The Fancy Pantry

My mother grew up on a farm where there was always a vegetable garden.   When I was growing up, we went back to Minnesota about every three years, and I can remember helping my Grandmother go out and pick peas, or green beans, or even rhubarb.  My grandmother was very good at "putting up".  She made THE BEST dill pickles.  We would go down into the basement where it was cool, her shelves lined with all the jars of things ready to eat in winter.  Green beans, beets and dill pickles (and whatever else grew in abundance that year)  lined the shelves.  There was always something to grab that would go with whatever meal she had planned.   While I'm sure I could attempt to follow a recipe, "putting up" was never my thing.

But having a fancy pantry also wasn't on my list of priorities in life.  Sometimes just making ends meet was how things went.  And maybe that had to do with apartment living, there's no space to grow your own, and purchasing veggies just to do some canning didn't seem like it was cost effective.  And maybe it would have been if I'd had all the mason jars and canning lids needed to get the job done.

Growing up, I helped my mother make jams; sometimes if she was short of lids we would melt wax and pour it over the top of the jam to help preserve it.  I also remember opening a jar, hearing that little snick of air as the pressure was released, then having to ease out that slice of wax in order to get to the jam.  It wasn't an easy job canning things for the family.  But if you were resourceful or knew someone with a fruit tree, you could prepare for the winter's food needs.  

I could probably follow a few recipes and create a fancy pantry of my own, but I've learned to have fresh produce on hand.  And frankly with the way growers and grocery stores have worked it out, there's an abundance of foods on hand nearly year round these days!   So for me, a fancy pantry means a few cans of my favorite soups, some canned green beans on hand, and whatever else strikes my mood to have on hand for those "just in case" moments!  

By the way, my mouth *still* waters to this day when I think of my Grandmother's dill pickles; the last jar on the shelf we ate in 1998.  So Good!!