Читать книгу Canning Essentials - Jackie Callahan Parente - Страница 8

My son stopped by for supper recently. He’s definitely a foodie, with a strong interest in organic gardening, but he also lives on a shoestring, with a strong interest in economical foods. For dessert, we had a compote of frozen, locally grown peaches; my homemade chocolate raspberry sauce; and homemade vanilla yogurt. “It’s cheaper to make your yogurt than it is to buy it, right, Mom?” he asked. I really wanted to give him the answer he was looking for and respond emphatically, “Yes, of course it is.” The answer is, “It depends.” We won’t go into the cost-benefit numbers here because they are dependent upon a range a variables. From my personal experience, some foods, such as jams and pickles, are cheaper when you preserve them yourself. For most other fruits and vegetables that I preserve, it’s hard to compete with commercial canneries and warehouse food prices. But I don’t “put up” (canning lingo for “preserve”) my food for the economics of it. I do it for the joy of being my own food steward.

When you preserve your own food, you enjoy the benefit of knowing exactly where your food came from.

When you preserve your own food, you enjoy the benefit of knowing exactly where your food came from, how old it is, and what’s in the container along with your food. Consider a recent newspaper headline, “BPA Found in Almost All Canned Food.” When you do your own food preservation, stories about bisphenol-A and other harmful by-products aren’t troublesome.

For those who are concerned about chemical additives and preservatives, sodium and sugar levels, and large amounts of high-fructose corn syrup, to name just a few of the current food-related issues, there is comfort in controlling these factors. When you preserve your own food, there’s no need to read ingredient labels so conscientiously. There are no mysterious ingredients hiding behind a hand-penned label that reads “Tomatoes, July 2020.” That’s just good, wholesome food!

Home-preserving isn’t only about “putting up” jars of grape jelly and dill pickles. Recipes abound that will tempt your taste buds in unexpected ways.

If you grow your own produce or know the folks who did, you’ll feel better about making your own applesauce and such with wholesome ingredients.

THE SOONER, THE BETTER

Home food preservation isn’t difficult, but it does require some forethought. Fruits and vegetables are at their peak in terms of flavor and nutrition at the moment they are picked. This is as good as it gets—canning or freezing will not improve the quality. Every minute that separates the time of picking from the moment of preservation causes a loss of quality and nutrition in the product. Thus, it’s very important to plan your picking or visit to the farmer’s market so that you can preserve the bounty quickly. My mother told me not to bother making pickles if the cukes were even a day old! Some vegetables are more time sensitive than others, but all experts agree that soonest is best.