Meet and Mingle Blog

Fun at the Cannery
Guest Blogger - Peg Schneider

My husband Bob and I moved to Blairsville in 2002 and became fascinated with the many facets of our new life.  Retirement is always a major adjustment to ones mind and daily routine.  Moving from a big city to Blairsville brought with it a multitude of things to learn.  Canning was high on that list for us.  We first visited the cannery to see what it was and what people did there.  We had never canned anything and really did not understand why putting food in jars was called “canning”.  I, of course, took my camera so that I could share pictures with friends.  We were met with two main questions.  (1)  Were we reporters?  2)  Did I have a church home?

The people working with their vegetables were very friendly and quick to explain what they were doing.  We were intrigued by the entire process and thought that we were ready to attempt this new experience.  Friends, Sharon Stevens and Nancy Collins were willing to help us on our maiden voyage.  We decided to start with different variations of applesauce.  We gathered our apples, 2 bushels of peaches and several bags of red hot candies.  We quickly learned that one should buy their red hots closer to Valentine's day than in the fall !! 

We were amazed that we did not have to peel or core the apples.  A "magic machine" called the extractor was capable of removing the stems, seeds and skin from the apples.  Our hat goes off to the person who invented that wonderful contraption.  The first batch was to be plain applesauce so we quartered the apples and placed them in the cooker.  I was amazed, almost horrified, as to the amount of sugar that had to be added.  Later batches involved adding the peaches and/or red hot candy. 

When the magic potion was cooked and run through the extractor, it was now ready to be "jarred".  The attendants did not want us to tighten the lids because they would do that.  When our cases and cases of applesauce were placed in the huge baskets, it was like sending a child off to camp.  We were told to return in 2 hours to pick up our treasures.

It was a wonderful and fun learning experience that we have since repeated with different foods.  We are continually thankful that we have moved to an area that appreciates the need to retain customs of past years.  We agree that there is no contest when comparing store bought to personally canned fruits and veggies.