Canning 101

Last week I went to the opening of the farmers market in Minnetonka. It was a great experience with many local farmers, including a group of farmers who brought canned peaches, tomatoes, tomato sauce and once again a memory of my grandmother making canned wild berry reserves was triggered. I remember as a young child picking wild raspberries, strawberries and blackberries and then canning the reserves. I do remember opening the cans in the middle of winter and thinking of all those summer days of picking the berries...hmmm, what a great memory!

I don't know anyone who does canning anymore, including myself. Actually, canning can be very easy and it is a great way to eat fresh and locally year round. So whether your tomato plant is bursting with more tomatoes than you ever could imagine, or you are frequenting all of the farmers markets and finding you are having an extra amount of fresh fruit and veggies -- consider canning those extras instead of throwing them away!

The National Center for Home Food Preservation is a great starting point to learning how to can your own fruits and vegetables. You also can find information and professional guidance at your local Cooperative Extension Office.

Sunset Magazine, once again has great tutorials including Canning Instructions, Tomato Tips and tricks (The secrets to peeling, freezing, canning -- and more tomato know-how for the kitchen), and Canning ABCs.

The New York Times, highlights some of the challenges with canning in their article Some Canning Dos and Dont's -- this article is a MUST READ if you are considering canning. Since there is a higher risk of food contamination, it is essential to follow recipes closely and to pay very close attention during canning. Recipes should not be followed if they were developed before 1990 since there was such a great risk for food borne illness and the USDA did not publish their comprehensive guide to Home Canning until 1998.

So, be smart and safe when home canning. Overall it is an easy way to reduce waste and to enjoy of the flavors of the summer in January!

Additional Resources:

USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2006 Revision

Historical Origins of Food Preservation

Preservation Principles in Chutney

Instructional Videos on Canning

Recipes:

Cranberry Orange Chutney

Easy Hot Sauce

Herbed Seasoned Tomatoes

Tomatoes -- Whole, Halved or Quartered

Breaking Generational Worry Around Food

I had an interview with Gale from the Minnesota News Network yesterday in response to the report from the Trust For America's Health which found that Minnesota had the lowest rate of overweight children in the nation. And while, I am always impressed when we rank number 1, it still is a staggering 23% of our children who are overweight which is concerning.

I talked with Gale about the need for an environment where both the parents and the child have a positive relationship with food and the parents model balanced and structured meals. Discussing that parents who worry, fear, talk about food excessively, eat sporadically or excessively or are hyper focused, or trying to hard to overcorrect can lead to a high chance that the child will model that same behavior and ultimately a poor relationship with food which can lead to brain wiring around stress, which can ultimately lead to physiological imbalances that for some can cause weight gain and a lifetime of angst. Thus, the developing brain of a child can wire to have similar fears and stress responses around food as the adult which can last throughout adulthood and be passed on to another generation.

A dear friend of mine, who is a therapist, suggested a book written by Daniel Siegel and Marty Hartzell called Parenting from the Inside Out, which I happened to pick up last week. Now, I am only page 64, but already this has been one of the best popular books that I have read that clearly explains how implicit memory, explicit memory and brain development occur. This book does not have a "food" theme, however it does help explain how wiring (poor relationships with food and body, fear, etc) occurs and how we as parents have triggers from our own previous experiences in life which can cause stress responses. Some of these stress response triggers are very much hidden in the subconscious and we are often not even aware of why they are happening. If we don't have an understanding of these previous life experineces, then the likelihood that they will be passed on to the next generation is high. Sigel writes "Without such self-understanding, however, science has shown that history will likely repeat itself, as negative patterns of family interactions are passed down through the generations". With that being said, the good news is "your early experiences do not determine your fate". Siegel states that when there is understanding of early-life experiences then "you are not bound to re-create the same negative interactions with your own children".

I work with a significant number of adults in my practice who have lived in fear and angst with food their entire life. For many of those clients, they are now feeding their own children which brings up a lot of their fears and unreasonable expectations. Again, fear and angst create a physiological response which can lead to cravings, hunger and weight gain. Having an understanding and setting new reasonable expectations as an adult can significantly change the brain wiring, resulting in a better relationship with food, decreasing the stress response and if you have children, providing a better model for your child.

Be curious! Watch and connect with the feelings that food, meals, weight bring up when you are with your child.

Have compassion for your self and the process. If you watched your mom or dad worry about
food a lot when you were a child, or if there were unreasonable expectations placed on you as a child... "great job for eating all your food", "you are good if you are a certain weight", etc., then chances are those messages are deeply wired in memory. As an adult they may seem silly, but you may still be feeling those feelings and living with those unreasonable expectations.

Get professional help. Work with a therapist or nutrition therapist (this is my specialty). There is no need to try to attempt this journey alone. The Solution Method, is an excellent tool for helping create more reasonable expectations and attachment.

Neuroscience research has show us that brain wiring can and does change, so even though your early memory may have wired around food and stress, it doesn't mean that it needs to stay that way! Changing your brain is a gift for you and generations!

Spring Time -- Let's Garden

Finally, I think that we are breaking winter and spring is almost here in Minnesota. Even though we had some snow this week, I have been waking up to the melody of birds every morning -- oh, so wonderful and such JOY!

