As the author of three books on preserving food, Ellie Topp says canning is still alive.
It’s the focus that has changed.
“The emphasis is not on preserving your garden. People don’t have large families or much storage space.”
Her last book was about small batch preserving of specialty items such as pickles, salsa and tropical fruits in smaller jars. This spring it sold 100,000 copies in Canada and the United States.
“People want it for the pleasure of making it yourself or to give as gifts.”
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It’s a different style of canning than what is done in Western Canada, Topp said, where women preserve in the Gem quart size using grandma’s jars.
Topp said most urban people are now learning canning from books like hers or from the basic cookbook put out by Bernardin Ltd., which makes the jars and lids. Topp thinks preserving is still popular, based on the ease of obtaining the glassware each summer and fall in stores like Canadian Tire and Superstore.
Her favourite preserve is salsa because it is expensive to buy but can be easily made each fall from ripe peppers, tomatoes and onions. She has heard she is not alone.
According to Topp, salsa sales in U.S. stores outnumber ketchup in dollars: $462.3 million to $298.9 million in 2007.
