Who Says Home Canning Is For Grannies?

p(left caption). Lauren Devine The Food Channel recently visited with Lauren Devine, fresh preserving community manager for Jarden Home Brands, makers of Ball® jars, home canning mixes and just about everything else needed for the preserving of fresh foods. Devine offered up opinions on the current state of the fresh preserving business in the USA. Hardly the grandmotherly type, Ms. Devine is all of 27 years old. What’s the trend in home canning today? Are more people returning to this age-old method of preserving the summer’s harvest? Yes, and for several reasons. Number one is probably food safety. There’s a lot of fear out there right now after the situations we’ve had in this country with contamination in tomatoes, cilantro and jalapeno peppers. People now are wanting to take produce back into their own hands and control it themselves. They’re saying, “I know it’s safe. I can trust this food, because I did it myself.” Another reason, of course, is simply taste. People love that ...  more