EACH weekday morning, Pat Brosnan heads for work at a Westchester County bond insurance company, where she gives financial advice to investment bankers and other money managers. A mother of five with a master's degree in corporate finance, she tries to present herself to clients as a knowledgeable businesswoman moving efficiently through a professional world. Then they notice her fingernails.
"Usually, they're blackish green from July through August," she said.
Goth subculture? No, home food canning.
The telltale signs of an evening spent cooking jams and jellies or sorting through ripe tomatoes, zucchinis, apples and pears is not easily eradicated, although she assures clients, "I do wash my hands."
Juice-stained nails may be in vogue soon.
Driven by increasing food costs, concerns about food safety, green sensibilities and a new appreciation of all things natural, home food preservation is enjoying a small renaissance. Numbers are hard to come by, but Elizabeth L. Andress, project director of the National Center for Home Food Preservation in Athens, Ga., has noticed a definite surge in interest. She estimated that calls to the center had risen 25 percent in recent months.
"It's been a crazy summer," Ms. Andress said.
The surge has been noted by canning veterans like Ms. Brosnan, who in her spare time teaches home food preservation at the Hilltop Hanover Farm, a Westchester County farm and environmental center in Yorktown Heights. She was expecting only a handful of people to appear when the farm advertised a recent class. Instead, 14 were there.
Three were men. One was a chef.
People come to learn this new-old craft, she said. And they want to be careful.
"They say things like, 'I don't know anything about it, and I don't want to poison my family.' "
Instructions on what sorts of things to preserve and how to preserve them safely are detailed on a Web site run by the food preservation center through the United States Department of Agriculture. Occasionally, there are reports of deaths from bacterial spoilage leading to botulism, but those are rare, Ms. Andress said. A good rule of thumb cited by canners is that if the jar seal is broken or the contents look suspicious, toss them out.
"It's really not that hard," Ms. Brosnan said.
Mention canning and most people conjure up images of Granny boiling fruit on the stove or cutting up vegetables to be put into glass jars topped with funny ringed lids. True enough. But, believe it or not, canning had a dramatic birth.
Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/nyregion/nyregion
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