Beginning at the End

I am in Recovery.

Almost twenty years ago I needed some jars for my fledgling artisan preserves business but looking around there was nothing available. So I got in touch with a company in Ireland, Alpack, who sold me a pallet which was duly delivered to the driveway of our semi-detached and the learning curve began.

Having so many more jars than I ever thought possible - under the stairs, in the garage, spare bedrooms etc etc I put them on eBay and my jar selling career began. It soon eclipsed my small business which had to, literally go on the back burner.

On Friday 31st January 2025 we closed the doors on glass sales after twenty hectic years and it was unbelievably tiring untangling all that we had put in place. I have ‘retired’ to follow my first love of teaching traditional preserve making to complete beginners. There is nothing like the buzz of seeing them achieve the miracle that is the preservation of food at ambient temperature. Actually it is not a miracle as such, but science, but it still has that magic for me that our ancestors must have felt as their harvest, and therefore their family’s safety, was secured.

The last part of my life, however long, returns me to the first part of my life. I will spend all of my time teaching this subject, something I first dreamed of as a little girl. I was, I suppose, unusual. I loved cooking from a very young age, helped with picking the fruit from our cottage garden, preparing it for the annual Summer jam making. I played my part safely by being in charge of the accoutrements - my little workstation ( the kitchen stool ) complete with saucer of water, cellophane covers, waxed discs, rubber bands. These were all to be handed up to Mother in the right order as needed. I wasn’t yet at school. I knew about setting points, warming jars, boiling pans of fruit and the like and as I lay in my little bed in the evening the soundtrack of the Summer as I drifted off to sleep was the pinging of the cellophane as it dried and tightened. Another batch completed.

These posts, will I hope, enable me to bring you a variety of subjects to inform your own knowledge of preserving and will very much be the backbone of The Preserving School which is a long-held dream which will now have my full attention. However, for today, you must adjust to the side of me that not many have seen yet.

I am Food Warrior - and I am looking for an Army.

I hope that by teaching just how easy - and cheap - it is to preserve your own food it will bring about a reversal of the commercial offerings of chemical soup that is now the only ‘food’ presented for mass consumption ( spoiler alert - there is no food content that has not had the addition of chemical construction ). These posts will be uncomfortable reading at times but will always have a solution that, with slight adjustments in lifestyle over time, are easy to achieve.

I will invite you to include those nearest and dearest to you which will make it much easier to introduce different routines, friends and work colleagues can also be brought on board. Let’s examine every aspect of family nutrition and health which will include non-food items such as cosmetics and household products. What are your pets eating? Just an example of one of those areas.

Truly it is time to wake up, to ask questions, to demand answers.

The theme for The Preserving School is Back to the Future. Tradition is good, it is tried and tested, it is safe. Innovation has its place, cutting corners does not. As well as the familiar ‘jam pan’ recipes I will also be treating Pressure Canning as a mainstream subject bringing you reliable information and support.

There will be homework set
Reading lists
Recipes
Videos
Ideas and challenges
Courses and workshops
Discussions
Collaborations

Homework

The homework for this week is to read ‘Swallow This’ by author Joanna Blythman
ISBN: 978-0-00-754835-4 - a tough read but a necessary one

Resources

https://lovejars.co.uk