My great grandmother, Granny White, a millworker who lived in Seneca, S.C., about an hour from where I grew up, could not read. She wore little granny glasses and little black shoes. She lived in a house with an outhouse, dipped snuff, made muscadine wine and slept on mattresses made of duck feathers. The mattresses were so soft that you sunk three feet in the middle when you laid on them. My mother, Granny's granddaughter, used to love to escape her mean mother to go to Granny's duck mattresses.
Granny also canned vegetable soup. It was the best vegetable soup in the entire universe, and every time we drove out to see her, she'd pop open a jar and warm us up some. Okra, tomatoes, green beans and potatoes. Simple. Yum.
I always wanted to learn how to can, too, one of those tasks passed down woman-to-woman in the country. I always wanted to learn, but I'd heard all the bad stories -- exploding pressure cookers, botulism, that kind of life-threatening thing. I needed somebody to teach me, to show me. I am, after all, a visual learner, and a woman who works best in community with others.
Along comes my friend, Kelley P. , a member of an organization called TimeBank, where people give and get services from each other. (Reminder to self: Write about this in a future post). Now Kelley is a level-headed woman, the mother of two really good little girls, who would know all about staving off all the bad things in life. She had just learned to can tart cherry jelly. She told me she would teach me!!
Yesterday, we spent two hours canning and an hour jabbering. In the end, I had 12 jars of cherry jam, no preservatives, made by my hands, with the help of Kelley. I had a good talk, woman-to-woman, to add to the pockets of my soul. Voila!
Next, I want to make blueberry with lime zest. Yum yum yum. And talk some more and more and more with Kelley...
HOW TO CAN THE JELLY WE CANNED ABOVE
4 cups tart cherries in their own juice
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
6 small jars
one pot with heavy bottom and lid
one gallon saucepan
one small saucepan
one box no sugar needed pectin
four tools from Bed Bath and Beyond for 8 bucks: a funnel, a magnet on a stick, a measuring rod, tongs
1. Wash your jars and lids in the dishwasher. You want the water hot.
2. Don't touch the insides of the jars after that, or the insides of the lids. In fact, don't touch anything that will touch your jelly. That's how you seal in bacteria. Wash everything in really hot water. Then wash it again.
3. Fill the biggest pot of water, the one with the heavy bottom, so that when you put the jars in there, they're covered, plus an inch. Using your tongs, put your jars in the cold water. Cover the pot. Bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, turn down to a simmer.
3. Meanwhile, chop cherries however you want them. Some of us like them whole, others a little pulsed in the food processor, others chopped on a chopping board.
4. Put cherries in the medium pot with the box of pectin. Medium high heat. Bring to boil. Add two cups sugar. Bring to boil again. Set timer for two minutes. When the two minutes are up, your jelly is ready to can.
5. Meanwhile, start the other, littler saucepan with water to boil, enough to cover your lids. Keep them on a simmer til ready to use.
6. Using your tongs, bring out a jar. Use your funnel and pour some jelly in the jar. Use your measuring implement to make sure the jelly is 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the top. Using your magnet on a stick, grab your lid from the simmering pot and pop it on. Using a hot pad, hold the jar, while you twist on the top. Put the jar back into the boiling water.
7. Once all six jars are done, put the lid back on the big pot, bring it back to a boil for ten minutes.
8. Use tongs to get the jars back out. Put them in a quiet place, where they should sit still, setting for 24 hours. You will hear the jars pop over the next half hour, as they seal. Touch the tops after a few hours to make sure there is no give. That means they've sealed.
Jars will store for a year. Opened, they will be good for three weeks.
Yum yum and soo much easier than I thought.......Thanks, Granny and KP!!!
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