Canning Party

I learned something new this weekend: how to can tomatoes. My grandmother, the inimitable Josephine, would be proud.

Canned tomatoes, preserves and other treasures used to line the walls of her wet, dark, cobweb-y cellar. I've rolled gnocchi with my grandmother, and watched her bake her signature, to-die-for pies and cookies. But I never saw her can veggies or fruit. 

She lives in an assisted living facility now in western Pennsylvania so, when my garden went gonzo this summer and overproduced tomatoes like the end times were coming, I couldn't call her up and get a how-to. Couldn't borrow her tools or call on her decades of experience. 

Good thing for great neighbors. With fertile gardens themselves, proper pots, high-tech stoves and the pro-cooking skills that come from whipping up the kitchen with Julia Child. 

I spent Sunday afternoon with my next-door neighbor and two other women from the street learning how to turn our summer bounty into fresh winter deliciousness. We called it a "Canning Party," replete with wine and cheese and good cheer...

And a canning cat too, because, of course. 

"I think it's relaxing," said the culinary school star. It was. 

Relaxing.

Enlightening and fun. 

And rewarding too. God, I cannot wait for winter now. 

Comments

[--V]

Ooh, that looks like fun. I have a couple of tomato plants in pots, but they haven't produced much yet. I get some from the CSA I belong to, but I doubt I'll wind up with enough to can. As if I knew how. Freeze? Yes. Canning is one of those things I need my mom to teach me.

Looks great. Looks like it smelled divine. Was that some basil I saw in there?