Canning Season - Hard Work in Hottest Weather
by Nancy Steadman (Permission to Post given by Nancy Steadman a.k.a my Mom)
"Canning' season is here again, and as I ladle my vegetable soup into jars, I think back to my childhood, and how different canning time was then. My Mother and Father were divorced and my mother and I went to live with my Grandparents, who had eight children. Since my mother was the oldest, I was only three years younger than her youngest sister. With this house full of people, my Grandmother had to "put up" a lot of food for the winter.
My Grandmother had electricity, but no running water. the water was carried from a spring about a fourth of a mile from the house. The water was dipped from the spring with galvanized buckets. I, being the smallest person in the house, carried water from the spring in a thoroughly washed lard bucket which was as much as I could tote.
The first step in the process of "canning" was to haul out the glass jars that had been emptied during the winter, and wash them. Granny had two galvanized wash tubs which were usually used to rinse clothes that were washed on the wringer washer, but were turned into "soap and rinse" tubs for the jars.
While washing my jars in the dishwasher, I think about what a tremendous task it was just to clean something back then. The water was heated in a dishpan on the wood range and then poured into the tubs. Washing jars was one of my jobs. I didn't like doing it, but gladly went under the shade tree with the tubs to escape the horribly hot kitchen. Even though Granny had electricity, she had no electric stove or air conditioner.
The jars were then placed upside down on the stove in a long pan, with only enough water to cover the mouth of the jar. This was done to sterilize the jars. The lids were added to the water also. The jars and lids were boiled for about two or three minutes. The jars were then set upright in the hot (not boiling) water so they could be filled with vegetable or fruit or whatever was to be canned that day.
Granny would fill the jars with fresh vegetables from the garden: tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, beans, peas, okra, potatoes, beets, and then some of these were mixed together to make vegetable soup, (my favorite). She would also can apples, pears, peaches, blackberry jelly, blackberry jam, all these foods we couldn't wait to dig into when winter came. It was our touch of summer when the cold winds of winter blew around the house.
When I married, I was happy to escape "canning season". Mama carried on the tradition, but I wanted to part in it. It was too much trouble. But, now I realize, as I admire my own jars of vegetable soup and canned peaches sitting on the counter, that I was missing something. It was the satisfaction to be had from doing something that my Grandmother had to do in order to feed her family.
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