Monday, August 31, 2009

Canning: Fun, but a whole lot of work


Had a "Canning Across America" party this weekend and every inch of counter space was sticky by the end of the day. We started around 10 and finished after 5... a long, sweet day. 

As much as I enjoyed it, I don't know if/when I'll do it again. Especially as a solitary project. What made it so enjoyable was the good company and the team work. Everybody pitched in to tackle 40 pounds of peaches and 20 pounds of green beans. Which, it turns out, isn't as much as you might image.

My friend Laura, aka the Canning Queen, said she usually does 100 pounds of peaches in a day! Oh my.

The peaches were absolutely beautiful, golden, juicy orbs that will be most appreciated in the dead of winter. That's really the incentive, isn't it? It's not exactly something you do to flex your thrifty muscle, is it?

Adding it all up, the cost of the jars, the sugar, the fruit, the time spent prepping and cleaning and cleaning some more, it doesn't really pencil out. Unless you're canning free fruit. Or you become so proficient that you can tackle a project and get 'er done in a couple of hours.

Maybe it's like any other cooking? The more you do it, the more accomplished you become. 

Me? I've still got a couple dozen jars to fill. Searching for something to put in them. 

1 comment:

David Hinske said...

Those peaches look beautiful. I picked up three pounds in Valverde last Friday. They were gawd awful ugly, but the sweetest and most flavorful peaches I'd ever tasted. Baked up a nice pie for all of the museum staff. The Pueblo puts on a Farmers Market on WEDNESDAY afternoons! Isn't that a great time and day? I picked up some nice beets and did a roasted beet salad for the lovely Mrs. with toasted cashews and goat feta. What a great time of year.