Our grandmothers and even some of our mothers grew up canning and pickling from late summer into the fall. As crops matured, Mason jars made their way from cellar to kitchen. The "Ball Blue Book" was dusted off and put on the kitchen counter with the same reverence that would have been afforded the Bible.
It was an era when replacement lids and jars came from the hardware store. The employees there knew canning as well as they knew hammers and nails. Fruits and vegetables were sold in bushels, barrels, pecks and flats at grocery stores, farms and orchards. It was the one time of the year when dad or granddad might be found in the kitchen doing more than midnight snacking or carving the turkey.
This was preserving--critical if you wanted a peach pie in February, green beans at Christmas or pickles with your pastrami whenever. Canning was sometimes necessary for simple survival and essential to a diversified diet. Eating tomatoes or green beans, peaches and pickles throughout the year meant preserving summer's bounty.
As processed and frozen foods became more readily available in the '50s, '60s and '70s and produce became an internationally traded commodity delivered fresh year around, pickling and canning became a hobby, not a necessity, for most.
Contrary to certain opinion, though, canning isn't a dying art. In fact, it seems to be thriving. Try getting through to the toll-free Ball & Kerr home canning help line between June and September.
"Over the last three years, since the [1996] acquisition of Kerr, the retail sales of canning supplies have increased 18 1/2%," says Michael Bryja, manager of sales planning for Alltrista Consumer Products Co., maker of Ball & Kerr canning products. "For 1999, we're having a banner year, and we hope to increase sales by an amount equal to the previous three years."
The national proliferation of farmers markets is testimony to America's zeal for fresh ingredients. That both the Santa Monica and Hollywood farmers markets ran out of fresh dill early in the day a few weekends ago might say something about the popularity of homemade dill pickles.
In fact, the novice who wants to try the art would do well to start with pickles. They can be made from many kinds of fruits and vegetables, and they can be done without significant investment in equipment.
The most common pickle, of course, is cucumber. Practically everyone enjoys the garlic and salty sourness of dill pickles. They are particularly good with a corned beef (or pastrami) on rye sandwich. If dill isn't your deal, a sweet bread and butter pickle is a great condiment with soups and sandwiches.
Pickled green beans, or "dilly beans," are great too. They can replace stalks of celery as garnish for Bloody Marys. Okra might be pickling's best-kept secret. Cookbook author Sylvia Thompson recalls, "A friend gave us a jar of pickled okra for Christmas and I mused, 'Okra, what kind of gift is this?' I tasted one, then sat down and ate the whole jar."
Basically, pickles are made by adding acid to a fruit or vegetable to alter its flavor and to preserve it. This can be done by adding vinegar (to make a bread and butter pickle) or by fermenting it using salt (to make a kosher dill), says Mary Jane Loper, master food preserver with the UC Cooperative Extension Service.
Loper urges home canners to use only thoroughly tested recipes from reliable sources such as the Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension or the "Ball Blue Book."
Once the pickles are in jars, they can go straight to the refrigerator, where they will keep for months. Every pickle recipe can be refrigerated. Ideally, refrigerated pickles should be eaten within five or six months of being put up. Over time, their color, texture and taste will change.
Pickles need to be canned only if they are to be stored in a cupboard or pantry. The purpose of canning is dual: first, to raise the internal temperature of the product enough to destroy any harmful bacteria and second, to force air from the jar, creating a vacuum.
But there is something new there, too. For decades the USDA recommended canning vegetables under boiling water for 15 minutes. But, like thousands of other canners, its cooks discovered that there's little perk left in a pickle after that.
Now the USDA recommends canning pickles at 180 to 185 degrees for 30 minutes. A comparison test in The Times Test Kitchen showed that this method produces a pickle almost as crisp as one that has only been refrigerated.
With summer waning and produce peaking, the time is ideal for trying your hand at the art of pickling. Who knows, combining nearly perfect ingredients and your own spin on spices, you may find that canning is as much about fun as about food. Grandma knew that.
