The Amish Canning Cookbook (2 page)

Beets

Beet Greens

Carrots

Chard

Corn

Creamed Corn

Greens—Beet, Chard, Kale, Mustard, Spinach, etc.

Kale

Mushrooms

Mustard Greens

Okra

Peas, Dried

Peas, Green

Peppers, Hot (jalapeno, Anaheim, Serrano, etc.)

Peppers, Sweet

Potatoes, Sweet

Potatoes, White

Pumpkin and Other Winter Squash, Cubed

Spinach

11. Meat, Poultry, and Fish

Preparing and Processing Meat, Poultry, and Fish

Ground Meat (or finely chopped)

Chunks, Cubes, or Strips

Beef Broth (Stock)

Chicken, Rabbit, and Squirrel

Chicken or Turkey Broth (Stock)

Clams (whole or minced)

Crab

Fish (for tuna, see recipe below)

Oysters

Shrimp

Tuna

12. Soups, Stews, and Other Good Things

Baked Beans

Baked Beans, Boston Style

Barbeque Sauce

Bean Soup

Beef Stew with Vegetables

Black Bean Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

Carrot and Fennel Soup

Chicken Corn Soup

Chicken Soup

Chicken Stew

Chili Con Carne

Clam Chowder

Cranberry Sauce

Farmer’s Soup

Green Tomatillo Salsa

Hamburger Stew

Hot Dog Green Tomato Relish

Lamb Stew

Mincemeat Pie Filling

Minestrone Soup

Mix-Your-Own Vegetable and Meat Soup

Pizza Sauce

Pork Stew

Sandwich Spread

South of the Border Chicken Soup

Spicy Apple Plum Brown Sauce

Split Pea Soup

Three-Meat Stew

Quick and Easy Tomato Soup

Fresh Tomato Soup

Vegetarian Chili

13. What Went Wrong?

An Encouraging Word

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

M
any of us today are choosing to go back to basics by simplifying our lives and concentrating on making our homes restful and joyful havens from the distractions and cares of fast-paced modern living. As we look for ways to accomplish this, we often turn to the tried and true methods of our forebears. Their self-reliance and knowledge of how to care for their families give us plenty of tools for creating a successful homemade life for ourselves and our loved ones. But unlike them, we are free to pick and choose what is meaningful for our particular situations and interests, and we can decide which of these newfound skills would have significance for our families. Learning to can our own food is one of the foundations of this chosen lifestyle.

Canning has been in existence for some two hundred years, and for much of that time, homemakers needed to preserve their harvest in order to feed their families during the lean winter months when gardens were bare. But with the advent of grocery stores and inexpensive canned food readily available anytime during the year, home canning fell by the wayside. However, the last several years have seen a resurgence in its popularity, and canning has once again taken center stage. With this resurgence comes the need for up-to-date canning instructions that take into account the very latest in safety guidelines—this is not the place to haul out your grandmother’s old canning “receipts” or even to refer to books written in the 1970s (the last time canning enjoyed a revival as a result of the “back to the land” movement).

Whether you are new to canning or have been putting up food for many years now,
The Amish Canning Cookbook
will find a place in your kitchen. In this book, you’ll find recipes for almost any food, and whatever piques your canning interests can likely be satisfied within these pages. And you can trust that these recipes offer you the most up-to-date data available. You won’t find anything fancy here, but you will find recipes guaranteed to please your family. This is good, wholesome fare that can be the start of many tasty meals, and even the pickiest eaters will enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Plus, seeing all those jars lining your pantry shelves is pure pleasure. I like to think the food tastes better than store-bought, which it likely does because you have been able to exercise control over such things as freshness and quality—but I also fancy that it tastes better because it was made with love.

Canning as a Way of Life

As far back as I can remember I have memories of helping my mother make jelly. In those days, we would ladle the hot jelly into any jars we could lay our hands on and then pour a thin layer of melted paraffin wax over the top to seal them.

The years passed and when I was preparing to get married, my gift list included everything I could possibly need to process food in my own home. In fact, one of my favorite gifts was an All-American pressure canner and several cases of jars. I was set, and it didn’t take long before I began canning in earnest.

