Baltimore Eats - OUR COMMON TABLE - August 2007

One of the first things I noticed missing when my family and I moved from the inner city to our brand, spanking-new suburban home in Parkville was the summer kitchen.

Many older Baltimore homes had summer kitchens, little rooms with just a stove and maybe a small sink and counter. Some were attached to the rear of the main house and some were set apart, with a covered walkway connecting them to the house.

By mid-summer, backyard-grown vegetables were coming to maturity and many families had relatives living on nearby farms. This meant a jackpot of vegetables and fruit making its way into the canning pots in the summer kitchen. Preserving food was not the "hobby" it has become, but rather a necessity to insure ample food on the family table during the winter months. So in the days before air conditioning, despite the hot, humid weather there was still a whole lot of cooking going on.

Now the tide seems turning. With the renewed interest we are seeing in local, regional food sources, canning and preserving is experiencing a sort of renaissance. The interesting aspect about this fascination with regional - "Locavore" - ways of eating is that it appears to be not just a trend. More and more folks are in agreement that local eating is a necessity.

As energy prices continue to soar, and as we face a rapidly depleting supply of fossil fuels, people are realizing that they may soon need to be skilled in the arts of canning and preserving. Getting all of our food from over 1,500 miles away is just not going to be viable for too much longer.

I know a number of people who put up enough food each summer and fall to stock their pantries for the whole winter season. Fall cabbage is turned into sauerkraut; summer pickles are brined and then packed into jars as pickles and relishes. Overflowing bushel baskets of vine-ripened tomatoes are put up for year-round use or transformed into sauces, salsas or ketchup.

Fruit is perfect for canning as well. Apples become applesauce and minced meat for holiday pies. Peaches, apricots, plums, cherries all put-up well, while more delicate fruit such as strawberries, blueberries, and such, become delicious signature jams, preserves, and jellies --even chutneys.

The choices for raw food to can, are endless and it's fun to be able to develop your own recipes. Not only can we put up food to enjoy ourselves during the off growing season, but it is also a great way to show off our culinary skills and share our food with others - the perfect gift. When friends give me jars of their homemade jams and preserves I find that I am thinking fondly of them each time I spoon it onto toast or muffins. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving!

Now there are some challenges when it comes to putting up our own vegetables and fruit but I hold that they are mostly psychological. Many people are terrified at the prospect of canning food, but truth be told, it's really not rocket science. Our ancestors successfully preserved food for thousands of years, with few books or manuals, and little fancy, high-tech canning equipment. If they hadn't -we wouldn't be here would we?!?

The best way to learn the fine art of canning and preserving is to do it with a friend or relative who already has some degree of proficiency -learning the old-fashioned, oral tradition kind of way. Another way is to take a local class, like the canning workshop with Larry Kloze, that's being hosted by baltimore eats and the Baltimore Slow Food Convivium next month. Larry's a Master Gardener with the Maryland Cooperative Extension who has been putting up the fruits of his harvest for many decades. Larry's workshop, the first in baltimore eats series of food preserving workshops is scheduled for September 15th. See the Food & Wine Events calendar on page 28 for more info.

A class like this is a fantastic way to meet folks and to begin to take some real ownership of our own food supply. Whether we start canning and preserving for food security or just for fun, now is the perfect time to begin putting it up. I'm planning to sit in and brush up on my canning skills -hope to see you there!