Canning and Food Allergies

Last week I talked about the "why should I can" and also why you should try it again if you had a bad experience. You can find that here.

Today I've been thinking about another really important reason to can....food allergies.

Do you have food allergies? Do you know someone that does?

Did you know that:

• Food allergy is a growing public health concern in the US

• More than 12 million Americans have food allergies. That’s one in 25, or 4% of the population.
• The incidence of food allergy is highest in young children - one in 17 in children under 3
• About 3 million children in the US have food allergies
• The CDC reported that food allergies result in over 300,000 ambulatory-care visits a year among children
• Eight foods account for 90% of food allergic reactions in the US: milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, fish and shellfish
• There is no cure for food allergies
• Food allergies are life-altering for everyone involved and require constant vigilance

Now how do you know what you are eating and if it contains something you are allergic to? The easiest is to read labels and federal laws require that companies clearly identify the eight main allergens on their labels. Ok, but what about the other 10% of food allergies? Do you know how to find out if what you're eating contains those?

For example...my nephews are allergic to a whole host of things. Most of which I have a hard time remembering so I clear anything and everything I feed them with my sister first. Most of the time I joke that the only things I can feed them are mac&cheese and hot dogs because they are the only things I know they can eat.

These little guys aren't allergic to normal things. They can have milk and eggs and wheat, but are allergic to strawberries, nuts and cinnamon.

Seriously...one of them is allergic to cinnamon! That is one ingredient that you WILL NOT find on a label. It's hidden in the "spices" listing. The only way to know for sure is to call the company that makes it and even then they aren't always sure. Recently we discovered that Lawry's Seasoning Salt has cinnamon. Would you have guessed that??

So how can you guarantee that these foods aren't coming near them? Home canning.

When you can your own food, you know for sure what's in it. I can make applesauce that has only apples and sugar or soup that only has real veggies, beans and farm raised meat. How about spaghetti sauce that is only tomatoes from your own garden, basil, oregano, onions and garlic? Doesn't that sound heavenly?

With these home canned foods I know exactly what has gone into their making and can feel comfortable feeding them to people with food allergies. You can do the same.

No more reading labels all the time. With home canned foods you can have a pantry filled with choices that you know are guaranteed to work with your allergy restrictions.

Not Your Momma's Canning

I recently read a blog post where the writer was berating all things home canned and felt that home canning was vomit worthy because her mother canned and she thought it tasted gross. It got me thinking. I know this reaction is pretty common, but let me say that the canning of today is not your momma's canning.

There are few things that I suppose would make home-canned food less than appetizing. The first being that our society is way too dependent on processed foods. These are full of salt, preservatives, and things that even a highly educated person can't pronounce. If you can't say it why eat it! If this is what you are used to eating than yes, that home canned food is not going to taste right.

Did you know that most of the food grown in the US these days has been genetically modified or hybridized to grow bigger and more perfect with longer shelf lives so that industry can get more bang for it's buck? While they've accomplished their goals, they left out one important thing. Along the way they modified the nutrients right out of the plant. Have you ever compared those hot house tomatoes in the store with an heirloom tomato straight from your backyard? You'll taste the difference right away.

Canning has found a resurgence in population these last few years and because of it there are many, many new and updated recipes to can. We are no longer just canning stewed tomatoes or cut green beans. We are canning soups, chilies, salsa, kiwi jelly, syrups and even caramel sauce! Wouldn't you love to know EXACTLY what you are eating and where it came from?

A lot of you express fear of pressure canners, but these are not your mother's pressure canners. These are updated with more safety features and safe fails. Trust me...the way mine locks down there is no way that lid is coming off. It'll blow the pressure release valve first. You have to take some precautions, but it's not scary.

Now there are a few things you can do to insure that your home canned foods taste great.

1. Use the freshest produce possible! I can not stress this enough. If you put in mediocre food that's a week old, it's going to taste like mediocre week old food when you eat it. That is not appetizing to anyone.
2. Follow a published canning recipe. These recipes have been developed to specifically work for canning. Remember that these foods will sit and blend on your shelf. What may not taste exceptional when going in could taste phenomenal coming out. My spaghetti sauce is a perfect example. On the day it's made I could eat for dinner, but it usually tastes like it needs more salt or seasoning. It's a little bland, but after a couple weeks on the shelf the flavors have all blended and I think it would be worthy of the pickiest Italian housewife. :o)
3. Follow the processing instructions. When it says 10lbs. of pressure for 20 minutes don't assume 20 lbs. for 10 minutes would work faster. This will make your canned foods, well, just not good.

I'm pretty picky about what I feed my family. We raise a lot of our own meat, have a huge garden and preserve these things to eat when they can't be had fresh. The things we can't make on our own I buy from sources I can trust preferably local when I can. That's not to say that we don't eat the occasional box of mac & cheese or hot dogs, but these things are treats not the norm. In fact, when given the choice my kids will almost always pick fresh fruit or veggies over chips and ice cream. They understand the healthy eating and find joy in munching on food that they've had a help with.

Anyway, my point is, if you'd like to have that garden fresh taste all year long or to know for sure what you are eating try canning....again if necessary. Here are some of my fave books.

Now I'm on my way to make some of that spaghetti sauce and if I have time left today I'll also be making up some Praline syrup and canning that. Yum!

Oh and for those of you keeping track....these are the new summer preserving totals:

• 12 dill pickles
• 13 Bread & Butter pickles
• 14 Sweet pickles
• 5 peas
  
• 41 corn
• 47 green beans
• 25 pizza sauce
• 5 gallon bags of frozen corn (not sure how many quarts or such that might be)

That's 157 plus the frozen corn. Wow! Those shelves are filling fast. The kids are already begging for the pickles, but I told them they need just another week or 2 to taste really yummy.

