The Canning Tradition in West Virginia

From a young age, I can remember the women in my family, from my great-grandmother to my mom and aunt, continuing the tradition of canning vegetables. One specific memory I can recall from my childhood is sitting cross-legged on my Aunt Carla’s heavy oak table, eagerly watching as she, my grandmother, and my mom began the canning process to make homemade salsa. Just as they had done at one point with my grandmother and great grandmother, I helped them push the quartered tomatoes that we picked from our garden through the juicer, watching the pulp slide through one end and land in a glass bowl and the juice from the other end drip into another. 

This process continued as we moved on from salsa recipes and homemade pickles to pasta sauce and green beans. There were even some summers that we canned homemade blackberry jelly, but the jelly recipe was a bit fussy and did not always set to the proper jelly consistency. Frequently the process failed, leaving the thin berry syrup to go to waste. While this didn’t matter much to my mother—it was merely disappointing—it would have been devastating for my great grandmother and my family before her as they sometimes struggled to make ends meet. 

My great-grandmother’s parents, possibly even her grandparents, began growing their own vegetable gardens and canning those vegetables to ensure they would have food to sustain them when food prices rose or when they simply didn’t have the money to go to the grocery store. As many of them were first- and second-generation immigrants from Italy, they didn’t always have secure jobs, making it even more important to have healthy, preserved food available all year round, not only when their finances were looking good. Before she passed away, my great-grandmother told me that there were more than a few occasions when their canned green beans and spaghetti sauce kept her and her siblings from going hungry. Not wanting to see her children and grandchildren go hungry, she stressed the importance of maintaining a garden and preserving the produce from said garden to my grandmother and my mother, making sure to emphasize the necessity of self-reliance. 

While I don’t see myself keeping a large garden or canning an abundance of produce from it as I lack the patience and the green thumb, I understand the importance of having the knowledge and capability to do so. I also appreciate the significance of the process to my ancestors before me. I am grateful for its existence, as there is a chance I wouldn’t exist had it not been possible for my family to preserve their produce. In the future, I do plan to manage a small garden and, on occasion, can some of its produce, but more importantly, I plan to pass this tradition on to my children and stress the importance of its existence to them. For my readers, I encourage all of you to continue or start the practice of canning produce in your family, whether it be using home-grown or store-bought produce, as these experiences make up my fondest memories with my family. 

Mild Salsa Recipe

Canning Supplies/Materials: 

• Canner
• Juicer
• 5 Pint Jars or 10 Half Pint Jars
• Jar Lids

Ingredients:

• 3.5 lb. Roma tomatoes, peeled and quartered.
• 2 medium white onions finely chopped.
• 1-3 jalapeños chopped and deseeded (add more for spice!).
• 1-2 green bell peppers chopped.
• 8-10 cloves of garlic minced.
• 1 cup red wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
• 4 tsp sugar.
• 1.5 tsp pickling salt.
• 1 tsp onion powder.
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley.

Directions:

• Begin by washing your jars and lids in warm, soapy water.
• Fill the canner with water and add in your jars, allowing them to heat up with the water. Warm up the lids on the stovetop in a small pot with a thin layer of water on the lowest heat setting.
• Blanche whole tomatoes in boiling water for one minute, then transfer to ice water for two to four minutes to cool.
• Peel off the skin of the tomatoes and quarter them, adding about ½ a pound to your juicer. Substitute the tomato juice for a can of tomato sauce if you don’t have a juicer readily available. 
• Prepare your other vegetables. Finely chop the onions, dice the green peppers, dice the jalapenos, and mince your garlic.
• Combine your vegetables and spices in a large pot, bringing them to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and cook at a gentle boil for 25 minutes or until your salsa reaches your preferred consistency. 
• Using tongs, remove your jars and lids from the water. Use a ladle to fill your jars with the salsa, leaving an inch of space below the jar’s rim and screw on your lids.
• Return your filled jars to the canner, and once the water begins to boil, time them for twenty minutes. 
• After twenty minutes, remove your jars and place them on a cloth on the counter to cool overnight or for eight hours, whichever is longer. Finish by writing the date on the jar’s lid, and you now have tasty homemade salsa to enjoy with your friends and family. 

Written by: Meghan Merritt

Bio: My name is Meghan Merritt and I was born and raised in Elkins, WV. I’m a sophomore at Davis & Elkins college, majoring in English with a minor in education with the goal of becoming a secondary English teacher. I have a passion for writing and am grateful to be able to contribute a small part of my life as a West Virginia native to the Augusta Heritage Center’s blog. 

Photo by Kim Newberg