19th Century Canning...?

[Viper21]

Garden harvest is rocking & rolling right now. One of my favorite times of the year. I take great pleasure in pulling nourishment from the ground as my ancestors did. Like most folks here, my 19th century ancestors were mostly farmers.

It wasn't a hobby, or even just a living. It was mostly a requirement for survival. Most of the food they ate, was self grown, or raised. In a subtle nod to them, I try to sustain as much as possible. Do a fair amount of canning every year. For example, it's been years since I've bought a can of green beans in a store. Same with diced tomatoes, jalapenos, etc.. We've got it made though. We do it as a hobby for the most part. Well, that & a love for fresh veggies, & a desire to eat food with zero preservatives, pesticides, etc.

Many times when I'm picking, or working my garden, I pause & think about how my ancestors performed the same tasks. We use pressure cookers for our canning, done in the comfort of an air conditioned kitchen. Our ancestors needed to can much more, & be prepared in case of a bad crop, etc. "How'd they do it" has entered my mind many times. Well, I got a glimpse today...

Stopped by a friends place this afternoon, & he was canning green beans, old school.



He literally had two of these huge old tubs, filled with a few dozen quarts of green beans, with an open fire boiling the water. My buddy is mid 60's, & said he learned how to do this from his Grandparents, & claimed this was how their Grandparents did it. I thought it was super cool. One of my first thoughts was to take a picture to share with y'all. Does anybody else can like this..?

My buddy is a very resourceful, farmer type. He's also an avid "Canner". I don't know anybody who has more veggies, soups, sauces, etc.. in their pantry than him. He & his wife could literally sustain themselves just from canned goods for a couple years if they had to. I'm confident, his ancestors are smiling.



*** @donna if this thread isn't appropriate for this forum, holler & I'll take it down, or move it where it is more appropriate.

 

[donna]

Thanks for adding. Canning always appropriate.

 

[UCVRelics]

Brings back memories of my childhood.

 

[Forks of the Ohio]

My husband is canning right now.

People need to make sure that when they do "old school" canning, that they don't cut corners. I read about people who took shortcuts and gave themselves botulism.

 

[Poorville]

Garden harvest is rocking & rolling right now. One of my favorite times of the year. I take great pleasure in pulling nourishment from the ground as my ancestors did. Like most folks here, my 19th century ancestors were mostly farmers.

It wasn't a hobby, or even just a living. It was mostly a requirement for survival. Most of the food they ate, was self grown, or raised. In a subtle nod to them, I try to sustain as much as possible. Do a fair amount of canning every year. For example, it's been years since I've bought a can of green beans in a store. Same with diced tomatoes, jalapenos, etc.. We've got it made though. We do it as a hobby for the most part. Well, that & a love for fresh veggies, & a desire to eat food with zero preservatives, pesticides, etc.

Many times when I'm picking, or working my garden, I pause & think about how my ancestors performed the same tasks. We use pressure cookers for our canning, done in the comfort of an air conditioned kitchen. Our ancestors needed to can much more, & be prepared in case of a bad crop, etc. "How'd they do it" has entered my mind many times. Well, I got a glimpse today...

Stopped by a friends place this afternoon, & he was canning green beans, old school.

View attachment 367846

He literally had two of these huge old tubs, filled with a few dozen quarts of green beans, with an open fire boiling the water. My buddy is mid 60's, & said he learned how to do this from his Grandparents, & claimed this was how their Grandparents did it. I thought it was super cool. One of my first thoughts was to take a picture to share with y'all. Does anybody else can like this..?

My buddy is a very resourceful, farmer type. He's also an avid "Canner". I don't know anybody who has more veggies, soups, sauces, etc.. in their pantry than him. He & his wife could literally sustain themselves just from canned goods for a couple years if they had to. I'm confident, his ancestors are smiling.



*** @donna if this thread isn't appropriate for this forum, holler & I'll take it down, or move it where it is more appropriate.

Thanks Viper, very interesting. Can't quite tell from the photo but I guess your buddy is using Mason jars. Can you still use tin cans with a Dixie manual sealer?

 

[Viper21]

Thanks Viper, very interesting. Can't quite tell from the photo but I guess your buddy is using Mason jars. Can you still use tin cans with a Dixie manual sealer?

I don't know anybody who uses cans.

 

[FarawayFriend]

My Grandmother did it that way and she preserved everything. Not only fruits and veggies but she also dried herbs (she actually went out and picked them where she found them) and mixed her own herbal tea, the taste of which I can still remember and which no ready-made tea will ever compare to. My grandparents jokingly named their signature mix "Woods, Meadows and Railroad Embankment" after the places where they found the herbs. Of course nowadays noone would even think of picking herbs from a railroad embankment, but back in the 60s it was nothing anyone would have worried about.

But we here don't use Mason jars but Weck jars (named after the company that produced them):

Weck jar - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[lupaglupa]

It makes a lot of sense to do the boiling outside - most canning happens in the summer and the steam it lets off is ferocious! Putting the whole operation in the yard keeps the house cool.