A Do It Yourself Food Supply
(Page 2 of 4)
July/August 1975
By Jack McQuarrie
Even under less primitive conditions, as I'm sure you're aware, home canning leads to messy kitchens and the frustration of trying to find jars and lids. Such pieces of necessary hardware are becoming increasingly scarce and when you do find them, their cost cuts severely into the savings you manage by putting up your own food. We, and many others, elected to bypass the whole "canning on a Coleman" business and use the services of some custom operators who offered the efficiencies of a professional canning operation at a cost of 21¢ per large and 174 per small can.
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Your first impression of a custom cannery is a shock to the senses an overwhelming pungency of fruits and vegetables mingled with an equally heady atmosphere of cheerful chaos. It's rare to come upon such a diverse group engaged in the same endeavor. A strange assortment by age, hair length, sex, and color-of people work side by side all busy peeling, slicing, and packing their winter's store of food. If there's a common denominator, it's the look of satisfaction radiating from most of the faces. Obviously, the process you're observing gratifies some basic urge.
You can be forgiven for feeling a little lost on your first visit but the bewilderment won't last long. The cannery workers are ready and willing to show you the ropes, and if you get hung up along the way you'll probably receive advice from the people at either elbow. (Incidentally, one advantage of using a custom cannery is that the staff can direct you to the best picking areas, organic growers, and packing houses which offer good quality culls.)
Once you've been checked in, your first step is to count out the cans you'll need from enormous sacks at one end of the building. Each, container is stamped with your customer number and a contents label.
You wash your produce at a sink in the center of the room, dip it into a steaming water bath, and dunk it in a tub of cold water. You then peel or slice the fruits and vegetables and fill the cans, ,topping them off with a little sugar, honey, or salt and the food is ready for processing.
Filled cans are placed on a conveyor belt which carries them through a huge steam table and spews them out the other end into a sealing machine. An attendant is stationed at that point to watch for trouble and to collect the. filled and sealed cans into tall metal baskets for cooking.
