Lisa and I have been canning food for several seasons. Last year was by far the biggest and best with about 800 lbs stored. We had Hart from FoodTV on hand to film what we called Fruitapolooza 08 and Food TV called: Preserving Summer.
Our motivations are twelve-fold:
- Preserve enough staple fruits and veggies to make it through to next season
- Eat local, healthy, organic food that directly supports local farmers
- Develop skills that make us increasingly self-reliant
- Develop a deeper sensitivity to the seasons and the availability of local food
- Have an abundant supply of food in case we have to weather any supply problems
- Challenge ourselves
- Save $$$
- Have fun
- Inspire change
- Have an abundance of goods to give away during the Christmas season
- Have a stash to trade with other canners.
- Prepare for the inevitable demise of global agribusiness and the reverting to localized food systems as result of peak oil
Almost a year later from when the video was shot, it turns out 800 lbs is just about enough to get 3 people (Lisa, myself and our room mate Matt) though a season. We of course have been supplementing it with some fresh fruits and veggies but only a fraction of what we would have otherwise had to buy. We’ve pretty much eliminated store bought canned food in the process as well.
800 lbs is a substantial amount, taking approximately 2 weeks of reasonably continuous work for two people plus many transient helpers. Here are some tips from the trenches:
- Plums are fast and tasty. They also dry really well. We only made one batch of dried ones but wished we dried 10 times that many.
- Pears are a bit onerous since you have to peel them. I wouldn’t bother unless you really like pears or want a do a small batch just to have a bit of variety.
- Everyone loves the peaches.
- Apples as rather gross. Apple sauce is good as an ingredient in baking or on its own with a little spice.
- If you are going to try and make tomato paste, make sure your tomatoes don’t have a high water content. We cooked ours down for a couple days and it still wasn’t as thick as we wanted. I think Romas would probably have worked better.
- Salsa is a bit tricky to get the flavors just the way you like them. Next time, I think I will make smaller batches and experiment with ingredients and proportions to try and narrow in on what makes it superb.
- Make sure you have enough lids, rings, jars and supplies (certo, lemon juice, vinegar, etc) BEFORE you start
- Don’t wait until the end of summer to look on Craigslist for used jars as they get scooped fast
Happy canning!
Justin
Tracy Petley
August 16, 2009 | 8:17 pm1
Hi I have bookmarked your blog and am starting one myself I will accept your challenge and post the note on my blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to comment. I am an urban gardener too and am just starting this year to pressure cooker can. I am disabled by a pain syndrome and have to stay out of the sun due to a skin problem so its pretty challenging to garden. I grow herbs, cabbage, kale, lettuce, lots of different tomatoes, peppers, radishes, beans, peas, I dehydrate alot of fruits too. Anyway my email is posted on this reply if that doesn”t work just post a comment and I will put it in a comment. - Tracy Petley in Kitimat BC a fellow gardener, knitter, spinner
Tilsons get Canned – 800lbs of fruit in an apartment (with video) « Ephemeral Feasthouse
June 20, 2009 | 2:32 am2
[...] described in Preserving Summer: Preparing for an Uncertain Future, they canned 800 lbs of fruits in their apartment with a little help from friends. They are both [...]