This summer I learned how to CAN! It's something I've wanted to learn to do for a couple of years now. For my birthday this year Toni gave me a canning kit and Patra gave me a case of the jars. You see, I have trouble finding a store bought tomato sauce that I really like so I end up buying canned tomatoes and making my own sauce. A couple of years ago Sean and I made the "Sopranos Sunday Gravy" from a Sopranos cookbook we borrowed from our friend Jen. Let me tell you it was DELICIOUS! After we made it I thought that I'd love to have jars of that sauce in my pantry. And now I can!
Toni is the one who gave me the lesson on how to can tomatoes. She got a whole crate of tomatoes from the farm we belong to. One Saturday morning, Clare and I went down to her house and got to work. First we had to wash the tomatoes, then bake them in the oven til the skins start to split, and then peel the skins off. At that point we cooked some down on the stove top and some of the others we just canned right out of the oven. Then, put them in boiling water for like 40 minutes and the tops seal. Ta Da! Jars full of yummy tomatoes ready to be made into delicious sauces over the winter.
It seems like a bit of a lost art to me. As we were canning, Toni and I were talking about how people used to do this all the time and how much they would have had to can in order to make it through the winter months. Amazing! We are so spoiled with the technology and conveniences we have available to us.
My moms family has been canning for years. You go into the "cellar" and there is every vegetable and fruit you can imagine. It is very impressive. Unfortunately my mother never really learned to do all these things or she did but thought it was to much trouble. It really is a lost art. I told Toni to invite me over next time.
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