Preserving Fall’s Bounty In Jars: Canning With Crosshatch
On a sunny afternoon on the piazza at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons farmers market, a small but focused crowd gathered. They weren’t there to shop, nor to admire the grounds; they could be seen busily cutting vegetables, pouring liquid into jars, and carefully submerging the fruits of their labors into steaming hot water – all at a mobile kitchen that’s revolutionizing how locals are learning to preserve healthy food.
The Crosshatch Center for Art and Ecology is a nonprofit that helps build community through farming, art, ecology, and economy. Jenn Schaap is the food and farming programs coordinator for the organization, which is headquartered in Bellaire and supports all of northwest lower Michigan. "We have many programs that assist in promoting healthy foods," Schaap said. "We have a mobile chicken coop and 12 guilds that focus on things like beekeeping, grains, herbs, and goats. Our goal for the guilds is to bring people together around these topics so that they can learn from each other."
The Preservation Station is one of the center’s newest outreach programs, and it was the focus of the folks gathered at the piazza. Carefully housed inside a cargo trailer, the Preservation Station – nicknamed "Blanch" as an inside joke for experienced canners – is essentially a mobile canning and fermentation kitchen on wheels, ready to go to wherever the produce and the people need it. "It has counter space, propane tanks, burners, knives – all the equipment you need to do hot-water canning and fermentation," Schapp said.
Hot-water-bath canning is a relatively easy way to make seasonal fruits and vegetables shelf-stable, so they can be safely kept and eaten throughout the ensuing months. "Think things like pickles, tomatoes, salsas, peaches, and jams," Schaap said. "We research the recipes to ensure the right acidity, the ingredients are put into jars, the jars go into a hot-water bath based on those recipes and are then boiled." Dilly beans (pickled green beans with dill) take the shortest time – about five minutes. The longest foods take about 45 minutes. "Once they’re done, they’re shelf-stable for up to a year, as long as the seal stays," Schaap said. "This is such a great way to extend our local seasonal foods!" Fermentation is the second process taught at the Preservation Station. Sauerkraut and kimchi are the two most popular fermented recipes, hailing from Germany and Korea, respectively. The process to make these is a little different. "For sauerkraut, you salt the cabbage, and the salt creates an environment for healthy bacteria to live," Schaap explained. "You cover it, and it sits and foams on your countertop. You "burp" the jar occasionally to keep the cabbage under the liquid. This sounds scary at first, but it’s easy! As it ferments, you taste until it gets to the level of sour that you want, then you cap it and put it into a cold place. The cold slows the fermentation, and makes it ready to eat."
Whether it’s green beans, sauerkraut, or other produce, the station already has taught a wide range of people these processes and many others. The Preservation Station is also partnering with Munson’s fruit and vegetable prescription project, to teach patients with chronic diseases all about foods that can help with their healing processes.
"Those people take classes every Monday with us to learn how to cook," Schaap said. "Preservation Station is great for everyone, but it’s especially good for them." Munson got a grant for the program, which enables it to pay Crosshatch to bring the Preservation Station to Munson patients, but because Crosshatch organizers believe that preserving food is something everyone should be able to do, they’re making the Preservation Station available for rent to anyone in the community.
"We are currently working out the different types of uses for the station, from renting the trailer on its own to adding instructors," Schaap said. "The costs will be different based on the situation, class, or event. People can rent it to have canning parties on their own property, whether it’s a farm or home."
Along with the use of the Preservation Station itself, Crosshatch also sets up guests with recipes, and can arrange mini-classes for small groups. "The cost ranges from $10 to $35 per person," Schaap said. "We recommend 10 to 12 people for optimum efficiency and fun!" The Preservation Station trailer just got a facelift, too, with brand new custom art painted on the exterior by Thais Beltrame, an alumni of the Hill House (Crosshatch Artist Residency Program) who hails from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Blanch might get outfitted with some other new features soon, said Schaap: "We’d like to test out cheesemaking with the station, and we might do that as early as later this year. We also are considering curing or smoking meat. I’ll be researching these things over the winter to see what we can implement next. Taking just a few hours to prepare foods ahead like this every fall makes winter dining so much better!"
For more information on the Crosshatch Center for Art and Ecology’s Preservation Station, visit crosshatch.org or call 231-622-5252.
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