Liveblog: Canning, Preserving, Foraging

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Welcome to the liveblog of the BlogHer Food '10 panel "Values - The Old-School Arts: Canning, Preserving, Foraging."

Here's the description:

Sean Timberlake of Hedonia and Punk Domestics

Audra Wolfe from Doris and Jilly Cook

Marisa McClellan from FoodinJars.com

Surprise guest! Hank Shaw from HAGC foraging specialist

SEAN: Who cans? (Most of audience). Who forages (not many)?

QUESTION: What's the difference between foraging and gleaning?

HANK: I don't forage olives, I glean them -- go to say a park where nobody's using this healthy but neglected tree and pick them.

SEAN: Also after a harvest you can come and sweep the leftovers.

MARISA: I think that's the original meaning of the term.

AUDRA: Windfall means the same?

HANK: Windfall is when your crops are pulled down by a storm midseason, it's damaged goods

MARISA: I always thought that meant downed food from orchards. You can pick it up and eat it though you're not allowed to pluck.

AUDRA: Me, too, it's a bounty.

SEAN: I brought some props, here are standard issue canning jars. Bed and Bath, Amazon, the low-end grocery store but not Whole Foods. Half pint, pint, quart are the common sizes.

MARISA: If you're canning peaches, pickles, beans, use a jar with shoulders and narrow mouth to stack tightly and prevent float.

AUDRA: Whole tomatoes might want a wide mouth, pickled okra too. If your goal is to display at a state or county fair, use a narrow mouth. Though not for peaches.

HANK: I have big hands so anything like pickles gets a wide mouth, narrow mouth gets sauces and other pourables.

SEAN: I have tons of quart jars from freecycle. Lids have rubberized gaskets that make contact with mouth and seals. When they're sealed you can pick them up by the lid. Then there's the screwtop that keeps the lids in place. There are also Tattler lids -- hard plastic with rubber gaskets, reusable and BPA free. Traditional lids have a BPA lining and can only be used once for canning. Don't recan with them.

Weck jars from the bakery opening in Maiden Lane next year, they're European, adorable, expensive.

Comment - AMY - slightly different process too.

MARISA - Slightly, I taught a Weck jar class, which I hadn't tried before, but I have done similar with vintage baling wire jars with rubber gaskets (which you can still buy and they still work fine). You don't have the satisfying ping upon sealing. You do simmer the rings. When you're canning with conventional jars you simmer to soften the sealing compound. I find it more nerve-wracking. With conventional lids you can poke at them while they cool. With Weck jars you have to wait until they cool, take the clip off and only then find out if it's sealed. The little tab on the gasket will point down when it's sealed but you can't tell for sure.

How the panelists came to canning

MARISA - I grew up canning. I'm a child of back to the land hippies, they never bought a farm but they lived in Santa Cruz, dumpster dived for greens to feed their chickens, we always gardened. I grew up in LA and Oregon and there's just a lot of fruit in both places. My mom knew how to can and so that's what we did. I had an obsession with jars before I started canning. I just liked jars. And I started food writing, I was the editor of Slashfood, it was time to start a food blog and I just guessed I'd start a food blog about canning and it's taken over my life. But I also like knowing what's in my food, having control. I like having a taste of summer. I live in a tiny Philadelphia apartment with tiny freezer space. Now, holiday gifts are the easiest.

AUDRA - My parents have a working farm so I grew up with everyone canning on both sides of my family. One side was more everyday, other was more artisanal and that grandmother would sell her products. I got interested in canning and needed gifts. Then I had a lot of chicken stock and no freezer space. And finally I was on a reduced salt diet for a while and consumer products with reduced salt were not good. California has amazing veggies year round but not where I live. My husband and I also wanted to do more local food when we could. Canning dehydrating fermenting freezing, playing around with root cellars. I found Barbara Kingsolver inspiring.

HANK - I don't come from a canning family but