My husband was outside last week starting to break apart the soil to prepare it for planting. We don't have a lawn, but rather flower and vegetable gardens. I am so happy to hear that across the country more people are pulling out their landscaped lawns and adding flowers, vegetables and even chicken coops. There is a movement happening! I think that this movement is partially driven by the economic times, but also interest in organic foods and having nutritious foods available -- in your own backyard. According to USA Today, The National Gardening Association predicts a 40 percent increase in the number of homes growing vegetable gardens in comparison with two years ago.

It was a few weeks ago, when Michelle Obama, along with some DC area school children, planted a vegetable garden which will be used in the meals prepared at the White House. The White House vegetable garden may have an effect on the nation, "Those gardens, modeled after a White House patch planted by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943, were intended to inspire self-sufficiency, and at their peak supplied 40 percent of the nation's fresh produce, said Roger Doiron, founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International", says USA Today.

Even if you are a person who doesn't like vegetables, having your own vegetable garden and eating a freshly picked fruit or vegetable is an experience. I remember back to when I was living in California and had my first taste of a "real strawberry". I grew up eating strawberries flown in from California, but also ate a lot of wild strawberries at our cabin in Northern Michigan. The wild strawberries were small and tart, perfect for making jam. One day on a trip down the California coast we stopped outside of Watsonville, home of Driscolls and many strawberry fields. We had a bunch of strawberries that were picked that morning and were farmed without chemicals. The strawberries were very large, incredibly juicy and oh so sweet. I will remember that moment forever because it felt like I was eating a strawberry for the first time. It tasted nothing like the strawberries I had eaten all of my life.

Growing a garden does take some planning and reading. Below are some resources to help you get started.

Happy Planting!

University of Minnesota Extension -- excellent resource and should be your first call if thinking about planting a garden. The extension offers educational programs and e-learning specific to Minnesota and the northern region.

Sunset Magazine's Guide to Growing A Vegetable Garden -- good guide. Sunset magazine is based on the West coast, so may not provide specific advice about Minnesota.

Sunset Magazine's Instructional Video on How To Plant A Tomato -- great simple video on planting a tomato plant.

Urban Gardening

City Gardening Magazine

The Northern Dilemma: Produce in Winter

Each year I struggle with the availability of fresh produce in the winter months and this year is no different. It is a dilemma that I haven't been able to overcome since moving to the Upper Midwest six years ago. Most of the produce that is available this time of year is picked too soon and shipped from very distant places. Thus, leaving the quality of the produce less to be desired...bland, bruised, lacking vitamins/minerals and tasteless, with the exception of the Minneola tangelos that are coming from California -- they arrived here in December and January and are so delicious!

Frozen  Veggies and Fruit

Believe it or not, some frozen vegetables and fruits can be more nutritious than fresh produce especially in the winter months.  Vegetables and fruits that are picked for freezing are processed when they are most nutrient dense -- their peak ripeness.  

When choosing frozen vegetables and fruit, there is a quality difference between different brands and products.  The differences in quality can influence taste, texture and appearance.  Which means if you are not a big vegetable eater, you always want to make sure that you are buying "U.S. Grade A" or "Fancy" because those are the vegetables/fruits that "are carefully selected for color, tenderness and freedom from blemishes".  Other grades such as B or C are not as high of quality and Grade C are ideal for soups, stews and casseroles.  

Organic vegetables/fruits are available frozen. Personally, I am a big fan of Trader Joe's  frozen vegetables and fruits.  Hands down, they offer the most variety of mixes and always with high quality ingredients.  

When choosing canned fruits, it is best to keep with those products that are simply just the fruit and either juice or water.  A lot of companies add high fructose sugar to canned fruits, which really isn't necessary.  Some fruits are sold in light syrup or heavy syrup.  Heavy syrup fruits are ideal for baking and quite sweet to eat for your fruit serving. 

Some easy tips for produce consumption in the winter months:

• Keep 3-5 packages of frozen vegetables/fruits "in stock" at all times (you will never run out)
• Frozen vegetables can be made in the microwave (5 minutes on high) or sauteed with some seasoning and olive on the stove top (5 minutes)
• Frozen fruits taste great pureed with milk and ice -- smoothie
• Choose frozen vegetables over canned for greater nutrient content
• Both Grade A and Grade B frozen vegetables would taste good, Grade A is a higher quality
• Keep 3-5 cans of canned fruit "in stock" at all times
• Read the labels for canned fruit and avoid products with added high fructose corn syrup
• If you accidently purchased fruit in heavy syrup, you can always rinse the syrup off
• Cooking frozen vegetables on the stove retains more heat in the vegetable than microwave cooking.  Microwaved vegetables can lose their heat very quickly, thus leaving the vegetable tasting pretty bad
• Experiment with different seasonings for vegetables.  Visit Penzeys spices either in the store or online, they have some excellent seasonings for veggies

USDA GUIDE "HOW TO BUY CANNED AND FROZEN VEGETABLES"

USDA GUIDE "HOW TO BUY CANNED AND FROZEN FRUITS"