Dowdney - Putting Up

putting up

putting up

A Year-Round Guide to Canning
in the Southern Tradition

Stephen Palmer Dowdney

Photographs by Rick McKee

Gibbs Smith, Publisher
TO ENRICH AND INSPIRE HUMANKIND
Salt Lake City | Charleston | Santa Fe | Santa Barbara

First Edition

12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1

Text 2008 Stephen Palmer Dowdney
Photographs 2008 Rick McKee
Photographs 2008 Zac Williams

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Home-canned products may cause serious harm if put up improperly.As a safety precaution, every recipe in this book must be carefully read,and the instructions followed accordingly. The recipes and informationin this book have been tested to ensure accuracy. Gibbs Smith, Publisher,and the author assume no responsibility for any damages, losses orinjuries incurred during the use of this book or the consumption ofproducts canned following its directions.

Published by
Gibbs Smith, Publisher
P.O. Box 667
Layton, Utah 84041

Orders: 1.800.835.4993
www.gibbs-smith.com

Designed by Debra McQuiston
Printed and bound in Hong Kong

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dowdney, Stephen Palmer.

Putting up : a year-round guide to canning in the Southern tradition / Stephen Dowdney ; photographs by Rick McKee. 1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4236-0280-4
ISBN-10: 1-4236-0280-3

1. Canning and preserving. 2. Cookery, AmericanSouthern style. I. Title.

TX603.D69 2008
641.4dc22

2008004274

To my grandmother, Weezie, a southern belle steeled by the Reconstruction and to my mother, Heywie, a debutante hardened by the Depressiontwo tough ladies who taught me all I needed to know before I was seven years old.

contents

THE OCTOBER DAY when Christopher Robbins and Pete Wyrick approached me at the Charleston Farmers Market will be indelibly etched in my mind for all time. I was reluctant to take on this project, but the two have led me through a most exciting, new adventure. Both are wonderful men, and I cannot thank them enough for the final arm twist it took to do this book.

Had my son, Thomas, not taken the journeynot only by boat but by being my partner in our canning venture for all of those years when we struggled to make the business viablewe would never have had the products that we created. Working with ones father has got to be difficult, if not impossible, yet he stuck it out. His palate is flawless, and his understanding of what most people want is uncanny. This book is as much his as mine, for many of the recipes are ours.

After forty years without an English professor circling my punctuation errors and correcting my grammar in red pencil, I have found that I have much lacking in the field of the written word. Along came Cordon Bleu, Grand Diploma graduate and renowned, award-winning food writer Holly Herrick to the rescue. Her professional knowledge and ways guided me many times through the switchbacks of this culinary mountain road. When the recipes had been reduced for home use, she helped me test them, and it was she who added and subtracted ingredients to create the subtle nuances that make each recipe successful. More than that, she kept me smiling and going when I sometimes felt more like crying and quitting. Holly is a big part of this book.

A book is no different from the manufacture of a car or an airplane. The writer is the guy who gets his name on the book cover, but there are sixty or so other people of equal importance in the process. Each works as hard as the author, maybe harder and longer. To the entire family at Gibbs Smith, Publisher, the team of which I am a part, I thank you and I apologize if I made your tasks more difficult than they needed to be.

Steve Dowdney

IT WAS THE FALL of 06 and I was busy. There was a crowd of locals and tourists encircling our booth at the Charleston Farmers Market, all vying for my attention. This Saturday ritual repeats itself weekly, until the rural fields surrounding the old city go fallow with winters chill. Off to my right, two men beckoned. I held up my index finger, as if to say Ill answer your question shortly. Busy making suggestions, taking money, and bagging products, I answered the usual hum of questions. The press of the crowd continued. Finally, the patient mens time came.

One asked. Have you ever considered writing a book?

I swallowed, and thought, maybe good fortune isnt so elusive. I returned to reality and chuckled, Boy this is your lucky day; it was just this morning I put the finishing touches on my second novel.

The two men looked at each other and smiled. The taller one turned to me and spoke. Sorry! Not that kind of book!

Do you make all these products? the other inquired.

Yes, sir, I answered. Ive been doing this for twelve years and I hope to keep doing it for another twelve. Its not the money, believe me, its not the money. I do it for, for, well... , I looked over my left shoulder. There she was, just the kind of person I had hoped to see.

See that woman over yonder, the one getting ready to sample the artichoke relish? I pointed to the far left corner of our space. Watch! I said. My eye told me she was a tourist; few locals carry a map of our town with the accompanying guide. She spread cream cheese on a cracker and then some relish. Two chews later her mouth stopped. Her eyes rolled. Before she could swallow, she was turning to her husband. She jabbed her index finger, pointing at the bowl while grunting. Finally, she was able to exclaim, Oh, my God, you have got to try this!

I returned to my conversation with the two men who would soon become my editor and my publisher. That is why I do what I do. For me, canning gives a real feeling of accomplishment. There is little in my life that gives me more satisfaction than the scene you just witnessed, played over and over, with a diverse and growing array of products. Many I have created. Some of the recipes are as old as the Republic itself. I make them all.

Back to our original question, would you be interested in writing a book on canning?

PART ONE
canning

WHO

There are two whos to be addressed in this section. Who can do this thing called canning? And who is this author and what qualifications does he have?