Preserving the Season

Good Morning

As I mentioned last night, yesterday evening was all about apple butter. I've been dreaming of doing some fall preserving ever since I lost fall as a season when I moved to Tucson. Now that we're here in Denver and it's fall, I've been itching to put something up.

My partner and I joke about canning being a good strategy during these economic times of uncertainty. Should these days continue and uncertain futures become unfortunate presents, our bad joke will turn into our dark humor that we will use to get through trying to find new and edible uses for the jars and jars of apple butter in our basement (a bartering economy, I should think, would kick in and we could trade our butter for some protein or such).

Right now, though, it's just about participating in the age-old, seasonal activity of trying to make the harvest extend into the cold winter when nothing is fresh or growing.

I love how canning prevents fresh food from going to waste. I love the look of a well-stocked pantry, full of jars and jars of delicious, home made fruits, preserves, butters, pickles, etc. I love the process of cooking food down, getting it to just the right stage of set, sanitizing the jars, and boiling them until the seals pop.

The best food magazine in the world - Saveur - did an article at the end of summer about canning and had a recipe for homemade canned tuna. This is my dream canning experience. I don't yet have a pressure canner and need to get my canning gears greased up and running well before I take on fish, but - oh! - the idea of reaching into one's pantry to get a jar of freshly canned tuna that you took from raw tuna steak to deliciously flaky tuna ready for any recipe.

I know once I do that, I won't ever be able to go back to canned again. How could you?

Until then, I've got a fall cornucopia with which to practice. I think I'll do red pepper jelly next because it's fun to cook them down that far and I love the kick of the jelly on a cracker with cream cheese.

The Virgen is an image of the cover of one of the best canning books I've ever encountered - Blue Jelly by Debby Bull. It's a combination self-reflection/recipe book and I love that she makes direct the often overlooked connection between food, feelings, and healing - with a wit that will have you laughing when you least expect it. It's where I get both the apple butter and the red pepper jelly recipes.

Here's to that. Here's to laughing. Here's to canning. Here's to putting up the harvest and here's to the clear connection between food, feelings, and healing.

My apple butter. Mmm...