Every year around this time, my husband gets frustrated with me because I go on this food preservation frenzy.
“No Honey, I can’t do (enter something fun in here) because I want to can those peaches.”
August is my favourite food month — beans, peaches, blueberries, tomatoes — and I feel pressure to capture all that flavour for the rest of the year.
In reality, canning, freezing and dehydrating foods changes flavour and texture, and the end product is generally not as tasty as fresh, but that does not seem to deter me. What is especially frustrating to my husband is that I don’t seem to even enjoy the process of preserving food; it is more of an obsession. As he points out, “You can just buy them at the store.”
So why is food preservation important?
While there are many benefits to a global and industrial food supply (like you don’t have to plant, grow, harvest and preserve your own food), there is something comforting knowing exactly where your food comes from and realizing the connection between food and our environment.
While theoretically it would be more energy efficient to have all food processed in the same place in mass quantities, the reality is that these foods are shipped from one country to another – a farm ships it to a factory, who ships it to different warehouses around the world, then to different grocery stores, then in your car to your house. Whereas, the foods I preserve at home come from my garden (or someone else’s nearby) and stay in my house.
There is also no comparison between a store-bought can of peaches and my own. I am not bragging about my canning skills, but pointing out that there is something intangibly satisfying about eating something you have preserved yourself.
Come February, when I am ready for the snow to melt, and to eat something besides an apple, eating summer is like getting a moment of sunshine, a glimpse of the end of the cold winter.
If you value your time, preserving your own food may not save you money. However, given the changes we are experiencing in climate, gas prices and the cost of food, this may soon change.
Preserving food can also be quite a social activity – getting a group of people together to share recipes, stories, and the workload.
Not everyone has the time or desire to preserve their own food; however, I believe there is still value to this long-standing tradition. Perhaps what I need to work on is enjoying the process a little more.
- Serena Caner is a registered dietician who works at Shuswap Lake General Hospital.