Pop

Posted by Justine | September 27, 2007 | 15 Comments

What is it about canning, anyway? When I lug out my enormous pot every fall, dig through drawers for canning accouterments, and see if I have any leftover pectin from last year, my heart leaps. I get all goosebumpy and jittery. I make up words like goosebumpy. I walk through the food storage room estimating space and finding empty jars. I just love it.

Well, that is to say, I love it in the sense that I mostly hate it. It’s sticky. My kitchen looks all syrupy when I’m finished. I must shower several times to remove the gooey stuff from my body. I have to ignore the needs of pretty much everyone around me whilst I attend to the delicate process of killing bacteria in food.

But there’s something about that ‘Pop’ of the lid when it seals itself. It continues on, with each jar popping at its own random moment. Embodied in that noise is hours of work, goo, noise, steam, skins, knives, slimy towels, sticky floors, and love. ‘Pop’.

I’ll put it this way…I’ve just never felt so darn good lookin’ as I do when I’m canning. I finish a day of canning covered in just about everything but pleasant smells, but feeling like I’ve just won Miss America.

Is this the reward for being more self-provident? Is there an immediate blessing attached to the whole deal? Because, really, I could almost just buy the stuff for as much as it cost me to can it. But Del Monte peaches never tasted as good as mine. And they certainly didn’t come with such a reward as the sheer joy of seeing a counter full of recently ‘Popped’ jars.

With every jar, my estimation of my personal sexiness increases. Now, whether this holds true for my husband’s feelings, well, we’ll just go ahead and assume he feels just like I do.

After all, he loves to eat those peaches. And there is nothing in this world, ladies, like following the prophet and getting sexy looks across the table for the deal.

‘Pop’.

Tell me true, am I the only canner left in this big world?

Category: Daily Special

Comments

15 Responses to “Pop”

Maralise
September 27th, 2007 @ 10:52 am

I do have to admit–I’m a canner, but a co-dependent one. Meaning, I love to can, but I don’t want to be in charge. If I can share the burden with someone (especially my mom)then I love it.
Sue
September 27th, 2007 @ 11:11 am

Canning makes you feel SEXY? Hmmm… I confess I don’t understand that at all. Canning makes me feel incapable and like I’m wasting a lot of my time. I know a lot of people love to can, but I much prefer running to Costco. I think of canning somewhere along the lines of hanging the laundry out to dry. You get a fresher smell, and it makes you feel virtuous, but it’s really sort of a waste of time, now that most people have dryers.

Also, I’m lazy.
Brooke
September 27th, 2007 @ 12:35 pm

i always make jam. but that’s just because i crave it. not because it makes me feel sexy.

and the pop! i have to confess that i am impatient for the pop and often walk over to the jars multiple times, pushing down on the lids just to see what will happen.
Angie
September 27th, 2007 @ 12:46 pm

I haven’t canned this year, because we moved in August and all my canning stuff is in storage. Same thing happened last August. I don’t miss it. If fact, I’m thinking I should make fall moves a habit. I have a pass on guilt and I am a free woman. Of course, I only canned stuff that i grew or got for free because I’m into that provident living stuff. If I actually felt sexy doing it. . .
Justine
September 27th, 2007 @ 12:57 pm

I honestly think it has something to do with “creating”, or the act of “creation”. I feel strangely powerful and confident, which in turn makes my husband stand up and take notice, which in turn… well, you see where I’m going. Maybe it has something to do with accomplishing something that feels so, well, industrial and mysterious.

Standing, at the end of the day, surveying a counter full of finished jars — I gotta say, there’s nothin’ like it.
Wendy
September 27th, 2007 @ 1:34 pm

I like canning with a buddy. I haven’t braved it alone since you taught me last summer, Justine. Someday . . . but together is so fun, too! I suspect that when we actually EAT canned peaches, it will be worth the effort!
Jennifer B.
September 27th, 2007 @ 2:31 pm

I haven’t canned solo, but I have wanted to attempt it. I’m intimidated by it, but your post makes me want to try it even more.

Way to go, you hot canning babe!
Tiffany
September 27th, 2007 @ 2:37 pm

I have never canned anything in my entire life. I blame this on my mother (ha!) who went on a canning strike after canning a whole bunch of peaches just days before she gave birth to my sister. It was during a heat wave and our house had no air conditioning. She said after the canning was done. “I will never can again”. And she never did. She did lots of good homemaker-y things–baking bread for the entire week, hanging out laundry to dry when it was warm, cooked most of our meals from scratch, sewed our dresses, etc.

I am intensely curious about the canning process but will wait to try it out until I am back in the U.S. and can buy the proper equipment without going into debt. (easy to do when you live in Europe–spend way too much on things that cost just a fraction in the U.S.)

Anyhow, this was a very cool post, Justine!
texasgal
September 27th, 2007 @ 4:16 pm

Wow, what a week. Quilting is “love” Canning is “sex” and in between we are “Celebrating the Celibate”. Only on Segullah, my friends.
Justine
September 27th, 2007 @ 5:38 pm

texasgal, we are all just that strange…

And truthfully, it’s not so much about sex as it is about my sense of well being as a woman. I really feel the power of myself as I create. I suppose that translates into my swagger a bit, that’s all!
Heather O.
September 27th, 2007 @ 9:16 pm

I just recently discovered canning, and I love it, too. It’s a lot of work, with a lot of steam, but the pop is undeniably cool. I don’t know if my husband is turned on by the actual canning process, but he always likes it when I’m happy, and well, I’ll admit I did do a little jig when I saw my pretty tomatoes on the shelf with my peaches and my pickles.
robin
September 27th, 2007 @ 9:25 pm

canning brings back happy memories of being in the kitchen my grandma! Living in an apartment and having recently moved across country, I have not done any canning myself…yet!
Amy Sorensen
September 28th, 2007 @ 3:34 pm

Having just blogged about my (completely, utterly, truly opposite) feelings about canning, I have to say that I love this entry. I think it is amazing that so many of you feel confident enough to can on your own—and that it makes you feel powerful is even better.
Leslie P.
October 1st, 2007 @ 11:42 am

It’s too bad we don’t live in the same state because we could be canning buddies! This summer I finally gave in to that little whisper in the back of my mind telling me it might be good to learn to can. And I did it. I researched it, asked a million questions to the (very few) women I know that do it and dove in. Now somewhere around 1000 jars later, I’m a bit pooped and don’t want to see another box of fruit for at least 9 or 10 months. I wouldn’t have gotten so carried away if I didn’t live in an agricultural area where I can get mostly free or very cheap fruit. Love the pop, too!
salma
October 1st, 2007 @ 7:32 pm

Good Heavens, is nothing sacred?