Canning Season

Day 340: I love having friends with fruit trees! Yesterday, a supply of pears and apples showed up on my doorstep, the pears at such a point that half of them needed to be processed immediately. The yield was only three pints, three pints to tuck away for winter nibbling. Today, I intend to work on the apples. They're harder to peel for these old, arthritic hands, but the thought of summer in jars makes the labour worthwhile.

I can't recall how long I've been canning jams, jellies and fruit. I suppose you could argue that it would be a lot less work to buy "fresh" fruit in winter, fruit which has either been in cold storage for several months or shipped across an ocean, fruit which was probably picked green and gassed to ripen it. No, that does not appeal to me. I'd rather spend a few hours in the kitchen paring, slicing, boiling jars, dripping sticky syrup on the counter and floor, steaming up every window in the house. I know this fruit personally. It's never seen a chemical, has hung on the tree in healthful sunlight and rain until it was ready to be picked. It's the real deal, warts and all, unlike some waxed, perfect and just-short-of-plastic pippin from the grocery store. It deserves to be preserved, if only for the short term.

Filling The Larder

Day 339: A second batch of pears is done and in the pantry cupboard where they will wait to bring a little cheer into the cold, dark months of winter. These next few weeks will be occupied with more canning as I stock the larder with fruit and jam. Asian pears are ripening on the counter, gooseberries and currant juice are thawing in the fridge, and if anyone happens to have a surplus of apples, I'd welcome at least part of them with open arms. Store-bought canned fruit doesn't hold a candle to homemade, and even though canning is a lot of work, I believe it's well worth the effort. These pears are going to taste really good when snow blankets the ground.

Before And After

Day 13: Between one of the Morris dancers and a Parkie friend, I came by a windfall of apples and pears this week, and settled in this morning to the job of paring, coring and canning. I seldom eat the tasteless, over-processed canned fruit sold in stores, but I find it hard to keep home-canned things on my shelf. Since both the pears and apples were tart varieties, I used a medium syrup, preserving the colour with a product called "Fruit Fresh." It's essentially a mix of ascorbic and citric acids, and when added to the syrup, it prevents the fruit from browning, not that any of this will last that long. I'm already into the plums I put up two months ago. Today, I canned two pints of pears and seven of apple chunks from at least five different types of apple. These are going to taste really good when the January snow flies.