Farmer's Market Fun

The last few weeks we've been hanging out at a farmer's market not too far from here. It's a lot of fun with some great people and they have a big playground to keep the kiddos occupied for the 4 hours we are there. What more could a girl ask for?

It's definitely been worth our time to set up a table down there. We've encountered several knitters and this last week a spinner happened by from Texas. I'm still trying to figure exactly what she was doing in that teeney tiny little town since she said she was up visiting her daughter in Chicago, but hey, she loved my alpaca!


Our newest addition to the farmer's market fare this past week was baked goods. Michigan just recently passed a law that allows for some non-commercially prepared foods to be sold directly to consumers. (I'll be writing more on that later). The granola I made up was the hit of the day! Everyone loved the fact that the Cherry granola was made with actual Michigan cherries. Next week I think I'm going to make up a blueberry granola.

Anyway, we have a lot of fun and if you are ever around come visit us at the Athen's Area Farm Market on Fridays from 2pm-6pm. It's right on M-66....can't miss it.

Canning is a Family Affair

As I've said before, canning season is upon us and everyone has a part to play.

The most exciting part for the kiddos is frenching the green beans. Frenching green beans?!?!?! I bet you're wondering what that is.

Have you ever bought canned green beans at the store that were labeled french-style? They're cut lengthwise instead of cut into bean stubs. That's what the kids do.

We have this cute little contraption that clamps onto the table and as they turn it, it cuts the beans. They fight over the fat ones because they're "squirters". Basically, the bean is juicy and as it's cut it squirts bean juice up and occasionally hits them in the face. For whatever reason this cracks them up. It also keeps them busy so I can get more canning done.

The grand total of jars so far is:

• 12 dill pickles
• 13 Bread & Butter pickles
• 14 Sweet pickles
• 5 peas
  
• 9 corn
• 47 green beans
• 6 pizza sauce

That's 106 jars so far if my math is right. That doesn't count the few jars that didn't seal. Those went in the fridge

The pizza sauce was big surprise. I wasn't expecting enough tomatoes yet to do anything. It was a very nice surprise though because we've been out for awhile now.

Now I'm off to sit down. This canning stuff is a lot of work. ;)

Recipe of the week -- BLT Macaroni Salad

It seems I've had a theme going on lately of summer fun food. Go figure. ;) It's hot and who wants to slave over the stove for hours in this heat? Not me.

So in keeping with this summery theme, I am giving you my most often requested recipe for BLT Macaroni salad. Now I love this salad so much that I make it even in the winter, but it's the perfect summer recipe. It's even better now as the tomatoes are starting to come in. In fact we just enjoyed our very first fresh from the garden tomatoes the other day. Whohoo!!

I have to admit though that the summer is starting to wear me down. I am so ready for cooler temps, warm fuzzy socks and a HUGE pot of chili with fresh baked bread. I'll settle for the salad for now.


BLT Macaroni Salad

1/2 cup Miracle Whip
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups cooked elbow macaroni (or any other shape you might have in the cupboard)
1/2 cup chopped seeded tomato
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
3 cups shredded lettuce
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. Add the macaroni, tomatoes and onions; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate. Just before serving, add lettuce and bacon; toss to coat.


For more great recipes visit Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday and Tuesdays at the Table.

Holiday Weekend Fun with the Alpacas

Do you remember all that yarn from Friday's post? Did I tell you what it was for? Well, I don't think I did so I will now. All that yarn and alpaca fibery things were for the alpaca display we had on Saturday.

There is this really cool place here in town (actually just south of town) on M-66 called Station 66. It was an old gas station in the 50's and it sat on the property untouched for 50 years after they closed before anyone did anything with it. Now the younger generation has opened it up using a lot of the original stuff as decorations. It's got a really cool nostalgic feeling to it.

They've opened this place up to sell local fruits and veggies plus promote local and Michigan made products. Oh, ice cream too! Now how awesome is that?? And guess who's veggies they are selling. Yup, yours truly. :o) They also carry our yarns and handmade soaps.

On Saturday, as an effort to both promote our farm and this new business, we took 3 of our boys down to visit with the visitors. Of course I couldn't go without taking product. I took everything we had done and displayed it right near the alpaca.

Now not everything is alpaca, but most people get the fact that we are fiber people who just happen to raise alpacas. A lot of alpaca products sold, but the merino sock yarns were by far the biggest seller. I sold so many I only have 3 left! I need to dye more this week.

We had a lot of people who asked tons of questions that we were more than happy to answer. The boys got tons of lovin' from the kids that came by and hopefully the grown-ups all learned something new and exciting. I even got a big custom order! People are loving our products and I can't even begin to tell you how good that makes me feel. There's not always a lot of feedback when you're getting a business going.

My favorite part of the day though was listening to some of the conversations going on around me. (I know eavesdropping is bad, but come on...they were talking about my stuff!) Everyone knew we were the alpaca people, but none knew we were also the veggie people.

Listening to the comments on the veggies "these are the best! how do they grow them so big? I've never seen them look so good!" was a great time. I loved the feedback because it was so completely honest. How could they fake it when they didn't know we grew them?

I think I've finally recovered from the day and am already looking forward to the next time!

If you are in the Battle Creek area at all, check out Station 66. The ice cream is great, the food and drinks awesome and what a super way to promote MICHIGAN!!!