Can You Can?

Then you need to find a book of canning instructions and follow them. If you make errors, you could end up with botulism poisoning, so it’s important to adhere to directions. Peaches must be rinsed, boiled to soften the skins, then peeled and dipped in preserver. Pears are similar. Both are scooped into jars and then covered with a liquid solution to fill in the holes. Salsa is mixed up and cooked on the stove for an hour or two, then poured into jars. Jelly recipes vary.

Sounds like work? Yes, it is. But it also sounds like fun. Why?

First of all, canning is the ultimate aesthetic experience. All five senses are involved in this glorious display of creation and art. Your eyes can look upon the beautiful colors and shapes of the fruits and vegetables – the smooth skin of tomatoes, the bumps and curves of pears, the bright red of strawberries and deep purple of grapes. Your hands can feel the delightful sensation of being covered in the “stuff� of the earth. I love peeling tomatoes and peaches and having my hands buried in the goo and muck, letting it dry all over my fingers. (It’s almost as good as when we used to cover a finger or two with Elmer’s glue, let it dry, and peel it off.) Sometimes the peaches are so slick we can barely hold onto them and the peppers for salsa so hot we have to wear plastic baggies on our hands while we cut them up. Did I mention the nose and mouth? Ahhh, what gloriousness. Food of the gods, as they would say in Greek mythology. My sisters always tease me when we do peaches; we peel the peach and slice it up, leaving just the core, which inevitably has a little more than “just the core� left on it. I’ve been known to wait eagerly for a lull, in which I attack the discard bowl and start sucking on the peach cores, mumbling “tastes like Heaven.� (That’s the part when they start laughing, but then they also save the really good-looking ones for me, so it works out fine.) Honestly, I don’t see how fruit in the garden of Eden could have had a better aroma and flavor than our fresh peaches do. Oh, and I almost forgot the ears. The sounds of canning are not unique – the stove fan on, music playing for our entertainment, usually the air conditioner humming, people scurrying back and forth, except for one unforgettable sound that culminates this process. When the jars are taken out of the boiling water, we put them on a towel to cool and sit close by, waiting for the familiar “click� of the lids as they make their final seal, letting us know we did things right and our food is safe and ready to be stored.

Secondly, canning is an ideal time for fellowship and fun. My sisters and mom and I almost always can together. Once or twice someone has been gone or sick and we’ve had to use less people. Last summer Hannah and I did salsa just the two of us and realized that everything still gets done. Shh! We don’t mention that because it is way more fun to have everyone in the kitchen together. Two people peel, one person goes back and forth to the woods with the scraps, one person pulls the sterilized jars out of the water and dries them, and one scoops the fruit into them. Sometimes when things are slow we appoint a resting position and take turns having it. That guy is always responsible for entertaining!

Third, canning gives us a chance to see, literally, the FRUIT of our hands. I tell you, nothing compares with the sight of multiple shelves full of jars of food that we made ourselves. From things that grew out of the ground we get things that will be nutritious and delicious. I’ll never forget the time I visited the home of a family in Ohio who had 12 children. They had a small outbuilding just for the purpose of canning, in which I was privileged to go and saw multiple shelves, about 3 feet deep and 7 feet tall, completely filled with home canned food. That’s my goal! Let’s face it – most household jobs are constantly needing to be done; laundry gets soiled again next week, the sink fills with dirty dishes in an hour, but when you can a shelf or two of food, it will be there almost a whole year. That’s more permanent visible fruit of our labor! We’ve even been known to can certain types of food just so it will look good on the shelf. “But if we skip the grape jelly, we’ll be missing the darker end of the spectrum all year!�

Fourth, canning fulfills a feminine need and call we have to prepare food for our families. Proverbs 31 says the virtuous woman “bringeth food from afar� and “gives meat to her household.� When we play an active part in the preparation and distribution of food, we are being obedient to help nourish and sustain our families. This gives me great pleasure!

If you’ve never tried canning, give it a shot. All you need is a basic canning pot (I found mine, relatively free from rust, at a garage sale for a dollar), a few kitchen gadgets, and some current safety information. Canning is a tremendously rewarding and fulfilling process and one that can be enjoyed by everyone, but especially by women at home. Not only will you be putting away food for a year, but you’ll also be storing and preserving memories and skills that will last a lifetime.