Yes We Can, pickle, dry, salt…

Submitted by Lorene Edwards Forkner, co-author of Canning and Preserving Your Own Harvest, for Molbak’s

Everything old is new again. Today preserving is enjoying renewed popularity and extending the harvest is HIP! We are in the midst of a contemporary revival of these almost-lost kitchen arts coupled with a newfound respect for food integrity and healthful living. In a welcome departure from our recent history of fast, global, and often anonymous food, America is developing a palate and a passion for fresh, seasonal fare as well as a growing respect for the farmers and artisan craftspeople who work so hard to produce-and preserve it.

Until fairly recently, (certainly within the past couple of generations) families harvested crops in the fall and stored enough food to get them through until the next harvest. For our grandparents and great-grandparents, a routine part of housekeeping involved mastering a battery of various preserving skills that customarily were passed from generation to generation along with grandmother’s china, family stories, and a tendency toward red hair or blue eyes.

These days, growing concerns about food safety and security routinely generate frightening headlines, and an unstable economy has us all thinking about cost-cutting measures. But even economic anxiety and contemporary crises can’t distract me from pondering my next meal. A great many of us are looking at canning and preserving as a path toward not just health and cost savings, but also a means of making the most of seasonal bounty and producing delicious treats for a well-stocked pantry, meant to be shared with friends and family.

This past 4th of July – certainly one of the coldest, wettest and most miserable on record - I opened my last jar of 2009’s batch of pickled eggplant chutney, serving it to friends with cheese and crackers. The slightly spicy, tangy condiment was like a delicious warm summer breeze bringing back lovely memories of last year’s glorious sunshine and record breaking heat; that is, until we had to put on heavy sweaters and retreat indoors as the rain began again. Only a few days later a heat spell descended on our area that made the idea of going anywhere near the kitchen intolerable. Again, preserves to the rescue. A simple supper of preserved roasted peppers & eggplant, fresh cheese and oil-cured, oven dried tomatoes served up with crusty bread and chilled white wine on the shady back patio hit the sweet spot and saved the day. 

Will canning and preserving solve climate chaos? Probably not. But tasty condiments, savory goods and sweet preserves are delicious resources to have in the pantry against whatever life serves up.

From my book Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest:

When important principles are followed, traditional preserving methods – freezing, canning, drying, and “live” storage (our grandparents called it a root cellar) – do a fine job of keeping food.  Beyond these basics, vinegar, sugar, alcohol, and other cures are primarily employed for the additional flavor they impart as well as their effectiveness at prolonging shelf life.  Through their almost magical alchemy, food is not just preserved but transformed and elevated into something altogether different to become the fare of festive celebrations and artisan craftsmanship.

A cucumber is simply a refreshing salad in summer, but tangy pickles are a time-honored side at many holiday celebrations; fresh peaches may be a fleeting summer pleasure, but doused in alcohol, they become a jewel-colored treasure and a glimpse back to the warmth of summer on a cold winter’s evening.

Hopefully, by the time you read this, summer will have settled in and we’ll be reveling in raspberries, pole beans and - dare I say it - the first ripe, juicy tomatoes. I can’t wait to bottle the season, extend the harvest and hold onto the lingering warmth of summer with batches of sticky jam, pickles and rich, thick tomato sauce. Their preserved goodness, like sunshine in a bottle, maybe our best chance at savoring this abbreviated summer.

Join Lorene at Molbak’s on August 7, at 10AM for a FREE seminar and book signing. Selected recipes from her book can be found here.

Lorene Edwards Forkner - freelance writer, garden designer, and food enthusiast – revels in the seasonal pleasures and broad scope of gardening in the Pacific Northwest. She is the co-author of Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest, and Growing Your Own Vegetables from Sasquatch Books. Read more of Lorene’s musings on life, work, home and garden at her blog.