Thinking about food and how we have nearly everything available at our fingertips these days, it makes the concept of canning and preserving food seem obsolete. In the days when there were not international trade agreements or interstate trucking available to most people, the canning and preserving of food was an important method of sustaining the population over a long winter. Corn harvested in the warm months could be canned for enjoyment at Christmas and Easter. In the very early days of food importation, red and green peppers were preserved in the same method as mangoes, leading them to be called mango peppers. In this same vein, pickling was an important preservation method. Pickling of fish and various vegetables allowed them to be shared and enjoyed for months after they were freshly caught or picked. Today, pickled and canned goods are still available, but the home canning or pickling of produce has dropped off significantly. There are still many people who enjoy it, but it is not a necessity as it used to be. Maybe that’s both a good and a bad thing. On the one hand, we aren’t as desperate as we used to be, but on the other hand, we are forgetting long held skills as a society. A conundrum to consider, indeed.

Pickled Onions

Place onions in boiling hot water, then peel. Make vinegar water to taste. Cut red & green peppers in small squares.