Posted in Canning
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I recently decided to start writing on HSB along with my wife, and in setting up my HSB account we called it Shedding Notes. I always love being outside and wanted to write about the great outdoors. One of my first comments was to ask me to write a post on how I got started canning fruits and vegetables. Here is the story how I started. Well, it was sort of a family tradition since I am from a large family. I was one of nine children and my dad was one of thirteen children. My dad came up during the great depression and his family had to get a lot of their food from the land so they would plant garden seeds like corn, beans, potatoes, etc. because if they didn't then they would go hungry. So my dad and my grandparents made sure that they passed what they knew about canning and preserving foods on to the next generation. Outside of that I have always had a great fascination for God's wonderful creation for everytime I walk outside I marvel at the trees, hearing the birds singing, flowers blooming and the feel of the fresh air blowing. Those are just a few of the things that make life so wonderful. I spent years helping out in the kitchen with my mom and dad helping with the canning that we did every year when I was a teenager. From the time I was very young I was surrounded by the life of canning every summer and fall. We had a bountiful supply of green beans, corn, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, apples, peaches, strawberries, blackberries, we also pickled foods in vinegar such as cucumbers, beets, and eggs. We always stored arch potatoes, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions. This is done by making a wooden box and filling it with hay and layering the hay with the potatoes/onions and they would last throughout the winter. We had as much as 70-80 bushels of these stored in one season to use throughout the year. After my parents passed and I was 35 I kept canning and preserving food for myself and my older family members. I learned to make plum butter, it's much like apple butter but maybe thicker. All the plums have to be washed very well and stems removed, put in a large open kettle and boil until the peelings crack, then put them in a collander to mash the pulp out and this goes into a second kettle. Add to the cooked plums some nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and sugar to taste and then boil again until it's thickened the way you like it. Persimmons can also be done the same way. My wife and I planted our first crop this year, since losing everything a few years ago and I'll teach her a little more about canning. She has never done any canning on her own but did grow up surrounded by the annual canning season as I did. |
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