14 July-August 2008 Applegater
Crater Chain Saw Co.
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BACK IN TIME
your local Stihl dealer for 40 years ✦
Food preservation
Stihl FS45 trimmer
BY EVELYN BYRNE WILLIAMS WITH JANEEN SATHRE
• lightweight
• reliable
• double line
cutting head
The preserving of food for the
coming winter season was a hard and
time-consuming necessity. Even though
nearly everyone living in the Applegate
in the early 1930s had a farm animal or
two, a vegetable garden, and possibly an
apple tree, many food items came from
the surrounding countryside. I have
written about the hunting of deer and
bear, fishing for trout and the harvesting
of honey, but there were other delectable
foods to be harvested as well.
Sometimes a camping trip to
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Keeping food edible for a few
days could be a challenge. I remember
the family having a cold closet in our
house and also using what we called
a “California Cooler.” The closet
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H u c k l e b e r r y M o u n t a i n
would be arranged where
the collection and preserving
of huckleberries were the
ultimate goals of the trip. (I
do not remember exactly where this
mountain is, but it may be near the
Prospect area of the Rogue Valley.)
My mother used a large copper boiler
with a wooden rack inside to keep glass
jars from resting on the bottom of the
boiler and possibly breaking from the
heat. This boiler, when filled with water
and the berry-filled glass jars, which
were sealed with a screw-on lid and
rubber gasket, was placed over a fire and
brought to a boil.
Commercial pear orchards in
the Rogue Valley also supplied fruit
for canning. Many people, including
my mother and me, would work at the
packing house during the harvest season
and take home rejected pears. One year
my brother and mother were working at
the packing house and sending home a
lot of pears that my dad and I spent long
hours cleaning and preserving. I don’t
remember having any fun doing that!
Another way of saving food for
the coming winter would be to dry it. I
remember corn cut from the cob being
placed on sheets laid on the roof of
the house with sheer curtain material
secured over the top. This allowed the
air to flow through but kept the birds
from eating the corn. Mother made
a very good corn soup from the dried
kernels.
Everything that could be pickled
was. The pickling of vegetables allowed
them to be canned without the worry of
botulism and made for some delicious
eating. Of course, making dill pickles
from cucumbers was common, but beets
also were a favorite. Sugar is a great
preservative, and many jams and jellies
filled the cupboard in autumn. In earlier
times a layer of hot beeswax or paraffin
was poured on top of the cooked fruit
in the jar, thus sealing in the flavor to
be savored on a cold winter morning at
breakfast.
was built into the house
by leaving an opening in
the floor and ceiling, then
building a cabinet or closet
over the openings. This
allowed the cool air from
under the house to circulate
into the space. A screen was
placed over the openings to
keep out pests and shelves were placed
in the cabinet on which to set food.
Pans of milk were kept in there—some
to drink, others to be made into cottage
cheese, or the cream skimmed off the
top to make butter.
The California Cooler was used
outside in the summertime where
the air would move through a screen
of gunnysack material surrounding a
wooden frame. On top of the frame
was a wooden box for water with the
ends of the burlap in it. The water
would wick down the sides of the box
and the air moving through would cool
the interior. A cool shady area in the
yard made this an even more effective
way of keeping our food cool.
Thankfully, today I use my freezer
and refrigerator to keep food fresh or
tastily preserved; however, it could be
said that some of the flavors of the past
are missed.
Evelyn Byrne Williams
with Janeen Sathre
541-899-1443
Photos above from left:
The all-purpose boiler tub had many uses,
such as canning, laundry (note the scrub
board and bluing) etc.
Old canning jar with rubber gasket and
screw-on lid.
Summertime outdoor California cooler.
Correction:
This photo was incorrectly
captioned in our last issue.
The correct caption should read:
“Morris Byrne and turkeys circa
1942.”