Canning 101

My Granny canned everything Pap grew. She preserved the harvest for the winter months. Down in their basement which was really just a bit more than a root cellar, she stored mason jars filled with beans and corn and tomatoes. I loved the taste of corn off the cob during our Christmas vacation. Ohio is known for its sweet corn, tasty on the cob during those summer months, but equally as delicious in the winter when we'd come for a visit.

Granny and I can for different reasons. Hers was out of necessity and mine for novelty. She had to keep all of those garden fresh veggies, well fresh, in some form or another. Me, I like the alchemy of turning a rather small amount of fruit and a huge amount of sugar into a jellied substance that you can spread on bread.

My first canning experience was many years ago when the kids were tiny and we lived in Florida. We would drive south over the Sunshine Skyway bridge to Parrish to vast fields of strawberries where pick-your-own flats sold for $8. I started with strawberry jam, kumquat chutney and orange marmalade. I once canned a corn relish, but I never enjoyed it as much as the sweet stuff. One year for our wedding anniversary, Tom bought me a canning book and the one tool for canning that is really necessary, a rubber coated pair of tongs shaped like a jar used for pulling hot mason jars out of boiling water. It is one of those kitchen gadgets that I use only occasionally, but really can't do without.

The canning bug crept back in when I saw a recipe for Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit Marmalade in the Austin American Statesman. I decided to give it a try. I made the honey version and it came out delicious. My favorite way to eat this marmalade is on a perfectly toasted and buttered English muffin. Yum. Here's the recipe.

Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit Marmalade

Honey version:
5 medium-sized Texas `Rio Star' grapefruit, cut in half horizontally
Juice of 4 lemons
6 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup local honey

Vanilla version:
5 medium-sized Texas `Rio Star' grapefruit, cut in half horizontally
Juice of 4 lemons
8 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split open lengthwise, seeds removed, pod reserved to add to pot

Put grapefruit halves in a large soup pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered until very soft, about 2 hours, adding more water from a simmering kettle if needed. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle. Place a cutting board inside a roasting pan and cut grapefruit into large chunks, removing seeds as you go.

Place chunks (rind, pith, flesh and all) in a food processor fitted with the metal blade, and whirl, in batches, until pieces are finely chopped. Add back to large pot with remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Set pot to simmer and stir frequently until mixture reaches jell point, tasting as you go to see if it needs more sugar. Allow mixture to sit off heat for about 5 minutes, and then stir before filling jars. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Makes about 11-12 half-pint jars.

Adapted by Stephanie McClenny from a recipe by Nigella Lawson

Note: This recipe assumes that you know a lot about canning such as the temperature your mixture needs to reach to become a jelly (220 degrees.) After you wash/sterilize the jars, let them stand in a warm oven to dry and keep them there till you fill them. How to “process” cans (upside down in boiling water). I also added tons more sugar as it cooked, in total probably about 9 cups or so.