Interesting "teaser" in today's USA Weekend

10 years ago

Very short article about canning in today's USA Weekend magazine that comes in the Sunday paper. Mentioned Spike Gjerde, a chef who owns a "farm-centric..Kitchen" in Baltimore. It said he will can more than 60,000 lbs of tomatoes (obviously not by himself) as well as 70 other types of produce "at his newest venture...a 5,000-square-foot diner-meets-preservation facility."

I wonder if the preservation part is open to the public? If he's giving classes? The article ends with a mention of food safety "The simplest way to can safely is to add vinegar to lower the pH somewhere below 4.5. Then pasteurize the can in a water bath. Kill everything, and make sure it stays dead." Oversimplification, but at least he mentioned it (it's in quotes so I assume it was a quote from the chef).

The reporter says the chef recommends The River Cottage Preserves Handbook for "reputable" recipes. I found it on Amazon, the recipes are British, one recipe on the Amazon website was for apple-lemon curd and as usual in the UK did not call for any processing (contrary to what the USA Weekend article recommended). Some buyers have commented that this book is not for the novice, does not include processing instructions, and uses produce that is not commonly available in the US. Others have said that it is perfect for a beginner (which scares me a little, with the lack of processing instructions and recipes like the curd).

I think it's good that food safety was stressed in the article, but am a bit surprised that the chef (or reporter) didn't recommend a USDA-approved source for recipes, if there was only room for one source in the article, rather than what looks like another chef-inspired "boutique" book - and it wasn't even written by the chef that was interviewed!

This post was edited by ajsmama on Sun, Oct 13, 13 at 11:10

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Comments (9)

malna
10 years ago
Yeah, I saw that online. I thought it sounded like you could add vinegar to ANYTHING and water bath it. Perhaps his quote was taken out of context.

Here is a link that might be useful: USA Weekend Article
digdirt2
10 years ago
What I can never figure is why anyone thinks a "chef" is an expert on canning. The two things have little in common.

Is an engineer that drives diesal locomotives the same thing as a mechanical engineer just because they are both engineers? Is a tree trimmer the same as an arboriculturist?

A chef isn't a food scientist. Talk to him about cooking, not canning.

Dave
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2ajsmama
Original Author
10 years ago
USA Today got it wrong - NY Times last year said 6,000 lbs of tomatoes, not 60,000 lbs - unless they've got 10 times the business this year. 3 people working the cannery - I'd go with the smaller number. One canner is an ex-pastry chef, another "a former academic" (food scientist, I hope) and the third a home canner who walked in looking for a job (well, maybe one of them knows what they're doing).
seysonn
10 years ago
I am sure he does not have to do it by himself. Certailny he has a process/system in place that other people do it accordingly.
Also, don't worry about his safety standards. I am sure he has a commercially certified facility and the government food safety organization have their eyes on him. At the given scale (6000 lbs tomato = 30 tons, plus other items ) it must be a huge operation, nothing like 22 qrt canner.
myfamilysfarm
10 years ago
6.000 = 3 ton., that's only 240 and hubby and I probably did 1/2 of that on a good 'canning' year. We don't even get started unless we have 10 boxes (5 bushel). Hubby says we did close to 50 boxes this year, along with all the fruit.

With organization, and NOT all in 1 day, it can be done.
digdirt2
10 years ago
Agree. 6,000 lbs is only 3 tons and many people home can that much each year so no "huge operation" is required at all.

As for safety standards, when it comes to canning he is under no more supervision than any of us are. Which is none.

Dave
myfamilysfarm
10 years ago
Supervision is only as good as our knowledge, memory and eyesight. That's one reason that hubby and I both double check each other. both of us have canned for years and read this forum along with other sources. You can never be too careful.
2ajsmama
Original Author
10 years ago
3 people canning can handle 3 tons but not 30 tons in a season. I almost agree with Dave, the restaurant does not have any more supervision canning for on-site consumption than they do baking, etc. - general food handling/kitchen cleanliness inspections.

But the NY Times (or one of the articles I found when Googling this) said that they were going to start selling the canned goods, in which case they would be subject to FDA HAACP and acidification rules. I didn't mean to start a debate, just thought it was nice to see canning get a mention in national newspaper, but if Blue Chair Jam can oven can their jams (at least that's what their cookbook recommends) I wonder how closely the recipes and processes in this kind of operation are monitored?
seysonn
10 years ago
Sorry, It was a typo. Should have been 60, 000. lbs, as mentioned.

Interesting "teaser" in today's USA Weekend

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malna

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Interesting "teaser" in today's USA Weekend

Comments (9)

malna

digdirt2

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2ajsmamaOriginal Author

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