(Nice peaches. And kitchen towel.)
We’ve been preserving together, and it’s been great. “We” as in random collections of friends who care to do such things. Collectively, we’ve done cucumber pickles, dilly beans, and peaches and tomatoes are on the horizon. So is some sort of tomatillo salsa.
Earlier this year we attended a screening of Our Daily Bread, and afterward Jamey Lionette spoke to an unusually contrary crowd about the whys and wherefores of local/sustainable eating. In response to someone’s question about why in the name of God they would dedicate themselves to such a laborious drudge-fest, he spoke about people getting together to put up food, and the gist of it was, “Hey, I’m not asking people to work more. I’m suggesting that they work less. All I’m advocating here are people spending time together, having a few beers and canning a few tomatoes.”
He’s right. Getting together makes it a party, every time. And it makes it go SO fast.
Here’s some advice:
- Get your shit together before this all goes down. Nothing kills the fun like not having enough new lids. Or jars. (Tags in Porter Square is the most reliable place we’ve found in the Cambridge/Somerville area for supplies.)
- In pickling, be generous with garlic.
- Beer should be cold and well-stocked, but there have been several instances of red wine and lemon soda on ice this month.
- Dinner/Lunch should be a buffet of things like cheese, tomatoes, bread and pickles. All day snacking, plus your stove will be too busy to cook anything.
- Get the canner boiling, like, the night before. They take forever to heat up and it’s no fun to be ready with everything else while you wait for the water bath to boil.
- Assembly lines are a helpful concept.
- We’ve gotten some bulk stuff through our CSA with Red Fire Farm, but ask your farmers at the markets around here for a good rate for and they are likely to give it. We scored $1 per pound peaches.
Please enjoy some scenes from the initial experiment in communal canning. Left to right: Team Pickle, Lunch, and Fin.
Does Tags have things like the citric acid, pickling salt, etc? I can’t find that anywhere, my local store has the jars and lids…
Hi! My church in Cambridge is hoping to hold a canning workshop as a fundraiser. Do you guys know anybody who does that sort of thing? I’ve done only a little myself and certainly don’t feel qualified to teach others. Any suggestions would be helpful.
CANNOT FORGIVE SELF FOR LETTING THE EVIL EX KEEP THE CANNING SET.
Hi Sara — We just used lemon juice for our citric acid (in tomatoes). We bought ours at Whole Foods, though I’m reasonably sure you can find it anywhere. Salt? We used kosher.
And hey Emily! Our friend Sarah is a very experienced canner. We know some others. Email us at info@bostonlocalvores.org if you want some names/contact info.