Canning Thoughts

Absolutely it has been much much too long. My wonderful thoughts have all to often been sucked away in attentions to other things, yet recently, many have been bubbling to the surface - that is the handicraft of canning.

Personally putting up your own fruits and vegetables in season is extremely rewarding. Yes, I very well know how time consuming it is to blanch, pare, peel, pit, syrup, heat, boil, wash and so forth to get one quart of fruit. In fact, I have calculated out exactly how much it takes on average for me. That is part of my busy brain process. Whoever said that an idol brain is the devils playground is absolutely right, and if I didn't know that I would have spent hours upon hours recently letting the underworld have a fairgrounds in my brain.

Instead, I have thought a great many wonderful things. I have reviewed my algebra to begin. I know how many (x) quarts of fruit can be prepared from one 40lb box. I figured out the average processing time (y) of one 40lb box of pears to become x amount of quarts. And so forth. I was reminded by my doing math of a story told in the LDS General Conference in April 2010 by an apostle that said their learning really began when they got home from school and their mother would quiz them on what they learned and then help them learn more as she went about her tasks in the kitchen.

Remembering the story reminded me that I could be learning too, thus during one of my processing breaks I sat down and printed out some of my favorite quotes from prophets that I wanted to learn and propped them up on an empty, yet to be filled, quart jar and memorized them while pear, peeling, and slipping the skins.

And yes of course, I composed a number of these chapters to this yet unborn book, feeling more brilliant all the while. Feeling confident in my frugality and a sisterhood with Mrs Child that I had left behind for a bit, despite hanging my laundry on the line daily and feeding chickens (or chasing them off of my patio). There is great joy and satisfaction in doing the old fashioned stuff - although I must clue you in, there are more modern speed ways of doing some of the great and golden secrets.

SPEED CANNING TIPS:
My mother was very ingeunitive about utilizing the new fangled electric gadget to make the canning process smoother. Mainly, the microwave. You can boil water in the microwave.
thus:
tip 1- make all your syrups for fruit in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave! You can even use the timing of the heating to remember to blanch your fruit
tip 2 - blanch your fruit! you do not need to peel your pears and peaches by hand and stick them in water until you can get to them, just wait until they are ripe, throw them into boiling water for 20 seconds dump them into your sink in cool water and you can slip the skins right off! It is lovely. extra tidbit here: when slipping the grainy skins off pears, push with your thumb from around the bum first and then slid your whole hand up the top and it all comes off
tip 3 - get into your own groove. by getting into a groove of movement in you kitchen you maximize on the time you are there. Example: during set up and waiting for your blanching water to boil get your syrup ready and fill 7 qts one fourth full, fill the sink with cold water just as the first batch of fruit is going into the blancher, as you get to the last few pears turn the blanch pot up again and start some more syrup.....keep a fluid cycle going. It will take you a few batches to slip into your groove, but once there, enjoy it and be productive! and after awhile, maybe try one step different to see if it cuts time.
tip 4 - match the temperature of your bottles with the temperature of the water in the water bath instead of the other way around. many instructions tell you to boil your bottles and then magically put the fruit in just perfect while they are still hot then get them into the hot water bath. ouch! too hot for me. sure, it may take a little longer to bring everything up in temperature together, but you can be preparing your next batch while doing that (in the groove). And when one batch is done, you don't have to pour out the boiling water to start with some cooler already prepared jars, just throw some ice in and then slip the jars in slowly, you don't waste as much water that way.
tip 5 - for applesauce, use a Victorio Strainer! This gizmo is amazing! It is so efficient and makes the whole process super slick.
tip 6- when canning for the first time - don't do it alone! Not that it is super dangerous, but I garuntee that you will waste hours if you do not watch a veteran at her craft and work by her side at least once. You can read all you want on the internet, or from great books, but you will learn the real craft, much like a trade school, from someone who has done it before. And yes, even if you don't know someone who does it, you can find one and if you ask a perfect stranger who cans if you could work with her, she will say yes. It is part of our art.