News Bytes
August/September 1998
Puttin' Up by Beth Tartan In the days before commercially canned foods, women had to make like squirrels all summer and busy themselves with a lot of "puttin' up." The winter supply of food depended largely on their summer's work.
Before fruit jars were available, food was preserved by drying, salting, and brining. Then came the fruit jar, which was every bit as welcome, I am sure, as the freezer was when it came along.
After glass fruit jars became plentiful, it was routine for a woman to fill as many as five hundred jars in a season. From the time the first English peas and strawberries were ripe until the last of the fresh pork was processed, putting up was almost a daily proposition. Modern cooks with electric ranges and home freezers have no idea what it was like to spend hot day after hot day in July and August over the wood stove filling fruit jars.
For instance, when the beans were ripe, that meant getting up at the crack of dawn to gather them. Then there were hours and hours of breaking, stringing (the beans had strings in those days), and packing them into the jars before the endless processing in a hot water bath. The beans that did not go into jars were shelled and placed in the sun to dry.
During the peach season, you might wake up to find three bushels of peaches ready to be peeled, canned, or dried. And there are those who yearn for the good old days?
Some of the old favorite recipes for putting up appear below. Bread and Butter Pickles 30 cucumbers (1 inch in diameter) 10 medium onions 4 tablespoons salt Slice cucumbers and onions. Sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 1 hour. Drain in a cheesecloth bag. Make a spiced vinegar using the following ingredients: 5 cups vinegar 2 teaspoons celery seed 2 teaspoons ground ginger 4 cups sugar 1 teaspoon tumeric 2 teaspoons white mustard seed Bring spiced vinegar to a boil. Add cucumbers and onions and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Seal in sterilized jars. Pickled String Beans Some recipes suggest pouring a spiced vinegar solution over cooked string beans in a jar to make pickled beans. These are not true, old-fashioned pickled beans. The beans should be brined so they will pickle naturally like sauerkraut. The old folks started the pickling process in early fall. That way the summer heat did not cause the beans to sour. If prepared in the summer, they may be packed after pickling in sterilized jars and processed. This recipe came from Mrs. W. M. Ball, a home economist. Prepare beans and break. Cook in simmering water until tender. Drain off water and turn beans out on a sterilized towel on a table top. Drain well and fill a sterilized cloth bag. Tie up bag. Place bag in a crock that contains brine made with sufficient salt to float an egg. Use pure salt for making brine, not the iodized variety. Weight beans down so they will stay under the brine. Store in a cool place. They are pickled in about 5 to 6 weeks, the same time required to pickle cucumbers. To serve, season with meat drippings and heat. Sweet Red Pepper Relish This recipe has a lovely red color and fine flavor. 3 1/2 cups sweet red bell peppers 1 tablespoon salt 2 cups vinegar 3 cups sugar Remove the seeds and run peppers through a food chopper. Sprinkle with salt and let them stand for 3 to 4 hours. Add vinegar and sugar and cook until thick. Fill sterilized jars and seal. Green Tomato Relish 12 green tomatoes 4 green sweet peppers 2 red sweet peppers 3 large onions 1 cup flour 5 cups sugar 2 tablespoons salt 4 cups cider vinegar 2 tablespoons celery seed 2 tablespoons tumeric 1 jar (9 ounces) prepared mustard Cut the stems from the tomatoes. Cut peppers in half and remove seeds and membrane. Peel onions. Put tomatoes, peppers, and onions through a food chopper. Mix flour, sugar, salt, vinegar, celery seed, tumeric, and mustard. Blend well. Add to tomato mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour hot into sterilized jars. Seal. Peach Honey Mash peeled ripe peaches to a pulp. Add 2 cups sugar for each cup of peach pulp. Simmer for 30 minutes or until thick and clear. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal at once. North Carolina and Old Salem Cookery is available at bookstores for $18.95 (paperback) and $34.95 (hardcover), or from the University of North Carolina Press. 1-800-848-6224. Say you saw it on the internet. Email ordering also available.
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