Plan to can
Preserving food— and a way of life
If you ask Connie and Chuck Metcalfe what their favorite season is, they’ll tell you it’s “canning season.”
Canning together for over 50 years, the couple, Meade County RECC consumer-members, transformed their garage into an outdoor kitchen they call the Canning Room. Every year, they turn their garden harvest into rows of gleaming jars, and last year they put up more than 1,000 quarts.
“Anything you can put in a jar, I can it,” Chuck Metcalfe says. The garden, he says, “not only supplies us with food, but it brings back memories. Canning keeps me in touch with my past.”
Canning is in his DNA. He started at 6 with his mother and grandmother, and when he and Connie married in 1974, she joined in. They canned as a family until his grandmother and mother passed away.
Connie cherishes those memories.
“It wasn’t all work. It was fun listening to their stories, even if they told the same ones every year. It was still funny,” she says.
They continue the tradition with kids, grandkids, neighbors and friends. Each September they make apple butter using a copper kettle that’s been in Chuck’s family for 140 years. They fill it with Jonathan apples simmering over an open flame for 11 hours. Everyone gets a turn to stir.
“It’s dark when we start and dark when it’s done,” he says. “Everyone likes it, and it brings our community together.”
Preserving food: the basics
What the Metcalfes do each year is more than charming tradition–it’s a deeply Kentuckian way of caring for land and family. According to food preservation experts across the commonwealth, it’s never too late to start—but right now is the time to plan how you’re going to preserve summer’s garden bounty.
Chuck and Connie Metcalfe’s granddaughters love to help during canning season. Gracie Graham, top, shucks corn and Aubree Robbins cuts kernels off the cob. Photo: Chuck Metcalfe
Local Extension offices teach preservation classes year-round, following University of Kentucky research-based standards. Food safety is central. Most people start with canning and expand to freezing, dehydrating and fermenting.
Canning: the classic Kentucky method
Canning includes water-bath and pressure canning. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends Mason-type jars with two-piece caps that should be washed well and sterilized. For safety, follow an up-to-date, research-based recipe.
“Make sure you have reliable information,” says Kendyl Redding, Powell County Extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences, whose office is served by Clark County RECC. “Although nostalgic, old, handwritten recipes without details aren’t the safest. We teach best practices and follow publications from UK.”
Water-bath canning, which is used for high-acid foods like jellies, salsas and pickles, is ideal for beginners. Jars are filled to the proper headspace, submerged under an inch of water, and boiled for the time listed in the recipe.
“I love using a water bath for tomatoes, hot peppers, relish and pickles,” Chuck Metcalfe says. “I raise my own dill, so I love to add that to my cucumbers.”
After processing, jars cool undisturbed for 12 hours so seals form. Properly stored, they last up to two years.
Pressure canning is required for low-acid foods like green beans, corn, soups and meats.
Despite old stories about exploding jars, modern canners are designed with safety features.
“I wish people weren’t scared of pressure canners,” Redding says. “I hear people say ‘I have one but I’m afraid to use it.’ I want to emphasize that nothing bad will happen as long as you watch it.”
Her counterpart in Adair County, Dylan Gentry, affirms that modern canners are designed to prevent explosions.
“You just need to stay present and mindful,” says Betty Knifley, Adair County Extension Homemakers member. “I go down to my basement stovetop, knowing that’s what I’ll be doing for a few hours.”
Freezing: fast and simple
Freezing is a quick preservation method. Vegetables freeze well after washing and blanching. Fruit also freezes well, especially using the simple dry-pack method for berries.
The Metcalfes have several pantries dedicated to their canned garden produce. Photo: Chuck Metcalfe
“Some of my favorite memories are freezing corn,” says Knifley, a Taylor County RECC consumer-member. “We would make an assembly line. Some were shucking, some were silking and some were boiling. It was always a big day together.”
She began preserving with her mother and grandmother and now helps younger generations. “I’m happy to see younger people come into the classes,” she says.
Drying and dehydrating
Dehydrating is one of the oldest methods for preserving food and works for apples, herbs, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and onions.
“I had never dehydrated before learning from Dylan,” Knifley says. “I love it. My favorite things to dehydrate are Asian pears.”
Because her office is near Red River Gorge Geological Area, a popular spot for outdoor recreation, Redding teaches dehydration classes for hikers. “Dehydration pulls out the moisture and makes it lighter,” she says. “If you don’t have the freezer space, this method is great.”
A basic dehydrator costs around $30 and offers more consistent heat than an oven.
Fermenting: old-fashioned but trendy
Fermented foods like sauerkraut, shown at left, and kimchi are rising in popularity. Redding teaches sauerkraut classes where students pack cabbage and salt into jars to ferment for about 10 days.
Violet Graves scoops out salsa for participants during a canning class at the Adair County Extension Office. Photo: Dylan Gentry
“Fermentation has built an interest because of the probiotic benefits and gut health,” she says. “It’s basically controlled rotting. But you only let it rot to a certain degree. It’s a fine line, but you want to look for signs of spoilage like mold or discoloration.”
The Metcalfes still use the 100-year-old “kraut cutter” from Connie’s grandmother.
Why preservation still matters
Food preservation is a thread woven through Kentucky generations—and with rising grocery costs and an interest in clean, local food, it’s seeing a revival.
“A lot of people are becoming interested in being more self-sustainable by having home gardens,” Redding says “They like to be in control of what they’re eating. When you preserve your own harvest, you know exactly what’s in it and where it came from.”
Preservation also keeps Kentucky-grown goodness alive all winter. “When we get snow days and cabin fever in the winter, I like to open a tomato sauce or soup I’ve canned,” says Gentry, the Adair County Extension agent. “It’s a life saver—a reminder of warmth.”
More food preservation info
County Extension Offices and the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension offer expertise, classes and publications on food preservation. Find your Extension office here: extension.mgcafe.uky.edu/county; local programs fall under the Family and Consumer Sciences umbrella.
UK Cooperative Extension has research-based info and publications at fcs.mgcafe.uky.edu/publications/food-and-nutrition; scroll down to Food Safety and Preservation.
