Learning from the expertMom has been canning for about 50 years. I haven't canned for several years. It just got to be such a hot complicated process. Canning just seemed to take too much time and energy while working and raising a family. Since the economy has soured and a return to home grown produce canning is getting more popular. I have several friends who are attempting canning.
I gathered all the jars I saved in the basement. Sterilized the jars in the dishwasher and looked up directions on the internet. I still had 2 dozen jars, my jar lifter and a water bath canner. Mom insisted we get a box of Wapato Tomatoes. The best tomatoes you could buy, she proclaimed. So about $17 for 22lbs. I also had to buy a jar funnel and lids. These items cost about $10. Canning isn't always cheap. I figure the tomatoes cost about $2.70 a jar. Oh, well. They'll taste great.
Mom has never been one to write down a recipe. Canning is something I think that you learn from your mom. She learned from her mom and so the tradition, the stories, the jars get passed on. I will always think of mom during late summer. There is a feeling of going back to school, the smell of cooking tomatoes or ripe peaches. I think the thing I remember most about canning is standing over a sink of peaches, pealing, cutting, reminising, telling stories about long ago times.
I'm sure mom enjoyed today much more then I will ever know. Her smile in the picture above tells her joy. I'm so glad I dug out the old jars and spent the day canning tomatoes with mom.
In case I forgert her recipe here it is:
1 box Wapato tomatoes, they should be ripe.
1 dozen wide mouth jars, lids and rings
salt, add 3/4 tsp to each jar
Sterilize the jars in the dishwasher
put them in a shallow pan boiling of water on the stove to keep them hot
blanch the tomatoes just to slip off the skins, put in ice water, slip skins
Chop tomatoes into small pieces and place in large kettle
When kettle is full place on the stove and cook the tomatoes (I always followed the directions on the canning recipe... involving hot water bath for 30 min... mom says she never needed to do this)
Cook the tomatoes until they're mushy.. pretty vague, but she said you don't have to worry much on this
Put funnel into hot jars and ladel tomatoes into jars with 3/4 tsp added salt, leave about 1 inch
lids should be in boiling water and hot to place on jars.
Quickly screw on rings as hard as able. Place on wooden cutting board and let them cool
The lids should "clink" when the seal is set!
So, there you go, spaghetti ala Eleanor soon!!!
I gathered all the jars I saved in the basement. Sterilized the jars in the dishwasher and looked up directions on the internet. I still had 2 dozen jars, my jar lifter and a water bath canner. Mom insisted we get a box of Wapato Tomatoes. The best tomatoes you could buy, she proclaimed. So about $17 for 22lbs. I also had to buy a jar funnel and lids. These items cost about $10. Canning isn't always cheap. I figure the tomatoes cost about $2.70 a jar. Oh, well. They'll taste great.
Mom has never been one to write down a recipe. Canning is something I think that you learn from your mom. She learned from her mom and so the tradition, the stories, the jars get passed on. I will always think of mom during late summer. There is a feeling of going back to school, the smell of cooking tomatoes or ripe peaches. I think the thing I remember most about canning is standing over a sink of peaches, pealing, cutting, reminising, telling stories about long ago times.
I'm sure mom enjoyed today much more then I will ever know. Her smile in the picture above tells her joy. I'm so glad I dug out the old jars and spent the day canning tomatoes with mom.
In case I forgert her recipe here it is:
1 box Wapato tomatoes, they should be ripe.
1 dozen wide mouth jars, lids and rings
salt, add 3/4 tsp to each jar
Sterilize the jars in the dishwasher
put them in a shallow pan boiling of water on the stove to keep them hot
blanch the tomatoes just to slip off the skins, put in ice water, slip skins
Chop tomatoes into small pieces and place in large kettle
When kettle is full place on the stove and cook the tomatoes (I always followed the directions on the canning recipe... involving hot water bath for 30 min... mom says she never needed to do this)
Cook the tomatoes until they're mushy.. pretty vague, but she said you don't have to worry much on this
Put funnel into hot jars and ladel tomatoes into jars with 3/4 tsp added salt, leave about 1 inch
lids should be in boiling water and hot to place on jars.
Quickly screw on rings as hard as able. Place on wooden cutting board and let them cool
The lids should "clink" when the seal is set!
So, there you go, spaghetti ala Eleanor soon!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment