A day spent canning pickles and "reading"

One of the best things about eating locally is the opportunity to eat food that is really fresh; the fruits and veggies we get from the CSA and farmers' market are on our table soon after they've been harvested. We're now in the abundant season when local is readily available, but if you want to keep eating local grown produce later in the year, preserving is one option. Local produce grown for taste rather than how it withstands shipping really improves the quality of preserved foods, whether it's frozen, canned, or dried.



I'm an inexperienced canner, this being only my second season preserving, but I'm getting more comfortable with it. Canning pickles is a good first project because the process is simple; finding a good pickle recipe is more difficult. This year I'm trying a family recipe called Spicy Basque Pickles, provided by my friend, Ann Ebner.

The pickling cucumbers and dill (the huge black bag in the picture is whole dill) were ordered in bulk from Lattin Farms on Thursday and picked up at the farmers' market on California Saturday morning; garlic came from Carrol's Truck Corner stall, also at the farmers' market; canning jars, alum (found with the jarred spices), pickling salt, vinegar, and dried whole chili peppers came from Raley's. The canning process is really pretty easy, all you need is a good resource to help you with the basics. Canning books are widely available; visit Washoe County Library for good, free resources. I use Joy of Cooking: All About Canning and Preserving, which has clear instructions and pictures (need those!), and recipes to get you started.

One of my favorite things to do is work with my hands while listening to audio books, and canning is the perfect project for this. This day I listened to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Mary Modern. Later in the afternoon one of my other favorite things happened; my husband joined me in the kitchen to talk, laugh, and join in the process.

If you've never canned before I highly recommend it. This activity gives me a chance to hang out with my best friends, talk, practice a valuable skill, feed my family and friends, and make food not available through retail outlets. What's not to love!