While doing research for my canning cookbook, which involves pouring through cookbooks from the 1920s, I’ve come to realize there’s an aura of psychotic caution that now surrounds the craft that didn’t exist years ago. I suppose this is because we’re simply less familiar with canning today, so it seems more intimidating than it actually is. And you could argue that improvements in culinary science have made the USDA’s revamped rules and regulations and bylaws and strictures of today necessary.
But the overall effect is that canning is now perceived as being more involved and time consuming than ever. Back in the day, when everybody canned, when everybody had to can, preserving instructions were no more involved than “cook some relatively high acid food, seal it in a jar and — TA DA! It’s canned! Enjoy your delicate preserves 6 months or a year from now!”
Now you have to sterilize the jars, pre-heat and jars and lids, wipe down the sides of the jar, process the jars in a boiling water bath for a specific length of time, adjusting for elevation…..gak! It’s enough to make you think you need to wear a biohazard suit for making pickles.
This difference was really brought home to me over the weekend when I tested a bunch of recipes with my neighbor Ellen — who’s been canning for 35 years — and her daughter Yvonne. A canner in the classic sense, Ellen simply cooks the food, ladles it into a jar and allows the heat of the food to create an airtight seal. She didn’t bother with a boiling water bath or pre-sterilizing jars. And in 35 years, she’s never had food poisoning.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying modern food preservation rules should be flouted. And I’m sure my publisher will want to go heavy on the rules. But I think the excessively cautious tone of canning manuals nowadays is more a reflection of our litigious society than anything else…on par with McDonalds labeling coffee “very hot.”
In other words, even if you broke half the canning rules of 2009, your homemade jellies and pickles and salsas will probably still come out delicious.
I agree — the rules make it seem like you can’t turn your head wrong during preparation or you’ll kill your family. I know I thought pressure canning was hard simply because my mother used to shoo us out of the house in case the canner blew up. But I was present in the kitchen for the other stuff — applesauce, stewed tomatoes, jars and jars of jellies and jams, peaches — so I had an innate knowledge just from being present as a child. I knew it wasn’t as hard as the recipe shows.
It would be interesting for your book or website to be able to set up a way to find a canning mentor. Part of what we are missing in our own home canning is the sense of community. My mom and friends used to can together — share the work and share the results. I remember canning as a fun day full of laughter in the kitchen. Quite a bit different from my solitary preparation of my canned goods.
Stephanie: Such a great point. I can’t imagine developing recipes without friends. I need the feedback. As rewarding as canning can be, there’s still a lot of effort that goes into peeling and coring 10 lbs. of apples. I’m a big proponent of group canning.
In addition to relative rarity of canning these days, I think there was some sort of botulism incident in the 90s that led to much stricter guidelines in the US and the unfortunate consequence of scaring people (including me!) off canning. If I hadn’t moved to Europe–where the whole affair is much more relaxed, more people seem to can, and cooks and their families and friends don’t appear to be dropping off like flies–I’m not sure I’d have ever been brave enough to try it myself!
Good luck with your book. It does seem like canning is undergoing a bit of a revival though, doesn’t it?
Thanks! And yes, canning does seem to be having a revival. I think it has less to do with the collapse of the world economy (since home preserving isn’t as inexpensive as people think) than people’s fascination with artisanal, hand-crafted food and products. You’re in Europe–give it a go!
Yeah, things are a lot more uptight then they once used to be. I only glance at the instructions for the length of boiling time (if I look at them at all) and then cut it way back. My aunt taught me to look at how the fruit rises in the jar and use that to determine done-ness rather than any specific amount of time.
…Though I have had my share of canning failures—ie. 40-some quarts of canned peaches down the drain, to name just one…
Hi Mama JJ: 40 quarts of peaches must have felt like a death. I feel your pain.