Village Green Preservation Society

Article for Georgia AgNews - August 2011

One of the benefits of managing a farmers market (The Historic Downtown Gainesville Market On The Square, every Friday from 2:30 – 6:30 pm on the Downtown Square in Gainesville) is going home with loads of fresh produce.

Every year I stock up on blueberries, raspberries and blackberries and fill up the freezer. I do the same with peaches, for use in pies and cobblers when fresh Georgia peaches are out of season. Green beans are frozen, too, as I think they hold more nutritional value than the canned varieties. When southern peas are in season I get a lot, shell them and freeze as many as I can.

I dry herbs from my garden and from my farmer friends: oregano, thyme, rosemary and mint are the ones I use the most when fresh is not available.

This story begins with Phillip Echols, The Peach Man, giving me 2 bushels of peaches that were a bit ripe and too spotted to sell. Off to the library I went and found “So Easy To Preserve” from the Cooperative Extension at the University of Georgia. Having never canned before, I read the instructions and did what any red-blooded American boy would do: I called my mother to come over and teach me.

Luckily, my mother had all the equipment necessary for canning. Clearing the kitchen counters, we set about peeling and slicing peaches and tossing them with lemon juice to prevent darkening. I made some light syrup of sugar and water and brought it to a boil. Meanwhile, we sterilized the jars and lids. Once ready, we packed the jars with peaches, filled them within a half-inch with hot syrup and put the lids on. Then we put the jars into the canner and gave them a boiling water bath for 25 minutes. Amazingly, we had produced canned peaches!

Well, I’ve been cooking — professionally and unprofessionally — for more than 30 years, but this was the coolest thing I had done in a long time! I mean it’s not like I never heard of canning. Lots of people do it every year. My sister and her son do it every year. But for me, it was a brand, spanking new experience.

I have to confess, I've gone a bit crazy. My wife says she has become a “canning widow.”

I thought of all the things I buy during the year at the supermarket, and wondered what would be good to have around that I could do myself. And so, I have begun to stock the pantry with the seasons harvest.

After the peaches, I went right into canned tomatoes that I can use for soups and stews come the colder days. I make a lot of pasta and make my own pizza dough, so I could use some canned tomato sauce. I tried to figure out how much tomato sauce I buy or make during the year, and decided I needed a whole lot. So much, in fact, that I’m canning tomato sauce every week.

While making tomato sauce, I thought of turning some of those tomatoes into salsa. So I chopped up some onions, peppers and cilantro and had at it. Jars and jars of fresh salsa. Wait! How about my own ketchup? I have a recipe for fresh ketchup and am told it tastes completely different and better than store-bought. Okay, I’m canning my own ketchup! I can also make some caponata, an Italian mixture of tomatoes, eggplant and olives that would be good canned and I love spreading it on toast or putting it into omelets or on pasta.

Moving on away from tomatoes, I go back to the peaches that started it all. Each Christmas, my wife and I bake presents such as cranberry bread, banana-walnut bread, and such. My wife suggested making peach preserves with the fourth, or was it the fifth, bushel of peaches I brought home. Following the recipe, I decided to add some Earl Grey tea for flavoring. Well, that worked! Now I’m churning out peach preserves to send with the breads at Christmas. I looked for something to make with the left over pieces of peach lying around from the preserves: peach butter! That worked, too.

Now I look at the farmers produce with a “canning eye.” While the harvest is coming in each week, I wonder what I can make with all that wonderful fresh produce to keep during the months of limited supply.

Like many of the folks who come to the Market, I used to go home with enough fruit and vegetables for the week, thinking it only had to last until next Friday. When the Market season ended, it was back to the grocery for produce from other states and other countries. Not any more!

While our local farmers are growing, I’m buying and stocking up. Its better for my family and me, and its good for the farmers, too. It’s easy, much easier than I thought it would be. Not only that, but it’s something that the family can do together.

So, before all the fresh goodness goes away until next year, buy a bunch and get into canning and freezing. It’ll be good for you and your family, too.

For information about canning, freezing or drying foods, check out The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, which can be accessed online at www.homefoodpreservation.com. They have a free, self-paced, online course for those wanting to learn more about home canning and preservation: “Introduction to Food Preservation.”

For information about The Historic Downtown Gainesville Market On The Square, and the other Hall County markets, go to www.hallfarmers.org; and on facebook: www.facebook.com/hallfarmers.

Steven Thomas
Market Manager – Historic Downtown Gainesville Market On The Square
678-943-4442
steve@hallfarmers.org
www.hallfarmers.org