by Mary Griggs
"You can scoop some water out of one of the pots, if you want. It's clean and boiling."
"What about the teapot?"
"There isn't space on the stove for it right now."
"I get the feeling that there would be space if I was someone else."
"Since you're not, I guess we'll never know the accuracy of that." Jay cracked her knuckles. "Hurry up. We've got a ton of washing to do."
"Give me minute."
"The clock is running." Jay went pack into the kitchen and began sorting the vegetables out onto the counter. She was humming 'You Are My Sunshine' to herself as she waited for Doris to join her.
Finishing off the final biscuit, Doris returned to the kitchen. She put the basket with the others over the stove and shook the towel out in the sink. "Now what?"
Glaring at her, Jay silently pulled up the plug and let the water in the sink run back out again. She rinsed the sink before restoppering it and running the water again. "To start with, we've got to think clean. None of us can afford a case of food poisoning."
Doris shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't know that the water was special. I mean, really."
Ignoring the other woman's attitude, Jay continued. "We've got to wash the vegetables. Dirt's got lots of germs and you are going to make sure everything is clean as possible. That means that after the veggies are washed, you'll have to wash the canning jars, the lids and bands. Then we'll boil all the jars and bands. Only then we can start filling and sealing."
She stepped away from the sink. "Once you've washed all the veggies, take this paring knife and remove any black spots or damage. All the bad parts can be put in the compost bowl."
"Shouldn't we throw out the bad ones?"
"No, just make sure the bad area is excised. We don't have enough food to just toss things that are less than perfect."
"Whatever you say," Doris agreed.
"Exactly. Whatever I say." Jay brought a couple of boxes of jars into the kitchen. Turning to the pots of boiling water, she began to sterilize the jars. Taking a pair of tongs, she turned each jar sideways to fill before letting it settle to the bottom. After filling all four pots, she laid out a towel on the counter to give her a space to let them dry.
Susan came in with a basket of basil. "Morning, Doris. Here, Jay. I cut almost all of it."
"Great." Taking the basket, Jay dumped the contents into a colander and tried to hand it to Doris.
"What do you want me to do with that?"
"Just rinse it."
"I'm not done with washing the tomatoes."
"You can interrupt the process to run that under the faucet."
With bad grace, she takes the colander. "What do we need so much for?"
"It'll be packed with the tomatoes," replied Jay. "By doing it in layers, the taste will be terrific when the jars are opened."
"So, what's the plan?"
"Well, we need to pressure cook the green beans and get the skin off the tomatoes. I'll make a chili sauce with half the tomatoes and we'll can the rest."
"What about the peppers?"
"There'll only be enough to add to the sauce and for dinner tonight." Jay wiped her hands. "Could you take the ends off the beans?" she asked Susan.
"No problem."
"Once you've done so, you can pack the beans into the clean jars. And I mean pack. They need to be in there pretty tightly, as they're going to shrink." Filling a large bowl with cold well water and a tray of ice cubes, Jay began to drop tomatoes into the boiling water. After a quick scald, she sieved them out and shocked them in the cold-water bath.
Doris finished washing and paring the vegetables. Standing behind Jay, she tapped tentatively on the still warm glasses. "These look dry."
Jay glanced over. "Good. Now, run your fingers across the top to make sure there aren't any chips."
"I could get cut."
"Not likely. If you don't do it, you're more going to get sick from food poisoning."
"From a chip?"
"From the air that gets in through the space. That's why you have to pack them tightly. You can't give air and the bugs who live in it any room."
"These are all fine."
"Great. Pass them on to Susan and you can start peeling the tomatoes. Put twenty four in that bowl there and then hand me the rest for stuffing into jars."
"I'd rather do that."
Surprised at the willingness, Jay agreed. "Sure. When you're ready, put a layer of basil then a couple layers of tomatoes. Add more basil and fill to the top. Use that long handled wooden spoon to make sure that everything is filling all the space. When the jar is full, put in a final leaf or two of basil."
"Do I put the lids on too?"
"After you're confident they're fully packed, wipe the top really good. Put on the lids and tighten the bands. Don't force them too tight. The air has to escape somehow."
Jay turned back to the stove and put the pressure cooker on the open eye. Adding a little bit of water, she waited until it began to boil before she started taking the green bean jars and loading them in.
"I remember my Grandmother boiling the jars to seal them." Susan chewed thoughtfully on a basil leaf. "I don't think I've ever seen a pressure cooker in action."
"We'll boil the tomatoes and chili."
"Why not for everything?"
