Report:Surfas Demo: the Full Report
We did it. Bettina Birch of Bee Green Farm and I gave our second seasonal canning demo at Surfas on Saturday. (The first was back in August at the height of summer's peach and tomato harvest.) Although the peak canning season is well past at this point, we still had an overflow crowd of almost a hundred folks who wanted to learn to make Bettina's PERSIMMON AND APPLE CHUTNEY and my CRANBERRY JAM and FRESH PERSIMMON BUTTER. I saw a lot of friends in the crowd, a few people I recognized from our last demo and a whole bunch of new canning converts. (See here for Willy Blackmore's great write-up in the LA Weekly blog Squid Ink.)
The word that comes to mind to describe the current interest in home canning is "groundswell." I'm sure that my grandmothers, who canned as a way of life and were happy to know that their children were successful enough to buy store-bought food, would be amazed. I myself am heartened. To me the Surfas turnout indicates that the public is further reconsidering its relationship to the national food economy. The food industry that once promised my grandmothers a future of efficiency and low cost has instead delivered my nieces and nephews engineered "food products" that poison the body as well as agribusiness farming practices that degrade the nation's water supply and strip-mine our most vital natural resource: soil. After our canning demo, Surfas sold out of its canning starter kits, which means that a bunch of people who tasted real cranberry jam realized that the Dole Cranberry Sauce that glops out of the can and remains unloved on the Thanksgiving table is an insult to the values the holiday represents.
Three overarching practical themes emerged during the call-and-response of questions from the audience: food safety, sugar and pectin. Now that my kitchen work at Greenvalley has slowed a bit, I intend to dedicate future posts to detailed discussions of all three. All in due course. For now let me just repeat my favorite moments of the day.
Midway through, someone from the audience asked what kind of sugar I was using for cranberry jam, and I replied reflexively "granulated white sugar." At that moment the wonderful Lavender, who makes things run smoothly in the test kitchen, was preparing samples of Bettina's chutney to pass out. Now Lavender's African-American, and when she heard what I said, she turned around to give me that pitying look that wisdom reserves for naiveté. "And what's wrong with brown sugar?," she asked. What could I possibly say or do except run over to Lavender and get me a smooch of her brown sugar? Which I did: I know when I've been put in my place. So hats off to you, dear Lavender, and henceforth I will include a pinch of brown sugar in my recipe for CRANBERRY JAM.
After the demo, a crush of people came up to the counter to taste the goods. Bettina's chutney served with burrata on baguette rounds disappeared in a flash, and somehow folks managed to eat 4 pints of cranberry jam using those little, tiny sample spoons. I got a bit looped on the energy of the crowd and busted out all kinds of things to taste from the Greenvalley cupboard: FIG JAM WITH HONEY AND WILD AROMATICS, THRIFTY APPLESAUCE, CHERRIES IN VODKA and who knows what else.
Most people finally cleared out by about 2:00 pm, but a few latecomers straggled in to see what they had missed. Three curious but bashful hipsters watched from afar until I waved them in. They approached warily, like deer to a waterhole, but then tucked into the buffet of open jars with a curious avidity. I think they had the munchies.
The last guest of the day was an old woman of the Old World—a real babushka, to judge from her dress and heavy accent. She tasted a few things, nodding her appreciation, and then pointed towards an unlabeled bottle. It was no doubt eye-catching because it contained strips of a bright yellow peel floating in a clear liquid. This was the vodka I had brought to use in my cranberry jam, and the yellow bits were two "fingers" of the odd citrus fruit citron, commonly called Buddha's Hand. I poured her a taste of vodka, and as she sipped it, a light came over her as if she had glimpsed some long-ago happiness. She stood and slowly finished her drink, then placed the cup on the counter, thanked me solemnly, and took her slow leave.
This morning I found an email in my inbox that had arrived via to the Contact link on this blog. It read:
"Hello!! Mom was at Surfas the day you had the demo. She said you served some sort of water, and she felt it was very healthy. She said the bottle you served from seemed to have some sort of long-shaped fruit. Any idea what she is referring to?? I would love to get the recipe so I can make it for her. It really made her feel so well. (signed) Gloria."
Of course I know exactly what she is referring to, Gloria, and it also makes me feel so well. That's why I go to the trouble of saving the season.
CITRON VODKA
750 ml good quality vodka
2 "fingers" of citron peel, approximately 2" each
1 Split citron peel lengthwise.
2 Insert pieces into the vodka bottle and allow to infuse for a few days before drinking. It will keep indefinitely, but certainly will not last long.
Reader Comments (5)
Hi Kevin!
I was at the event and thought you and Bettina did a great job inspiring your standing room only crowd at Surfas. My grandmother was a Canadian wheat farmer's wife, and my fondest memories were opening her suitcases at Christmas to discover which sparkling jams she had brought on the train to entice Santa to our house.
Please keep on spreading the word about saving each season and I hope to see you at Surfas soon.
Kevin -
I too was at Saturday's demo. Thank you so much! You are such an engaging speaker and I learned so very much. You did say you would let interested parties know how you made the cranberry jelly with anise, if we were interested. The after-demo crowd was a little daunting and kept me from asking. So, I'm wondering if you could share the details here?
With appreciation,
Tara
Rats! Why am I always out of town when you do these demos? Well, just to show no hard feelings, here's a link to a site that has lots of templates from which to print canning labels: http://www.printablelabels.net/category/canning
Hope it's useful to some of your readers!
I had the pleasure of attending this great event. Kevin and Bettina did an excellent job in helping me face my canning fears. Kevin, you're a witty and engaging speaker! I wrote the class in my blog.
http://www.farmapartment.com/2009/11/12/surfas-canning-class/
Thanks!
Hi Evangeline -- thanks for your comment -- and thank you especially for the great post you did on your blog -- you really got! i have to dash right now but i'll include a link to your blog in an upcoming post on Saving the Season-- can on! all the best, kevin