To my mind, there are few sounds on earth more satisfying than the sweet plink-plink-plink that canning jars make as they seal. Musical. And filled with the promise of summer flavor for my family in the dead of winter.
I have a kid who eats “Deep PB and J” about 300 days out of the year, and I am happy to bypass the jam section of the grocery store in favor of my own basement pantry, lined with pretty fruit-filled jars. But there’s more to it than economics, isn’t there? Children raised with a sense of delight in creating part of their home’s sustenance. Ruby-red colors. Art, heart, the “fruit of the vine and the work of human hands…”
I just finished the season’s second batch of strawberry jam from the berries we picked the other day. The kitchen looks like a war-zone. I handed the pot of berries and the potato masher to my ten year old, so I also have red-polka-splatter-dotted walls behind the counter. Totally worth it–maybe even a plus.
Shocked that your recipe calls for more sugar than berries? Check out these yummy alternatives with less sugar from Mother Earth News a few years back.
And we’d love to hear your own canning/preserving motives and stories…
Ahhh..makes me think of that great Greg Brown song…
Canned Goods
Well let the wild winter wind bellow and blow
I’m as warm as a July tomato
refrão:
There’s peaches on the shelf, potatoes in the bin
Supper ready, everybody come on in
Taste a little of the summer
Taste a little of the summer
Taste a little of the summer
Grandma put it all in jars
Well there’s a root cellar, fruit cellar down below
Watch your head now, and down we go
refrão
Well maybe you are weary and you don’t give a damn
I bet you never tasted her blackberry jam
refrão
Oh she got magic in her, you know what I mean
She puts the sun and rain in with her beans
refrão
What with the snow and the economy and everything
I think I’ll just stay down here and eat until spring
refrão
When I go down to see Grandma, I gain a lot a weight
With her dear hands she gives me plate after plate
She cans the pickles, sweet and dill
And the songs of the whip-or-will and the morning dew and the evening moon
I really gotta go down and see her soon
Cause the canned goods that I buy at the store
Ain’t got the summer in em anymore
You bet Grandma as sure as you’re born I’ll take some more potatoes and
a thunder storm
refrão
Hi,
I was just trying to find out what the siding is on your coop? I can’t comment on that section is it T1-11? I love the way it looks.
Preserves is a mother and two daughters venture that gets of of hand. My sister lives neat Squim…. lots O fruit.
Hi Autumn. It’s not T1-11 (I think that would be a little flimsy for a coop in rainy Seattle). It’s 1/2 inch rough-sided plywood. Just happens to have faux siding grooves cut into it. Thank you–we do like how it looks.
Sorry about your comment trouble–the techno-glitch has been fixed.
That jam looks heavenly. Perfect for a buttery, crispy English Muffin! Yum!
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