By: Joe Mayfield
When winter arrives and the temperature drops, having good food could mean staying healthy.
Our Grandmothers knew this, and they invested long hours during the summer canning all the good foods they knew that their families enjoyed.
Today most people use a freezer to stay well stocked with all the staples, and perhaps fruits as well. But during the 40s and 50s, women canned every summer in order to have good nutritious meals for their families; somehow they just seemed to know what was important for good health.
My Grandmother, Ma Mayfield, canned almost all summer long. There were times that I thought to myself, “If I stand still too long I’ll get canned,” but I would help whenever I could; a four or five year old can do many things to help out with this type work.
One of the first things to do, at the beginning of each summer, even before the crops had started to push their way above ground, was to take an inventory of the jars - the sizes (90 per cent were quart size).
We had to count the number of pints, and the number of quarts. All jars were large mouth, to make for easier washing, then after the inventory had been taken, Ma would sit down and count the number of rings she had. Rings could be used multiple times, but the lids could only be used one time, once the lid was removed from the canned jar it was disposed of.
Another important thing that must be checked was the surface of the jars edge, to be certain that there were no chipped places around the mouth of the sealing surface, any chip would prevent a good seal from occurring, or it might seal for a short while, then at some point it would let air in, causing the contents to go bad, therefore the work spent on that jar was wasted.
Once the counting had been completed, then came time to determine the number of lids and rings to purchase, so as to have a lid and a ring for each jar. I recall that no matter how many jars we counted, Ma would always want to buy four or five more cases; there are 12 quart jars to a case, and the reason she always needed more is due to giving a quart of beans, or a pint of jelly to her children when they came to visit.
For the new jars, my dad would always take Ma to Watsons General store in Cullman, AL where she could purchase the needed rings, lids, and jars, as well as any other needed supplies, such as the cotton batting for quilts, or perhaps the ticking material for the backing.
During the course of preparing for the canning, you always had to do such things as locate some really strong sticks to be used for braces beneath the shelves that would hold all the canning jars.
The weight would cause the shelve to bow from all the weight, so before starting, find an old ax handle, or something like it, then saw it to fit.
I always wondered what happened to the sticks from the year before until one morning I saw my grandfather, Pa Mayfield, putting it in the stove for stove wood.
When we were done, you would see a pantry full of canned jars of different fruits, and vegetables, complete with a canner and cards with the date the item was canned on the shelves. Most people always used the pint size jars for jellys and jam, or preserves, and the quart size for blackberrys, peaches, pickles, peppers, apple butter, vegetables, and tomatoes.
My favorite was home made chicken soup, but this was canned to help keep a bad cold away, and it always seemed to do a good job; there was always lots of black pepper added.
Once the crops were coming in, the real work began.
For days I would have helped wash jars, turn them upside down to dry, and then put the rings and lids so they were close by.
For those that may not remember, when you have a wood cook stove, the kitchen becomes very hot, so hot in fact that you’d say to yourself, “She must really love us to work that hard,” even the candles usually kept on the top of a large cabinet would bend over and become soft from the heat.
Once the food had been cooked, and was ready to be canned, out came the big canners, with a heavy lid that twisted onto the container, to create an airtight seal and a little round thing, which set on top of the lid.
The food to be canned was then placed into the jars, then a new lid put on, then a ring was twisted onto the jar.
The two canners then were put on the stove, and with about three inches of water inside, the jars were carefully placed inside the canner.
When the seal was made airtight by twisting the canner lid onto the canner, and the pressure built up inside the canner, the steam would make the little round thing bounce up and down, making a Tic Tic Tic Tic sound.
Once the jars had been under the pressure for the allotted time, Ma would hold the handle of the canner as Pa held onto the other side, and together they removed it from the stove for it to go through a cooling process.
For those that may not know, canning can be very dangerous; many people have been burned or hurt from a canner that exploded, or the lid blowing off from the pressure.
Once the canner had cooled enough to twist the lid off, then the jars were carefully removed and set on the table, then everyone had to be very quiet and listen for the pop of each jar as it announced it was sealed. (When there were 12 jars on the table, there must be 12 pops).
It goes without saying that canning is a big money saver, and I urge anyone to try it when your garden comes in, but be very careful when using a canner.
Joe Mayfield is a freelance writer from Birmingham, Alabama.
Published in U. S. Legacies August 2004