And since we don't need the food to survive, you don't have to pickle a peck; you can put up a pound and have tons of fun doing it. In an era when many of us work hard to relax, canning can be contagious.
Refrigerator Kosher Dill Pickles
It was an era when replacement lids and jars came from the hardware store. The employees there knew canning as well as they knew hammers and nails. Fruits and vegetables were sold in bushels, barrels, pecks and flats at grocery stores, farms and orchards. It was the one time of the year when dad or granddad might be found in the kitchen doing more than midnight snacking or carving the turkey.
This was preserving--critical if you wanted a peach pie in February, green beans at Christmas or pickles with your pastrami whenever. Canning was sometimes necessary for simple survival and essential to a diversified diet. Eating tomatoes or green beans, peaches and pickles throughout the year meant preserving summer's bounty.
As processed and frozen foods became more readily available in the '50s, '60s and '70s and produce became an internationally traded commodity delivered fresh year around, pickling and canning became a hobby, not a necessity, for most.
Contrary to certain opinion, though, canning isn't a dying art. In fact, it seems to be thriving. Try getting through to the toll-free Ball & Kerr home canning help line between June and September.
"Over the last three years, since the [1996] acquisition of Kerr, the retail sales of canning supplies have increased 18 1/2%," says Michael Bryja, manager of sales planning for Alltrista Consumer Products Co., maker of Ball & Kerr canning products. "For 1999, we're having a banner year, and we hope to increase sales by an amount equal to the previous three years."
The national proliferation of farmers markets is testimony to America's zeal for fresh ingredients. That both the Santa Monica and Hollywood farmers markets ran out of fresh dill early in the day a few weekends ago might say something about the popularity of homemade dill pickles.
In fact, the novice who wants to try the art would do well to start with pickles. They can be made from many kinds of fruits and vegetables, and they can be done without significant investment in equipment.
The most common pickle, of course, is cucumber. Practically everyone enjoys the garlic and salty sourness of dill pickles. They are particularly good with a corned beef (or pastrami) on rye sandwich. If dill isn't your deal, a sweet bread and butter pickle is a great condiment with soups and sandwiches.
Pickled green beans, or "dilly beans," are great too. They can replace stalks of celery as garnish for Bloody Marys. Okra might be pickling's best-kept secret. Cookbook author Sylvia Thompson recalls, "A friend gave us a jar of pickled okra for Christmas and I mused, 'Okra, what kind of gift is this?' I tasted one, then sat down and ate the whole jar."
Basically, pickles are made by adding acid to a fruit or vegetable to alter its flavor and to preserve it. This can be done by adding vinegar (to make a bread and butter pickle) or by fermenting it using salt (to make a kosher dill), says Mary Jane Loper, master food preserver with the UC Cooperative Extension Service.
Loper urges home canners to use only thoroughly tested recipes from reliable sources such as the Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension or the "Ball Blue Book."
Once the pickles are in jars, they can go straight to the refrigerator, where they will keep for months. Every pickle recipe can be refrigerated. Ideally, refrigerated pickles should be eaten within five or six months of being put up. Over time, their color, texture and taste will change.
Pickles need to be canned only if they are to be stored in a cupboard or pantry. The purpose of canning is dual: first, to raise the internal temperature of the product enough to destroy any harmful bacteria and second, to force air from the jar, creating a vacuum.
But there is something new there, too. For decades the USDA recommended canning vegetables under boiling water for 15 minutes. But, like thousands of other canners, its cooks discovered that there's little perk left in a pickle after that.
Now the USDA recommends canning pickles at 180 to 185 degrees for 30 minutes. A comparison test in The Times Test Kitchen showed that this method produces a pickle almost as crisp as one that has only been refrigerated.
With summer waning and produce peaking, the time is ideal for trying your hand at the art of pickling. Who knows, combining nearly perfect ingredients and your own spin on spices, you may find that canning is as much about fun as about food. Grandma knew that.
And since we don't need the food to survive, you don't have to pickle a peck; you can put up a pound and have tons of fun doing it. In an era when many of us work hard to relax, canning can be contagious.
Refrigerator Kosher Dill Pickles
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