Need or want?

[JohnL]

Human nature fascinates me. Although we are all different people, each with a set of experiences that make us further unique from one another, some patterns of behavior are almost as ingrained as bears hibernating for the winter. One is our (the royal "our") apparent trouble in distinguishing between "need" and "want."

Do you need a cell phone? The knee jerk reaction you'd get from most people of whom you ask that question today in 2010 would indicate yes, it is a need. But it's not. Convenient, yes. Useful -- especially in an emergency -- certainly. But not a need.

Do you need a car? Ultimately, the answer is no, you do not. There are alternatives that may not be as convenient as having the keys to something in the driveway, but they are workable alternatives.

Do you need electricity? By this point in the article, you're probably conditioned to answer, "Yes, but I know you're going to tell me no and then explain why." And you would be correct.

I asked several people why, in a time of crisis (and here on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, that usually translates into a hurricane strike,) do we need electricity. Most of us would immediately answer "for air conditioning" -- which is funny to say now, but not near so in the sweltering heat and high humidity in the middle of August after a Category 3 hurricane knocks out all electricity for two weeks.

But, after thinking about it for a second, the answer most people would give for needing electricity is to run the refrigerator and freezer. Those electric slaves are there to protect the safety and quality of stored food, food we "hunted and gathered" in an abstract manner, but provide ready subsistence in a time of real need, and with the intent of longer term storage. It's not uncommon for people to have a fully stocked freezer full of food and losing the contents would be costly and, depending upon the circumstances, life threatening.

In fact, I've ready many survival related articles in both print magazines and online where the author goes to extraordinary lengths to guarantee a source of electricity if, for nothing else, the purpose of refrigeration.

Why? Is refrigeration a need or a want?

By way of an answer, consider what's in your freezer right now. Likely it contains meat and vegetables that may be safely stored there for a year or more. That's longterm safe storage that allows you access to nutritious food on demand. Is that a need?

Artificial refrigeration is not exactly a new invention. In 1748, at the University of Glasgow, William Cullen demonstrated refrigeration by letting ethyl ether boil into a partial vacuum. But it wasn't until the 1930s that 60% of American households owned a refrigerator. And the reason for its popularity then is much the same as it is now: by maintaining food at a temperature a few degrees above freezing, the lower temperature slows the process of bacterial spoiling of food. (Refrigeration only slows the process -- this is why food eventually spoils in your refrigerator.) It was effective and it was convenient.

What if you could purchase a freezer that keeps food good not just for a year, but for several years, cooked and ready to eat? Now, how about one that doesn't require electricity (or propane gas)? How about just eliminating the freezer altogether? Welcome to the past: home canning. Canning -- or preserving -- was an important part of the world that existed prior to refrigeration and it worked spectacularly well. Reusable Mason jars with their attendant lids and seals were as much a part of yesterday's kitchen as microwave ovens are in today's kitchen.

The process that makes canning effective is still in use today. Canned goods you purchase at the grocery store are produced using the same basic process. MREs (meals ready to eat, or "Three Lies for the Price of One": it's not a Meal, it's not Ready, and you can't Eat it) use the same basic process. And it's something housewives did for decades prior to refrigerators, and you can do it today just as easily.

The science behind canning is remarkably simple: heat food to a temperature sufficient to kill off any bacteria present in the food and hermetically seal it in an equally bacteria-free container. Once sealed, the food is preserved safely and requires no refrigeration to keep. Portions are reasonably sized, readily accessible, and provide a meal truly ready to eat.

The first question most people might ask about canned foods is, "How long does food last when canned?" In the September 1990 issue of FDA Consumer (a magazine published from 1967 through 2007 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) Dale Blumenthal wrote:

The Canning Process

The steamboat Bertrand was heavily laden with provisions when it set out on the Missouri River in 1865, destined for the gold mining camps in Fort Benton, Mont. The boat snagged and swamped under the weight, sinking to the bottom of the river. It was found a century later, under 30 feet of silt a little north of Omaha, Neb.

Among the canned food items retrieved from the Bertrand in 1968 were brandied peaches, oysters, plum tomatoes, honey, and mixed vegetables. In 1974, chemists at the National Food Processors Association (FPA) analyzed the products for bacterial contamination and nutrient value. Although the food had lost its fresh smell and appearance, the NFPA chemists detected no microbial growth and determined that the foods were as safe to eat as they had been when canned more than 100 years earlier.

The nutrient values varied depending upon the product and nutrient. NFPA chemists Janet Dudek and Edgar Elkins report that significant amounts of vitamins C and A were lost. But protein levels remained high, and all calcium values "were comparable to today's products."

NFPA chemists also analyzed a 40-year-old can of corn found in the basement of a home in California. Again, the canning process had kept the corn safe from contaminants and from much nutrient loss. In addition, Dudek says, the kernels looked and smelled like recently canned corn.