In my first year of married life, I remember canning 25 quarts of tomato sauce, which seemed like a staggering amount of food to me. I loved to open up my pantry door and just gaze at all those quarts of tomatoey goodness—it made me feel rich because I knew that come what may, I could feed my little family. But when the next harvest season came around, I had well over half of those jars still sitting there. I found it hard at first to actually
use
the food I’d taken the time to produce. I quickly realized that if I wasn’t going to use the food I took such pains to process, it wouldn’t benefit my family, and worse, we would be throwing away our money. So when the next season came around, I canned more tomato sauce, some peaches, green beans, and stew, and I made two batches of jelly—grape jelly using purchased grape juice (easy!) and strawberry jam—and I vowed to use every bit of it over the winter. We did, and some weeks our food budget was noticeably less. I realized I was onto something good.

As my family grew, so did my yearly canning count. Before long, I was annually canning many hundreds of jars of food—everything from my beloved tomato sauce and jelly to dried beans, meat, tuna and salmon, soups and stews, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. In the fall I could look at my pantry shelves absolutely brimming with the fruits of my efforts and be confident that, though the winter storms might blow, my family would be fed. And even more happily, I knew exactly what was in those jars—healthy, organic, and preservative-free food.

Moving to the country and adding a large garden, berry bushes and vines, and a few fruit trees gave me even more opportunities to feed my family with what we produced. During this time, we attended a Conservative Mennonite church, and canning was simply a way of life for the women of the church. I learned a lot from those ladies. We often discussed what we were currently putting up, and sometimes whole groups would meet at the local produce fields to pick. My twin sister, too, canned food from her garden, and she and I loved to share our excess—her pears and cherries in exchange for my blueberries, for instance.

We also raised our own meat, and to this day I can’t eat turkey without boiling up the carcass afterward and canning a load of turkey and broth. Getting up to seven quarts of turkey and broth from a carcass that most people throw away means I’ve taken advantage of every last part of the bird, and suddenly it’s a cheap cut of meat. I love that.

By 1999, I had been canning for more than 20 years, and I decided to become a certified master food preserver through our local university extension service. Even though I knew a lot about canning food and had pretty much “canned it all,” it was a great learning experience for me, and I loved being able to give back to my community through outreach programs, the telephone hotline, and classes. Probably the best part of becoming certified was that I became more aware of safety issues and best practices, and I developed the habit of maintaining up-to-date knowledge of the latest studies coming out of government and university research programs. Over the years I’ve had to “retire” or rework some old-time favorite recipes, but for me that’s such a small price to pay for the confidence that when I open one of my home-canned jars of food to nourish a grandchild, I know they are eating safe, healthy, natural food with nothing in it but what comes from God’s bounty.

How to Fit Canning into Your Busy Life

For many years I was a stay-at-home wife and mother, so living a “from scratch” life fit fairly easily within my daily routine. But I want to encourage you that even though you might work away from home part- or full-time, you can find the time to avail yourself of these same joys. It requires making choices based on your desires and being willing to give up certain things in order to gain something better.

Life has many twists and turns for most of us, and I am not immune. When many of my contemporaries are beginning to wind down their careers and think about retirement, I seem to be busier than ever. I currently work full-time and freelance regularly on the side. In the last several years I have also been fortunate enough to find an audience for my books, but the hours necessary to produce a manuscript can’t be foreshortened. I own my home and live alone, which means that I’m responsible for cleaning and maintaining it, including my yards and a small flock of chickens. And then there are my family, church, and friends, all of whom I care about and want to visit regularly. And let’s not forget hobbies and interests. It’s a long list that occupies my time and energies—and, I’m sure, yours as well.

Even so, I have canned more than 300 jars of food this year so far.

Why on earth, you may be asking, would I want to add to an already busy schedule by canning food that’s so easily purchased at the store? Here are some of my reasons:

• Canning saves money, especially when I grow many of my own fruits and vegetables (the cost of seed packets is so minimal compared to the quantity of food produced—it’s a great deal!). Yes, that means I must plant, tend, and harvest a garden, but when I’m busy outside, I’m not as tempted to run into town to pick up a few items, only to come home with more than I went for.

• When I’m in the kitchen working on my latest canning project, I often contemplate my life and relationships and pray for the needs of those whom I love. I’m a “captive audience” and find I don’t get so easily distracted because I’m in one place, doing one thing. I think it’s easy to feel close to God while working with His bounty, and I know that there are many times when, as I’m cutting and chopping, God is working in my heart, and my worries and fears tend to melt away.

• By spending extra time in the kitchen during the harvest season, I’m actually getting a leg up on meal planning for the coming months. When I’m extra tired after a long day—often in winter when the days are short, cold, and dreary and the nights are long—I can simply come home, grab a jar or two from my shelves, and have dinner in a jiffy. And as a bonus, any leftovers become lunch the next day. Tasty convenience!