Here we go, folks. Let this be the first post of many, a place where canning and preserving aficionados gather together and bring back the lost art of “putting up” food. More to come!
Yours,
The Can-volution Will Not Be Televised!
Join the Canvolution!
Bread and Butter Pickles, please!
Terrific! I CAN’t wait (heh)!
I’m so excited about this!
yipee-let’s do it!
Cosmic, where are you based? Feel free to post your canning event in this space. In coming days, we’ll have a page devoted to folks who want to form canning groups.
This will be a lot of fun! I heartily recommend the Ball “Blue Book” to prepare. I have a $1.00 copy from 1974 that my sister-in-law gave to me the first time that I helped her put up red beets. Some day, I’ll have a real garden and will be stocking my shelves for the winter.
For extra inspiration, check out Barbara Kingsolver’s chapters on canning her tomato bounty in “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.” I could read that book every winter to inspire myself for spring!
I’m new to canning but have thrown myself in head first. I have 19 jars of jam in my cellar right now. Blueberry, mixed berry, sour cherry and apricot. My plan is to give them as holiday gifts. I want to try pickling as well. My 6 year old daughter is really enjoying helping me. We go to our local farmers’ market and decide which fruits to preserve every week. I also like the Ball Blue Book for recipes and clear instructions with illustrations. Even my daughter enjoys looking at it.
kim-
i am in austin, texas. just started canning this summer. would love to be part of leading this revolution around these parts. i am interested in being part of the national canning event in august. send info/details! my blog address is: http://www.thecosmiccowgirl.wordpress.com
Sign me up for a Boston canning event! We’ll integrate our famous SWAPPING angle into it, too!
I made some sweet cherry jam earlier this summer (so delicious!) and am making some blueberry and strawberry jams today
I’m pretty new to canning but I love the idea. If there’s anyone reading from the Bay Area, CA…?
I can, therefore I am. Or something like that.
Food preservers, unite. Love it.
We’re all set for a Boston canning event – Union Square Somerville on August 30th! Now we just need to get our resident expert (I’m good but not fully outfitted) and we’re off. Can’t wait. I’ll get a blog post up soon…and a twitter account!
We now have a location and a date for Boston – August 30th in Union Square, Somerville in a commercial kitchen in a restaurant closed on Sundays. Now we just need the ‘expert’ – I’ve been canning for years, but I would hardly consider myself an expert, as I don’t do much low acid canning….
oh, and we have a twitter page! http://www.twitter.com/cansboston
I am a canning and preserving fanatic too. Come visit me at http://www.BertsCannery.com or twittwer: @bertscannery
Thanks for getting this started, Kim. I’m so excited!
well it’s about time! this is all very exciting!
there are so many reasons why canning is coming back. just like the movement for home bread baking and small scale farmstead cheese making that has swept across america in the last decade – canning & preserving is a lost artform.
it’s the natural progression of slow food, locavorism, the farmer’s market movement, and gardens instead of lawns. it’s about taking control of what we put in our bodies and coming home to eat – all year long!
i’m in for the canvolution. although i think i will need to host something small scale, a few friends over to do a some small batching, as the following weekend i will be ‘hosting’ a 10,000 person event..not can related. maybe next year!
I’ve bookmarked this site already.
I taught myself how to can and have a great garden this year, and have already canned rhubarb chutney.
i look forward to more creative recipes!
I’m in!
anyone in the Northampton/Greenfield, MA area that wants to put together something like this, please let me know!
jessica
Cans Across America – I love it! I was very involved in Hands Across America in Boston way back when. I even had the opportunity to interview Lionel Ritchie for a local radio show and he kissed me on the lips! OMG was I surprised. Anyhow I am interested in participating in Cans Across America. Anyone in the Seattle/Olympia area please contact me.
I’ve been canning/gardening since I was old enough to stand on a chair and help my mom and I’m almost 52 (Aug 15) now (like someone above said their daughter is doing now). In these days of over salted/sugared prepared foods, it’s the best thing I can do for myself and it tastes so much better!!! During the canning weekend, I’ll be canning whatever is ripe then. My guess is that it will be my grandmother’s Lime Pickles. This is a candied sweet pickle that is the very best there is! It’s the only pickle I eat on a regular basis and it makes the best potato and egg salad. If there are tomatoes and sweet banana peppers ready, I will be making my “tomato stuff” that I use for goulash, spaghetti sauce, etc. It is a mix of sweet banana peppers, tomatoes (red and yellow) and onions that I put in the food processor. It makes a great base for all kinds of things. Or I will be canning tomatoes all by themselves. Always need a few jars of just the basics. By the way – if you have an abundance of summer yellow squash (you know – they used to be called crookneck) you can can them with your tomatoes in slices or chunks. Just be sure you have enough acid – add some lemon or lime juice. I think it’s wonderful that there is going to be a canning weekend across the country – I’ve felt very alone over the years as the art of it was dying out. Hurrah!!!
I am so glad I found this website!! I have been traveling all summer and going through canning ‘withdrawl’ lol.
Well, I did can my Lime Pickles and the tomato “stuff”, etc., but the best thing that happened was that a co-worker (male) said he wanted to learn how to can, so this past Saturday, he came over and I showed him how to can tomatoes with basil and peaches. He really enjoyed himself and remarked that he had a lot more respect for people who do this as it’s A LOT of work!! That made me laugh. Also, if you live in the Grand Rapids, MI area, the best place to get some fabulous tomatoes is Blok Orchards. They grow 10 different varieties of tomatoes, many of which are heirlooms and the taste is unbelieveable… tastes like tomatoes from when I was a kid. I mixed about 5 different varieties for my tomato with basil and plain canned tomatoes. What a treat that is going to be this winter. I also tried a new jam recipe – nectarine/plum. WOW it came out really great. Today I’m trying cantaloupe/nectarine and I’m going to make Asian plum sauce. It is so much fun experimenting with new things. After that, I still have a few more tomatoes to process. I’ve taken some vacation this week, so I have had 5 whole days to do nothing but canning and I’ve been having a blast! Best wishes to you all with your projects.