Preserving food at home, or "putting up food," was once a necessity. Now it is considered to be an almost-lost art. My mother has always canned garden veggies, and I remember well the hiss of the canner on the stovetop. (Her canned green beans are fantastic!) There has been a renewed interest in canning and freezing foods in recent years. And with the current concern about the safety of commercially canned products in our grocery stores, I expect more and more people will be interested in how to preserve summer's bounty for the rest of the year.
I recently read an interesting article about community canneries. In some small towns around the country, there are places set aside for community members to preserve their own food. Canning classes are offered, and the equipment is shared and maintained by town citizens. What a neat idea! Here is a link to the story:
Community Canneries
The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a wonderful website, full of information about how to preserve foods. There are instructions on how to can, freeze, dry, cure, smoke and ferment foods. There are also instructions on making jams and jellies. If you are lucky enough to have a garden that is producing more food than you can eat, or if you want to stock up on veggies at your local farmers' market, check out this website. Be sure to follow instructions closely. If foods aren't preserved correctly, they are not safe to eat.
How to Preserve Foods at Home
Very useful information! We can learn a lot from our ancestors. We don't need to preserve food from necessity now, but isn't it nice to know that the art of preserving food is still alive?
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