The Joys of Canning
Written by Chef Kent LeVan
When I was growing up in rural Iowa, there were three times out of the year that my Grandma would come to my family’s home and spend days canning and preserving. It would help us restock our pantry, yes, but it was also an amazing opportunity that I still think of fondly. I got to spend time with Grandma, and as long I didn’t burn her, I got to learn.
In the spring we would make various jams and jellies, especially after going strawberry picking. In late summer, when there more tomatoes than we knew what to do with, we would can tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato jam – so many tomatoes! And canned peaches everywhere you turned. In Fall, we would make apple butter, pumpkin spreads, spiced fruits, and breads. The whole house would start to smell like the holidays before I had even decided on a Halloween costume.
I used to think that she was overly meticulous about how she would set up the kitchen with sterilizing the jars and lids and tongs. The sheer size of the pot that she would travel with was big enough for my younger brother to hide in, but it absolutely had to be sanitized before we could start cooking. I never quite understood why until I started doing more canning and preserving in my adult life. There are lots of little opportunities to introduce bacteria and microorganisms that thrive in that type of environment, so sanitizing like your prepping for surgery becomes really important.
Even though there can be stress about making sure that you have thoroughly sanitized all of your equipment before starting, the end results are worth it. There is something about opening a jar of homemade strawberry jam in November, or making a peach cobbler on a cold winter night, with fruits and vegetables that were canned in the prime of their season. Taking tomatoes, habaneros, and cilantro that I have grown in my garden and making salsa. Leaving some out to enjoy immediately, but canning the rest to keep my pantry stocked for when my tummy says it’s snack time.
I absolutely love that a part of NOCHI’s Culinary Arts program has a course where we spend a week focused on preservation techniques, pickling, and fermenting. I feel my inner Grandma come to life. Going so far as even repeating things that she used to say to me like, “Yes, it takes that long. Yes, we need to sterilize everything.” There’s also the joy for me of seeing inspiration take hold of our students and seeing what combinations of flavors they want to play with.
There are a great variety of books out there that are great for going over the specificities of canning and jarring safely. Most of them also have some great recipes to get you started as well. As a chef, one of the things that I like to do is get to play with different flavor combinations, especially when it comes to making pickles. I love to use these books as my guide.
My current go-to canning and preserving cook book is Foolproof Preserving from America’s Test Kitchen. I like how they have tested some of the do’s and don’t’t of what you can adjust for successful canning, and other areas where you just don’t want to make adjustments. This is a recipe of mine that I use, that stems from one of the recipes I found in that book.
HABANERO – PEACH PRESERVES
1 lb habaneros, stemmed and seeded (adjust to your own spice preference), cut fine or pulsed in a food processor
1/3 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
28 oz yellow peaches, halved, pitted, and cut into ½” pieces
2 ½ tbsp bottled lemon Juice
Combine peppers and water in a heavy bottom pot, cover and cook over medium-high heat until the peppers have completely softened. About 8 minutes.
Uncover and simmer until the water is completely evaporated. Stir in the sugars, vinegar, and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the liquid thickens slightly. 10 – 15 minutes.
Stir in the peaches and cook until the peaches have softened, about 12 minutes. Mash with a potato masher until it is a coarse mixture, leaving some pieces of fruit still intact. Stir in the lemon juice and simmer until the mixture has thickened, about 5 more minutes.
Let the preserves cool slightly. Using a funnel and ladle, portion the preserves into two 1-cup jars and let cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until the preserves set, 12 – 24 hours. (Preserves will hold in refrigerator for up to 2 months – if it lasts that long)
KENT LEVAN, CULINARY ARTS INSTRUCTOR
Before joining the culinary team at NOCHI, Kent worked as a chef in New Orleans and in New York City. Kent's passion for food started with time spent in his grandmother's kitchen, learning the family recipes. That love of food has taken him into a wide range of cuisines from haute Creole to BBQ to global fine dining and almost everything in-between. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute, Kent is excited to share his passion for world foods, just as his instructors did when he began his culinary journey.
