Aug 18, 2009 5 min read

I recall many a summer weekend when I was growing up spent with my three sisters on the terracotta tiled front patio of our summer cottage in the Poconos. There you would find us peeling peaches and pears, shredding cabbage, washing tomatoes, and preparing any number of other fruits and vegetables for my mother to preserve by canning. All week long we would enjoy the playtime summer brought. But on Friday nights my father would arrive for the weekend from our home outside of Philadelphia with a week’s worth of harvest from the garden he carefully tended there. On Saturdays we would be busy preserving that delectable fare so we would be able to enjoy it well after the growing season concluded. It wasn’t always fun, after all I was young and I would have rather been running through the woods, but something in that time we spent together as a family, working together towards a common purpose, and enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of our labors in midwinter stuck with me. Soon after I moved out of the house and had my own place, I tried my hand at canning-blueberries, I remember. I’ve been canning and freezing fruits and vegetables ever since.

Preserving food by canning is a skill on the rise these days. As more and more individuals and families explore the joys of growing their own fruits and vegetables there is the inevitable surplus. Freezing foods, of course, is quick and easy: blanch, drain, package and freeze. The only problem is that a freezer fills fast. Then what do you do?

I prefer canning over freezing for the basic reason that properly canned goods sit on a shelf in my basement, requiring no electrically-run box to keep them preserved. The pleasure of eating homemade jams, jellies, pickled beans, applesauce, sliced peaches, sauerkraut, tomato sauce and more all-year-long is heightened when you’re able to send a jar home with a guest who really enjoyed the product at your breakfast or dinner table.

The technology of canning fruits and vegetables has improved since the days my sisters and I helped my mom, and since my first solo attempts in the early 80s. More than ever it’s important to do it right. Not only do you want to have a product that looks good when you open the jar, you want canned goods that are safe to eat after months or years on the shelf.

High-acid foods such as tomatoes, pickles, sauerkraut and many fruits and berries, including peaches, pears, sour cherries, apples, plums, apricots, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, can be preserved using the boiling-water method. Low-acid foods such as beans, beets, carrots, peas, corn, spinach, asparagus, turnips and okra must be canned by the steam-pressure method to kill the microorganisms that can cause botulism.

If you’ve never canned before, start with recipes for the boiling-water method-it doesn’t require the special equipment of a large pressure canner.

The Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving has been my reliable guide to canning and freezing fruits and vegetables since I began canning. The book covers canning using the boiling-water and steam-pressure methods, as well as freezing and dehydrating (including making fruit leathers and beef jerky). I especially enjoy the recipes for making special condiments, sauces and spreads that make ideal holiday gifts. This year the Ball Corporation released a new 100th anniversary edition of the book.

Assistance also is available online. The Penn State Cooperative Extension has a Web site the novice canner will find helpful at http://foodsafety.psu.edu/lets_preserve.html. And links to much of the USDA’s 1994 edition of the Complete Guide to Home Canning and Preserving can be found at http://foodsafety.psu.edu/canningguide.html. For additional information, you might enjoy the Let’s Preserve Newsletter published by the Lancaster County (Pa.) Cooperative Extension. Current and archived issues are available in PDF format online at http://lancaster.extension.psu.edu/Nutrition/LetsPreserveNewsletters/index.htm.

If you want to try your hand at canning, but feel you need some in-person guidance, “The Art of Canning” is being offered as a day-long workshop at Ohiopyle State Park Aug. 29. The agenda includes learning to prepare and can pickles, peaches and tomatoes-and you get to take samples home! There is a nominal fee and the class size is limited. Call 724-329-0986 or 724-329-8594 to register. I can vouch for the instructor, Michelle; she’s a good friend of mine and she cans, freezes and dries just about anything you can think of. In fact, at her house canning and preserving garden produce is a family affair, much like it was at my house when I was growing up.

The past few years my mom and dad have helped me preserve vegetables and fruits from my garden when they have come to visit-cabbage for sauerkraut, grapes for juice and jelly, tomatoes, beans, broccoli and more. I feel like I really measured up when my mom gave me her Squeezo machine a few years back. It was a gift my sisters and I purchased for her years ago to make it easier to make tomato juice and applesauce. It’s a family heirloom I treasure. Every time I use it, it stirs pleasant memories that make me smile and I know I’m preserving a delicious family tradition.

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Susan Brimo-Cox gardens, observes nature and writes in Ohiopyle, Pa. Readers can send questions or comments to her at naturesgarden@brimo-cox.com.

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