"Safety reasons. Open kettle cooking doesn't get hot enough for the beans."
"What do you mean?"
"Water boils around 200 degrees. Steam gets much hotter."
"Why does one need to be more?"
"Because we're preserving both low acid and high acid foods." She glanced at Doris and saw the question in her eyes. "Look, I'm going to do everything possible to make this process as safe as possible but germs are persistent. High acid foods like tomatoes already make it hard for any germs that make it through the heat to get a foothold. In low acid foods like the beans, the environment is ripe for germs to have a field day. We have to make sure they're pretty well wiped out from the beginning."
"Why don't you just do everything the hottest way?"
"Because heat kills flavor." Jay wiped her face on a hand towel. "Did you ever walk away from a pot of green beans on the stove and come back to most of the water gone and the damn things limp as a noodle?" she asked. "That's essentially what we're doing here."
"But why do we have to do it that way? Can't we freeze them or something?"
"The freezer space is pretty finite. What room we've got needs to be saved for whatever game we can get."
"Can't you can meat?"
"Not easily."
"Why not?"
"There are too many steps and too little margin for error. You've got to make sure that you've removed as much fat as possible. Then, there is a lot more bacteria in meat. To bring it to the temperature where it's safe, there'll be no flavor at all."
"So, what do you do with meat?"
"Smoke, salt or freeze it. And we don't have enough salt to spare."
"I'm ready for a new task."
Jay handed Susan a knife that she first dipped into the boiling water. "Chop four onions and three green peppers."
"What for?" Doris asked.
"Look, I'm getting pretty tired of having to explain myself to you." She poked Doris in the chest. "I wasn't even talking to you."
"I was just asking a question."
"Why can't you just do what I ask?"
"Why can't you answer the questions?"
"I think I've been pretty patient. I'm not used to explaining everything I'm doing." Jay fumed.
Susan stepped closer. "Jay, give her a break. You know that you wouldn't want to do something without finding out why first."
"I know, I know. I guess I've been on my own for too long."
"Your manners certainly show that," responded Doris nastily.
Jay threw her hands up. "I was trying to apologize."
"Doris sometimes doesn't know when to give it a rest."
"Hey," Doris exclaimed. "She insulted
me."
Susan shrugged. "It's true and you know it. Now, how about we all take a deep breath and finish this task so we can go outside where it's cool."
"Fine with me."
"Agreed." Turning to the pressure cooker, Jay watched the steam coming out of the vent on the top. When it was a steady stream, she placed the rocker on top and pushed the cooker slightly to the side of the eye. She fussed with the pot until the rocking of the gauge slowed to just a couple of movements a minute.
"What are you doing now?"
"I wanted to make sure that the cooker was filled with steam. That gauge keeps the pressure steady at ten pounds."
"Don't those things explode?"
"That's why the gauge is on. It will keep the contents steady at a certain poundage of pressure. If things get too hot, the steam will blow the gauge off and release the steam to lower the pressure."
"So it's safe?" Doris was still standing well away from the stove.
"As safe as houses."
"What should I do now?"
Jay looked over and saw that Susan had diced almost all the ripe tomatoes and peppers.
"You can chop the green tomatoes."
"And then?"
"Toss them all in a pot with vinegar and some spices. After it boils for an hour and a half and pour it into the jars. Once canned, we've got the perfect chili sauce." While she was talking, she was taking the bottles of tomatoes that Doris had packed and was putting them in the pot of boiling water. Draping a towel among and over the jars, she silenced the noise of them knocking into one another as the water boiled around them.
Susan called, "Everything is chopped."
"Okay." She began checking off on her fingers. "We need cloves, allspice, ginger and cinnamon from the pantry."
"How much?" asked Susan, as she juggled the containers.
"A teaspoon each should do it." Jay tapped the gallon jug of vinegar with her foot. "You need to pour in a quart of that."
"Is this pot good to use?" Susan touched a pot on the rack that hung over the stove.
"Yeah. That Dutch oven is too small for quart jars to fit, so it's perfect for cooking the sauce." Checking her watch, she grabbed two hot pads and picked up the pressure cooker. She set it on a rack on the counter and turned away from the stove.
"Now what?"
"We wait for it to cool on its own. When you can take the gauge off and no steam escapes, then the lid can come off and the jars can be taken out." Jay went over to the door and picked up a couple pieces of firewood. She slid them into the firebox and stepped back to the door. "Man, this place is a sauna."
"How many times a season you do this?"
"Three or four for the veggies." Jay wiped her face. "Since Harmony went south, I haven't planted as much. We can do a lot more with more bodies."
