa and can it, and then we will not waste any of our jalapenos or tomatoes! What a great plan! We were so clever! There was just one problem….. we had no idea how to can. When I grew up I remember my mom canning some beans, carrots, and applesauce and things like that, but I never had any part of it. I had no clue how to can, and Lindsay had no experience other than the knowledge that her Grandparents used to do it (which wasn’t very helpful). Youtube wasn’t around yet, so we went down to the local hardware store and picked up a copy of the “Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving”.
We digested the book, it seemed simple enough, and we did what any novice would do. We bought every supply we thought we might possibly need. We picked up jars, water bath canner, lid lifter, funnel, jar lifter, extra lids, another book on canning, cheesecloth (we had no idea why), pre-packed seasonings, canning salt, and some tool that pushes out air bubbles. We were ready to can!
I’m not sure why, but canning was really intimidating for me. I’d like to think that people just starting to learn, or people who have thought about it, and never done it would understand. I remember being afraid of not doing it right and making people sick, being worried about overcooking it, stressing about air bubbles and headspace, trepidation over water bath times, and jars CAN explode…. right? Canning was this mysterious craft that I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around. If only I could see through the smoke and mirrors, then, maybe then, we could make salsa. That all seems so foolish now.
Those early adventures in canning are so memorable. We screwed up a ton. We probably wasted half of our veggies, or at least it felt like it. I remember the time I was at work and Lindsay was preparing a triple batch of salsa for us to can, and she misread the recipe she was following, and added 4 1/2 CUPS of apple cider vinegar instead of 4 1/2 tablespoons! It was awful. Well, we didn’t lose heart, we were smart about it. We knew that if we just keep adding more of all the other ingredients, then, well we will balance it all out. I would love to tell you that it all worked out and we made a great salsa; well we didn’t. We added a ton of everything else and couldn’t bring it back. We figured out we would have to make about 18 times the original recipe to bring it back, which would have required a 55 gal drum. We tossed it out. In case you are wondering we learned a big lesson that day. If a recipe calls for vinegar of any kind in any quantity larger than a tablespoon, you better check the recipe a second time.
When our carrots were ready to be pulled we were so excited we had worked in the garden the whole day and couldn’t wait to cut them up and can them. Well, we underestimated the time we had available so we cut up about 2 gallons of carrots into slices and were too tired to can them. We decided to put them into bowls with water and get them after work the next day. The next day was busy and we didn’t get them done. That happened the next couple days, and when we finally got the time they were rancid and garbage. I was kind of deflated after that one, but I learned a valuable lesson. When you are canning, if you can’t finish it, don’t start it. Also if you can’t start it, don’t harvest it.
Canning was a mystery to us. Many times when we would ask for instructions it often seemed like the answers we got were really vague and made us feel like we were in over our heads. I remember a specific time I was asking a relative who makes excellent pickles, how she does it, she answered nonchalantly “Oh you just start with a brine….” and the rest of what she said was lost on me. I nodded along and I walked away thinking “What is a Brine and how do I make it?”. I went to my canning books and there was no recipe for a Brine. So I called her up and had to be a little pushy to get her to give me an actual salt to water ratio for a Brine. It wasn’t that my Aunt was trying to withhold information or anything like that, but I think that many people who preserve food, have been doing it a long time and it has become second nature to them. I think that is why a lot of the pointers and advice we had gotten seemed so vague; the people I asked, just knew because they have done it so many times. Preserving food has rules that must be followed but there is a lot of freedom in the details.
Canning is really quite simple. Yes, I said simple. It is not natural, and by not natural, I’m not talking about nutrition. I mean, it is not instinctual. When I think about the people who came up with these processes, I am amazed. When we garden, it is natural. Plants grow, can seed themselves, get the water and nutrients they need; even without our help. We can see a plant growing, and with a short science lesson, the process makes complete sense, there isn’t a lot of mystery there. Canning, on the other hand, requires equipment and the process isn’t so obvious, but it IS simple. I for one used to over-complicate the art of preserving. I am here to tell you if we can learn to can, so can you. Do not be afraid to learn how to preserve the fruits of your garden. I think I did do one thing right when I started to learn; I went to the hardware store and bought a book.
Next in the series, I wrote Quickstart Guide to Canning. In this article, I give you a simple breakdown of canning. I share with you what equipment we use, our favorite books, and some of the “do’s and don’ts” of canning. I hope you will check it out if you would like some basic lessons. I will try to help illuminate the mystery of canning.
-Daniel
