Echoes of kitchens past

August 16, 2023 by
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The Roma tomatoes in my garden are going gangbusters right now, despite highly variable weather this summer. The bounty led to an early canning session that resulted in six pints of whole tomatoes. As I prepared the tomatoes by coring, scalding, and peeling, my mind’s eye flashed back several decades to the times when I “helped” my grandmother with her canning tasks. The contrast was stark.

Canned tomato passata from Food & Wine Magazine

My grandparents had upgraded the kitchen in their 1940s farmhouse but it was not in that modern environment where we did the canning. Sometimes we worked in the basement kitchen with its beat-up gas stove and dented but serviceable metal cabinets, other times in an ice fishing shack that pulled double duty as a summer kitchen, using an antique cast iron burner attached to a propane tank and a rickety wooden table. Both locations were small, dark, hot, and humid. Canning season equated sweating season as there was no air conditioning in either location. There were electric fans and running water, however, something that my grandmother did not enjoy when she first began home canning in a kitchen that lacked both electricity and plumbing.

My kitchen is light years ahead of what my grandmother had on the farm. I use a steam canner instead of a water bath canner, which means there’s no large, heavy stockpot to lug around. There is air conditioning and a powerful extraction hood that keeps humidity and odors to a minimum. Multiple light fixtures keep the entire space brightly lit, and the room has plenty of counter space. I have the luxury of canning tomatoes as a hobby, not as an existential chore. One generation’s grueling necessity becomes another generation’s enjoyable pastime.

As I pulled the canning jars out of a dishwasher run on the sanitize function, measured my citric acid, and set up my workspace, I could imagine my grandmother smiling and shaking her head. First, she would think I am being overly fussy, but I recall the processes she used resulting in shattered jars and spoiled food so I will continue to do it the safer way. Second, I have no doubt she would also think I am silly to do all this work when I can just go out and buy quality canned tomatoes from the store and even have them delivered to my door. Her canning was mostly done out of necessity, and after my grandparents moved to town where she could pop down to the grocery store any day of the week, she stopped doing it. Putting up tomatoes as a hobby would be a foreign concept, but I expect she would find it amusing. This jar’s for you, Grandma.

Category: Antipasto

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3 Comments

  • averythingcooks  on  August 16, 2023

    Thanks for a lovely morning coffee read. I remember my mom putting up chili sauce every August and once (& only once) grape jelly….that one made an impression on me for sure as I seem to remember the entire kitchen being very purple!

    I am also in full canning mode right now but I am a confirmed “small batch canner”, each day making a few jars of a different treat using mostly my garden that we can enjoy all year. Always a few favourites (chili sauce, tomato red onion relish, tomatillo salsa verde, sweet cucumber relish) plus new things every summer. And yes, I can tomatoes as well….but I would rather deal with 2 – 4 pint jars at time a time over several days rather than a massive undertaking at once. I also fill my freezer with tomato sauces/marinaras which is a great way to try lots of different options found through EYB.
    New favourites made so far this summer include a chipotle cherry tomato relish, a peach sriracha jam (no – I don’t actually grow peaches here 🙂 and a grape tomato paprika jam. And I’m very excited to try a smokey salsa featuring dried gaujillos & chipotles + roasted tomatoes, tomatillos & jalapenos.

  • CevicheChef  on  August 18, 2023

    I too am in full preserving mode, we have bumper crops of tomatoes and squash and pumpkins in the main. My best recipe find was Portuguese tomato jam, sweet yet savoury, and I am about to empark upon a journey into pumpkin jam.

  • dhogue  on  August 18, 2023

    I wish there was a +1000 Likes button for this.

    My grandmother was very similar in that she had to can vast quantities of food for her family to eat during the winter (and fallow) months. Yet she continued to pickle, preserve, and can foods long after my grandfather’s death and her children growing up and moving away. What was once an existential task (thanks for that phrase) became a hobby and something that grounded her to her family and to her past. She kept a “root cellar” in her basement for all of her home-canned goods, and when I visited during my college years, I delighted in going down to her modern basement with her (with a furnace, hot water heater, and laundry) to select preserved foods we could cook for dinner (and leftovers!)

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