Canning: still alive and kicking

Visiting your public markets at the height of the harvest season, when the kiosks are overflowing and the stalls are no longer big enough to display all the produce, is discovering beds filled with tomatoes, eggplants, beans, peppers, and a whole joyful explosion of colors and flavors. 

We know it's fleeting, because most of these products, which come from local fields during the summer and fall, will disappear with the winter. So, we feel the urge, the impulse, to stock up and transform this local produce. While abundance is at its peak. While we can stock up on large quantities at reasonable prices. While we can associate the flavors with the people of this region and their smiles, their stories, their villages.

The fact is, our freezer isn't infinite. So how can we preserve a little more of this fleeting abundance that makes sense and makes our mouths water?  

There are many possible solutions to explore. Freezing remains a simple option. If your home allows you to purchase a chest freezer, it's miraculous: a real increase in your capacity to stock up on seasonal flavors for the winter. If space does not allow for this, you can optimize the space available in your current freezer, for example by freezing cooked vegetables rather than fresh ones (tomato sauce takes up less space in the freezer than tomatoes themselves), and by using square or rectangular freezer containers rather than round ones.  

The other option is to store your abundance outside the freezer! Canning in boiling water is also miraculous in that it allows you to stock up on tomato sauce and so many other seasonal flavors in jars that can be stored at room temperature! This is a particularly suitable solution for people who don't have room for a chest freezer!

What to do if you've never canned food before? 

Perhaps our grandmother or great-grandmother did it, but the know-how was not passed on to our parents and then to us?  

The transmission of know-how can of course take place within the family, but it can take different forms. There are several workshops and books that can help you learn the technique and obtain tried and tested recipes. Or maybe you have a neighbor who knows how to do it? A friend with experience who could teach you how to can?  

A tomato sauce party in the yard or alley, with good music and a glass of wine, is a joyful image of the season of abundance. Others may see an afternoon of canning as a more peaceful moment, time for themselves, with relaxing music or that audiobook they've been wanting to listen to for a long time. Canning can be associated with different moments, from the most convivial to the most meditative. 

Whatever your mood at the time, the point of spending time on it during the season of abundance is to enjoy the season of abundance by stocking up on local flavors (outside the freezer!) and to keep alive a food-related skill that will serve us well for a long time and can then be passed on to those around us, to children and colleagues, friends, and neighbors.  
 

Ps. Every year is different. Don't have the time, space, or energy this season? No problem, and don't panic! Farmers' markets are there for you, and many offer small jars of local produce that are already prepared for you! 

Text by Julie Aubé, author, nutritionist, and speaker passionate about the flavors of Quebec.