Growing up I can remember my great-grandmother Mattie as well as both my grandmothers and my parents canning food.
It was a way to preserve the bounty from the garden in order to have vegetables year-round and also served as a way to make sure there would be food for the table if times got tough.
I can remember seeing my family members can outdoors in a large metal tub over an open fire. Tending the fire was an important job because you had to keep that water boiling. I was never involved in the canning over the bonfire as a child, for obvious safety reasons, not the least of which being that I was an extremely clumsy child.
My great-grandmother and both of my grandmothers are now gone. My mother still cans, but usually it is limited to a couple of runs of strawberry freezer jam when the berries are ripe and fresh from Scott’s Farms.
I have always been interested in canning food and wanted to learn more about this means of food preservation but I never really got around to it.
However, the opportunity to learn recently presented itself and I could not pass it up.
Vickie Clark recently held a special “Canning College.” Vickie is the Director of the Carter County UT Extension Office and also serves as our local Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent. She is also a very nice lady with a wide range of knowledge on many subjects relating to home and family and she has a true desire to help people learn.
For this special Canning College, the TLC Community Center graciously loaned us the use of their kitchen.
There were three students in my class including myself. I was joined by Caroline Bales and Andrea Ladrach.

Vickie gave us each a booklet on canning as well as some other information for us to take with us. She went over the two basic methods of canning — hot water bath and pressure canning — and in which instances to use each method.
Hot water baths where the jars are covered in boiling water for a period of time are acceptable for fruits, jams, jellies, pickles and other acidified foods. When working with vegetables, meats, seafood, meat and vegetable mixtures, and foods with low acidic values a pressure canner is a must. This is because those foods need to reach a higher temperature in order to kill bacteria than is achievable with boiling water.
While I knew there had to be a more efficient way than sitting and tending a fire, I was surprised to learn how easy canning is, especially with the use of some more modern equipment. I also learned that canning in an old metal tub over a fire is not the recommended way to preserve food. I cannot say I was surprised by this, but our ancestors did what they had to do.
After discussing the basic methods, Vickie talked to us about specific things to know when canning — such as when you can get creative and when you can’t.
“Food preservation is a science, not an art,” Vickie told us. “If the recipe says ‘hot pack’ do not use a ‘raw pack.’”
Hot pack and raw pack refer to how food items are prepared before they are canned.
Making sure you follow the recipe when you can food is also extremely important, Vickie told us.
“We recommend you use tested recipes, not whatever is the newest thing posted on Pinterest,” she said, adding there are many canning recipes available through books. “We do tell people not to use an old canning book from before 1964 because things have changed.”
Another resource Vickie recommended was a website from Univeristy of Georgia’s agricultural department at www.uga.edu/nchfp.
Following our lesson, it was time to get our hands dirty in the kitchen. As part of our “college” Vickie had Caroline, Andrea and myself work together to prepare salsa, apple chutney and apple butter as well as canning the leftover peppers that weren’t needed for the salsa or chutney.
Getting the chance to work hands on with the skills we had just discussed was excellent. I am one of those individuals who learns better by doing, and I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the college.
Caroline, Andrea and I chopped peppers, cut up onions and peeled, cored, and chopped up apples. We measured, mixed, simmered, and stirred until finally we were ready to can our hard work.
Once we were finished with class for the day we were tired and hot but we also felt as if we had accomplished something. At least I know I did. I was anxious to head home with my filled pint jars and let my husband try what we had made.
The next evening I got a chance to try out the chutney, which is what I was most excited about out of all the things we had canned. I was preparing baked pork chops for dinner and I spooned a good, hearty helping of chutney on top of each one before covering the dish and popping them in the oven.
I was so pleased with the results that this particular dish will probably pop up quite often around our house and I will definitely be needing to make another batch of chutney.
For more information on food preservation, or to inquire about attending a Canning College, contact Vickie Clark at the Carter County UT Extension Office by calling 423-542-1818.
Since I enjoyed it so much, I am going to share this apple chutney recipe here, complete with the canning instructions. This recipe can be done using the water bath method so no special equipment is needed.

Apple Chutney
Ingredients:
2 quarts chopped, cored, pared tart apples (about 10 medium)
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped sweet red bell peppers (about 2 medium)
2 hot red peppers, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 pounds seedless raisins
4 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons mustard seed
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons canning salt
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 quart white vinegar (5%)
Directions:
Start by washing jars (either pints or half-pints); keep hot until ready to use. Prepare lids according to manufacturer’s directions.
Wash apples well and prepare as directed.
Combine all ingredients; simmer until thick, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
Pour boiling hot chutney into clean, hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace as needed. Wipe rims with a damp paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids.
Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. (Processing times used in canning will change with altitude but Carter County falls within the 15 minute window for altitudes of 1,001 to 6,000 feet. See your recipe for details on time based on your altitude.)
Let cool, undisturbed, 12 to 24 hours and check seals.