100 years, using technology -- if you would call it that -- used in the year 1865. Amazing, isn't it? And most all of us gave that up in the name of convenience and progress.

How about another example of modern day canning? FDA consumer safety officer Tom Gardine, holding up a small, plastic container of half-and-half for his morning coffee, says, "This is a canned food." He explains that the coffee creamer was heated to destroy bacteria and sealed to prevent microorganisms from entering the sterile container. Until it is opened, the creamer is intended to be stored on the shelf, not in the refrigerator.

What can be canned? Most anything from fruits and vegetables to cooked meats. Preserved properly -- a process that's easy and foolproof if you can boil water, tell time, and follow a couple of rules -- you can have a store of food that keeps for years and costs far less than purchasing "survival" food packs that have become wildly (and, perhaps, disturbingly) popular in today's uncertain world.

There are many "how to" articles available on the Internet that walk you through the process, but one I favor is available on one of my favorite Internet sites: Backwoods Home. Read it here: http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/clay53.html

Becoming self-sufficient in what many believe are the coming trying times is, in my opinion, a need not a want. Information, coupled with a little elbow grease, is real power -- the kind that can save your life and the lives of those you care about. Make it a point to give this a try this week. In the coming years you may thank yourself a hundred times over.

Here are some links to articles you may find useful in learning more about canning:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...24/ai_9009146/
http://www.enotalone.com/article/7794.html
http://www.internet-grocer.net/how-long.htm
http://missvickie.com/canning/canning-frame.html -- outstanding site with information and recipes to try

[louisianaAKman]

Good article John. I grew up canning with my grandparents, and also into my early adulthood. I used to always grow a huge garden and "put up" quite a bit of food every year, it seems that I, like most folks have gotten lazy and now rely on the unreliable.

[JohnL]

Thanks, and I grew up much the same. One of my earliest recollections was of my mother, grandmother and great grandmother in the kitchen with Mason jars all over the place, big pots boiling on the stove, and being yelled at to not touch the jars. Ah, the good old days.

[Nick]

good read!
my grandmother used to make fig "preserves", my mom made strawberry "preserves", but besides that I don't recall any canning of vegetables.

sounds interesting, if I can ever get out of the city and get a decent yard I plan on a garden, canning the extras is something I hadn't considered, but I'll have to keep it in mind.

[JohnL]

My mom's side were the canners of my youth and they did figs and strawberries, too. (Wow, that's a good memory I hadn't thought of in a while.) Mom also used to do a pepper jelly that was killer good, and she did pickles as often as she could grow cucumbers.

I'm working on my next article and it deals with growing a garden with a tiny footprint. Dad taught me this and I still do it to this day.

[louisianaAKman]

I grow a few tomatoes and squash every year, I took over a couple of the old flower beds for that purpose

[JohnL]

Yeah, I've sort of taken over the very end of wifey's flower garden when I need a little extra space to try something. When people realize that we only have a couple of days (at most) in the food supply pipeline at any point in time, they realize growing your own food is not such a PITA after all.

[gunut]

Good article John, same here, as a kid I remember my mom and grandmaws in the kitchen canning. My grandpaw had a huge garden and they would preserve everything from peas to okra. They also made all the jellies.

I hate gardening to this day because of that huge garden my grandpaw had. It was at least 4 acres. My brother and I would help hand pick everything grown in it. We were probaly 8 and 10 when we started helping.

[JohnL]

Funny you say that -- my dad always loved having a big garden. I grew up in the country and every year dad would plant 8 rows at least 40 feet long. Two of those were snap beans and I hated those rows twice a year: once when I had to pick them and once when I had to snap them. Didn't complain too much about eating them, though. Funny how that works. heh.

[edman87k5]

I need to gt my wife into this, her grandmother was. Fo some reason, just about anything canned for a couple o years seems to have a better taste. Almost anything edible can be canned.
I remember going to a yard sale in north Arkansas ( wherea lot of people still live like it is mid 1900s), an old lady had died and the kids were selling off everything. She had thousands of jars in the basement filled with about any food you can imagine. She had canned meat, vegetables, stews, deserts, you name it. The inheritor didn't know why how to clear it all out, so they opened the door and put a sign on itthat said any jar for $.10. There were mason jars, pickle jars, ancient mayo jars, gallon jars, really any kind if jR you can think of. So we commenced to buying about 50 jars of various stuff figuring if nothing else, the pile of jars were worth more than the selling price.
After eating some of this stuff, I really wished I would have bought more because this old lady was obviously a fantastic cook. Some of the jars had been there for 20+ years and the contents were still great. As long as the lid did not rust and lose it's seal, the contents are ok.

[Hammar]

I am just getting into canning. Wish my grandmother was still alive to teach me, cause she could can anything. I just bought a little starter kit to try out, but eventually want to get a pressure canner. Canning is a lot cheaper than MRE's or freeze dried storage food and tastes a lot better too.