Sam looked horrified. "I'm some stranger who just walked in off the street," I told him quickly. "I heard you grew tomatoes this year and that your mom used to can, so I'm hoping you can teach me." The wheels began to turn.
"What do you need to can?" I asked.
"Jars. The jar pot, tomatoes," said Trinidad.
"What are the dangers of canning?" I asked.
"Broken jars, getting burned," said Sam.
"What about the long term dangers?" I asked.
"Poisoning!" they said in tandem.
"Right. And what could cause that?"
"Bacteria!" said Trin.
"Yup," I said. "That particular bacteria is called 'botulism.'"
"Botulism? No way. I thought that was a religion."
So went the Socratic lesson on canning today, heavy with sixteen quarts of tomatoes that the boys harvested and cut up from our garden. As we stewed over the details, the rich, red sauce simmered down to a precious seven quarts. I helped stir the pots as we discussed what could be a hospitable environment to various bacteria and what inhibits their growth.
Then, we went a different direction with our preservation and lacto-fermented five quarts of cucumbers that Trin and Sam picked in the garden. All of this with only some instruction (and many questions) from me! They peeled the garlic that we'd harvested in July and plunked the white bulbs into jars with proper measurements of dill, mustard seed, salt and whey. They added water and voila! A work of art that feeds the family. A living food that fends off botulism with its own vitality!
A lesson plan you can eat.
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