"You do anything else?"
"Pickles sometimes, if the cucumbers go wild. And jam making if I get a wild hare."
"Do you sun dry anything?"
"Only during the middle of the summer. It takes too long otherwise." Jay rotated her shoulders, trying to work out some of the strain. "I get bored picking out the bugs from the tomatoes when they make it past the screens." She smiled at Doris' look of disgust. "I do dehydrate mushrooms and herbs over the stove."
"Mushrooms?"
"Sure. I've got some growing in the green house but there are a lot of wild mushrooms that I pick when I'm out wandering."
"Is that safe? I mean, I've heard such bad things about mushrooms."
"Oh, Doris. Where is your sense of adventure? I pick only what I know is safe."
"How do we know that you know what you're doing?"
"I've got field guides to mushrooms, if you'd like to confirm it yourself." Jay smiled. "Of course, some of the descriptions are ambiguous. I guess that you'll have to stay on my good side to avoid getting poisoned."
"I don't find that very funny."
"You wouldn't." Jay looked out at the horizon. When Susan cleared her throat, she turned back to Doris. "For all my talk, I'm not really likely to take too many risks, either with myself or with the lives of others."
"Where do you go when you wander?" asked Susan, trying to get the conversation back onto safer ground. "Is there much to see and do?"
"Mainly around the mountain. I like to know what's going on around the place. I go up to see the neighbors and see what trees are ready to come down."
"Are we going to meet these people?"
"Eventually."
"Why? Are you ashamed of us?"
"Not at all. But with the fishing trip planned for the day after tomorrow, the introductions will have to take place after that." Jay pushed off from the door and came back to the stove. Taking a pair of tongs, she began lifting jars of tomatoes from the pot to the towel. Lightly touching each lid, she felt to see if a seal had been made. Nodding to herself in satisfaction, she was startled when Doris spoke.
"What's for lunch?"
"Well, I figure dinner will be venison and mushroom stuffed peppers, so lunch should be lighter. Maybe rice and beans?"
"All right."
"You going to help with lunch?"
Sighing, Doris asked, "What do you need me to do?"
Jay handed her a mixing bowl. "Downstairs there are several five gallon buckets. The content labels are on the lids. Bring up about five cups of black beans." She stirred the pot of chili for a moment before getting another pot and filling it halfway with water. Placing it on the back eye of the stove, she glanced up to see Susan staring at her.
"What?"
"Nothing." At the look of disbelief, she shrugged. "Okay, I was just wondering just how hard this is on you."
"What do you mean?"
She waved her hand. "It must be hard with all of us just descending upon you. It's just been you for a long while."
"I'll deal the way I've always dealt."
Grinning, Susan shook a finger at her. "Running away is not an option."
"I know. If things get too close, I'll just go off for a bit by myself into the woods. Or, I shall hide up in my bedroom with the covers over my head until the urge to murder you all in your sleep passes."
"Can you let me know when you're getting close to the edge?"
"I can try." Jay dumped the big pot of water out in the sink over the dirty knives and bowls. She filled a smaller pot and put it on the stove in readiness for Doris' return with the beans. "Don't mistake me, Susan. I don't regret y'all being here at all."
"I know. I won't take it personally." With a saucy wink, she headed out of the kitchen. "Let me go check on the kids."
"Excellent. Bring everyone in for food in about two hours and a half." Jay took the beans from Doris and put them on the back of the stove to stay at low heat while they rehydrated.
"What about the rice?"
"I've got a canister here."
Doris poked around the kitchen. "What are you going to put on them?"
"We've got a jar of chili sauce that didn't seal. I figure that everyone can add the amount that they want."
"So, we're finished?"
Jay answered, "For now. I'll need help with dinner but you're free until then."
"Finally," Doris said as she flounced from the room.
Shaking her head, Jay finished making lunch. She was able to sit down with a book while she waited for everything to finish. She called everyone in by ringing a bell that was hanging on the porch.
Once everyone had come together at the table she said, "I think that we can work tomorrow morning on getting everything ready for the fishing trip. If we head down around lunch, we should be able to catch something for dinner."
Martha asked, "It's not that far?"
"No, we're just going to the other side of the mountain. I'll spend the night with you and head back the next morning."
"You don't want to stay out longer?" asked Susan.
"No. I agree with Piper that fishing is boring. I'll leave it to you."
"I'm surrounded by Philisti
nes," complained Martha. "If you'd only give it a chance."
Laying a restraining hand on Martha's wrist, Susan hinted, "Honey, I thought we were going to enjoy our time together with the kids."