Fingertight!

Posterity (Pickles)

Note to self: these beans are some of the best things I have ever eaten. They make it ok to have those weird pickled cherries on the shelf.

I think Anya should post the recipe for posterity. Juniper berries!

My feelings about canning by bex (Feelings)

I enjoy peeling fruit and having my picture taken. Canning is ALRIGHT!

memories... (Feelings)

hey you guys...
i totally just ftp'd...WOW! check these pictures out: the memories! please tell me if it takes too long to download ladies.
this is what i did while i was running around not helping with the actual canning...
i hope to see these on your desktops soon!
xo jen

holy shit... (Cured Meats)

it is my personal mission to actually post something here about an EXPERIENCE that i have CURING MEAT.

this is something that feels like a life's dream, only just discovered...

i teethed on biltong (south african jerky basically) when i was a baby for heaven's sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i was made to cure meat!
maybe...

ringy ding ding (Drying)

BC MacIntosh apples were in the store today for 49¢ a pound. This seems kind of early (corn is still 5 for a dollar!), but then, that is the theme of the summer.

In any case… I'm happy to be reminded that fall is harvest season, too. Being too busy to put things in jars right at the end of summer has been torturous, even though I've only been strict with my work schedule for about a week now. Truly, canning is addictive, if I'm being a freak about one week of withdrawal. I really think that for me it has to do with the lifting of all the usual restrictions on stashing. The whole point of putting things in jars is building a giant stash of preserved food in the pantry! How can I not get completely obsessed with having enough jars of preserved food?

But, before this entry goes completely over to the Feelings category, I think I will dry some apple rings in honour of the 49¢ bounty.

Having consulted The Apple Journal (of course there is an apple journal!) and discovered that they acknowledge fanaticism about varieties, I feel ok giving in to my family's traditional love of the MacIntosh for all uses. I don't think people usually dry macs, but I was raised to hail the mac as the supreme apple. (Granny Smith is only for pie! Golden Delicious is only for sauce! Mac is for everything!) I've lately gone over to the Fuji/Braeburn team for fresh eating, but I still have an instinctive respect for MacIntosh apples.

Bex and Galen have heard my granny give the geneology of all common apples. They can vouch for my apple-brainwashing.

I think the good thing about drying will be that it doesn't require much tending— I can theoretically get work done while the apples are drying.

bottles and cans (Canning)

on the one hand i love that so many people my age are catching canning fever, but on the other, i wonder if i should be hoarding thrift store mason jars in case of a trend explosion.

i remember when i regularly scored luxury yarns for 49 cents at the St. Vincent de Paul shop, but in these days of stitch'n'bitch resurgence the second-hand yarn supply has been filtered down to overpriced acrylics. how long will intact widemouth jars be 25 cents a pop?

there shouldn't be such a thing as early adopter paranoia when dealing with pioneer technologies!

Pear rumours, planning (Canning, Salsa, Relish, Chutney)

So I hear this bin of pears at Emily's house is pretty big. Is it a bushel? Would it not be fun to start discussing bushels of produce? According to my calculations, we were dealing with half a bushel of cukes at the dill pickle party of early August.

What is the popular will for these pears? What obscene quantities of sugar will be required? Which exotic spices?

I hear straight-up canned pears, I hear butter, I hear chutney. I'd like to add canned pears with ginger, or perhaps this gingery, pear-almond conserve.

For canned pears, the sugar needs are minimal (Bernardin says very light syrup, 1/2C sugar per 5C water).

I'm going to let somebody else determine chutney ingredients. Having tasted the apple-and-onion-based creations of my gramma's friends, I fear suburban chutney recipes, and might save my love until mango-lime chutney comes up.

woah. (Feelings)

well well well. here we are, it would seem, as we merge the schools. old meets new. HOT! i'm serious.

the recent rabid canning that we have been doing is the realization of a central facet of a long-time fascination/appreciation with/of things that our grandparents may have been more likely to do. knitting, quilting, crib (bridge: THINK IT OVER), and now canning. to say that it has been satisfying is to completely under-represent the joy that these last few weeks have brought. cleaning out a shelf for JARS of things lovingly shoved or boiled and stirred for WINTER is out of this world, frankly.

to say that it's social in a way that most things aren't these days starts to address it. working (fun work!?) to make something that we can eat and share seems like the convergence of many of the best things. these ladies are also HystericallyFunny. learning something so clearly useful and being filled up with wonder at every stage as we figure out what is going on is what canning has been so far...the front end pleasure that will undoubtedly be matched when the wind starts to blow and it's toast and tea time.

this post is totally going in the 'feelings' category.
rightly!

Critical Mass (Feelings)

1. At every social gathering I've been to in the last month, a new person has told a story about putting up food. Kate gave Thomas a book about pickling. Robin made grape jelly with her mum. Nathan's dad made jam. Everybody likes canned plums. The population is ready to pop.

2. Sometimes I can't sleep at night because I'm too busy trying to remember all the things I want to put in jars. My wishlist is also ready to pop.

3. The bitches from dilltown have tried too many recipes to keep track of in our heads any longer. A system must be externalized!

So, here is a website for the people who put up with me. (There should probably be a point #4 for the over-abundance of canning puns. I DON'T THINK YOU'RE READY FOR THIS JELLY.) I will jam up the design if you fine people take to posting recipes, triumphant photos and odes to the pantry.