We can walk into Foodtown, ShopRite, Kings or Whole Foods at any time of the year and find canned tomatoes. We can buy jams and jellies, applesauce and pickles. Or we can just go down to our basements and pull something infinitely better off the shelves.
That’s right, folks, we’re talking home canning. Your great-grandmothers did it and you can, too. That’s because we’re starting a new series on MyVeronaNJ to take you into the wonderful world of “putting food by”, as they used to call it. We’re going to introduce you–or re-introduce you–to canning, pickling, jam and jelly making, and even food drying. We’re going to show you that these techniques are easy, cost-effective and require less gear than your average elementary school team sport.
Tracy Bermeo, who covers the world of preschool and elementary school Verona for MyVeronaNJ (and writes our slow cooker recipe series, Crock It!), has already preserved 50 pounds of tomatoes for the winter. I’m getting out my food dryer to make batches of fruit rolls for school lunches in flavors like mango-pineapple and cherry-apple. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to tell you how to make all of this, and more. Bookmark the tag Preserve It and you’ll be able to see all of them, or just check our Food category.
But we know we’re not the only Verona people who still do things this way. If you have a food preservation recipe or tip you’d like to share, please send it to us and we’ll publish it for everybody to see.
