“But home food preservation is too complicated,” you protest. “Myth,” I retort. First, you do not need to have an advanced degree or special training to put away food that is safe and nutritious. Current generations do lack the personal tutoring that was available for prior generations, but you’ll find plenty of support available through your local Cooperative Extension Service, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and canning and preserving groups such as Canning Across America, which orchestrated a nationwide “canvolution” and National Can-It-Forward Day to raise awareness of and support interest in canning. And according to Jarden Home Brands (makers of Ball- and Kerr-brand Mason jars, based in Daleville, Indiana), industry sales of canning equipment were up 35 percent in 2011. That means there are a lot of folks who are interested in getting back to home food preservation, so you’re sure to find a buddy.
Home-preserving isn’t only about “putting up” jars of grape jelly and dill pickles. Recipes abound that will tempt your taste buds in unexpected ways.
IT’S ONLY NATURAL
My son stopped by for supper last night. He’s definitely a foodie, with a strong interest in organic gardening, but he also lives on a shoestring, with a strong interest in economical foods. For dessert, we had a compote of frozen, locally grown peaches; my homemade chocolate raspberry sauce; and homemade vanilla yogurt. “It’s cheaper to make your yogurt than it is to buy it, right, Mom?” he asked. I really wanted to give him the answer he was looking for and respond emphatically, “Yes, of course it is.” The answer is, “It depends.” We won’t go into the cost-benefit numbers here because they are dependent upon a range a variables. From my personal experience, some foods, such as jams and pickles, are cheaper when you preserve them yourself. For most other fruits and vegetables that I preserve, it’s hard to compete with commercial canneries and warehouse food prices. But I don’t “put up” (canning lingo for “preserve”) my food for the economics of it. I do it for the joy of being my own food steward.
If you grow your own produce or can walk up and shake the hand of the guy who did, you’re more likely to know exactly what you’re getting in that jar of applesauce.
When you preserve your own food, you enjoy the benefit of knowing exactly where your food came from, how old it is, and what’s in the container along with your food. Consider a recent newspaper headline, “BPA Found in Almost All Canned Food.” When you do your own food preservation, stories about bisphenol-A and other harmful by-products aren’t troublesome.
For those who are concerned about chemical additives and preservatives, sodium and sugar levels, and large amounts of high-fructose corn syrup, to name just a few of the current food-related issues, there is comfort in controlling these factors. When you preserve your own food, there’s no need to read ingredient labels so conscientiously. There are no mysterious ingredients hiding behind a hand-penned label that reads “Tomatoes, July 2012.” That’s just good, wholesome food!
THE SOONER, THE BETTER
Home food preservation isn’t difficult, but it does require some forethought. Fruits and vegetables are at their peak in terms of flavor and nutrition at the moment they are picked. This is as good as it gets—canning or freezing will not improve the quality. Every minute that separates the time of picking from the moment of preservation causes a loss of quality and nutrition in the product. Thus, it’s very important to plan your picking or visit to the farmer’s market so that you can preserve the bounty quickly. My mother told me not to bother making pickles if the cukes were even a day old! Some vegetables are more time sensitive than others, but all experts agree that soonest is best.
BUT IS IT NUTRITIOUS?
Those who claim that the preserved version cannot compete with its fresh counterpart and that frozen is far better than canned alternatives haven’t read the fine print when it comes to nutritional values. Eating fresh-picked fruits or vegetables is best, but if you want something “fresh” in February in New England, going to your local grocery—even the high-end, overpriced boutiques—won’t ensure that you will get fresh vegetables and fruits with the highest nutritional value. If your produce has been trucked or flown in from distant parts of the country or world, in addition to upping the carbon footprint, they have left much of their nutrients in the cargo hold. Compare these “fresh” fruits and vegetables to those that you’ve canned, frozen, or dried just minutes after the harvest. While it’s indisputable that freshly picked local produce offers the highest quality in terms of taste and nutrition, information from unbiased sources such as the University of California at Davis, the University of Illinois, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), show that if you choose to freeze, can, or otherwise preserve your summer harvest, you will most likely enjoy nutritional benefits equal to or better than the produce at your grocery. And considering the cost of produce during the off-season, your summer investment should be both tasty and economical.
If you find yourself gobbling up canned peaches from the supermarket, why not try to can some at home? Find fresh peaches at a local orchard for the best flavor and nutrition.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Because food begins to spoil the moment is it harvested or killed, people throughout history have sought to develop safe ways to preserve the bounty of today for use tomorrow. Food preservation enabled ancient hunter/gatherers to settle in one place, put down roots—figuratively and literally—and begin to enjoy the benefits of civilization. People have employed various methods of preservation tailored to their circumstances and their needs, in much the same fashion as we do today. The primary methods were drying, freezing/cold storage, fermenting, pickling, curing, making jams and jellies using fruit and sugar or honey, and more recently, canning.
WHERE IT BEGAN
Evidence suggests that the oldest form of preservation was drying. Middle Eastern and Asian cultures as early as 12,000 BC dried their food in the hot sun. Dried foods allowed seafarers to extend the range of their explorations, eventually circumnavigating the globe. Fermentation was discovered accidentally when a few grains of barley were left in the rain. Through fermentation, microorganisms changed (fermented) starch-derived sugars into alcohols. This process had multiple benefits: food was more nutritious, more palatable, and in many cases, produced an alcoholic beverage—nectar of the gods! Curing and pickling both employed substances to change the chemistry of the food being preserved. In the case of pickling, vinegar and other acidic materials were found to provide climates unfriendly to the bacteria responsible for food spoilage, thus extending a food’s usable life. Curing utilized salt, nitrites, and smoke to preserve foods, inhibit the growth of Clostridium botulinium (botulism), and improve the taste and color of the food.
Home food preservation is certainly nothing new. One of the first preservation methods was drying foods in the sun. Dried fruits certainly haven’t lost favor over time.
The same foods that could be preserved by being dried could also be successfully preserved using other methods, such as freezing. Cranberries are a good example of this.
Freezing and cold storage were initially limited by geography.