Sionainn Cailís wrote:My grandparent's knew how to do everything from butcher livestock to farm to fly small planes and repair engines :) They passed all the knowledge they could onto their 4 kids, who prompty tossed all the useless old ways out and never looked back.
My nana would pass on information to us grandchildren whenever oppourtunity presented itself, but such oppourtunities dimished as she aged. I learned from her to make cheese, jam, and to salt and smoke fish.
My inlaws are Yugoslavian, and have also been quite helpful to share the preservation techniques they know, although I am the only one of this generation that's really interested. I find it interesting that they preserve all their cabbages whole.
Besides oral traditions, I have actually enjoyed sniffing out old books. I have a few Victorian references that can offer some insights to 19th century and sometimes older methods of preservation and brewing. There's even a bit to be gleaned from Book of the Farm by Henry Stephens, even though it's mostly focused on large things like grain and hay storage. Beeton's Book of Household Management has some good info on jams and pickles, but also some strange recipes. Considering Mrs. Beeton was such a well to do lady, I expect that none of the recipes are hers, but rather that she collected from her servants. Some other very old versions of Good Housekeeping Illustrated cookbook and a few Foods of the World Series cooking books from Time-Life Books from the 1960s add a bit more insight, as well as recipes and meal customs to use such varied preserves.
Food preservation is also quite different in different parts of the world. I learned how to make preserved lemons in salt from a Moroccan coworker. I lesrned to make richly sticky, opaque pork stock from a lovely ramen chef in Tokyo- if I get to visit Japan again maybe I will learn to they make pickled ginger. Lots of places to learn from, when we look beyond our doorsteps.
Christopher Shepherd wrote:Hi Bonnie, please forgive me of my misspellings. I am an engineer by trade and spelling and writing are my two worst subjects. I am trying to learn to communicate my ideas better by writing here on permies.
The cabbage upside down sheds the water and a layer of leaves or straw keep them cool.
Wrapping the ham is done to keep the salt on them so it doesn’t drip off. We use old fashioned grocery heavy paper bags. We wrap them then use twin to hold it on and hang it. The key to preserving meat is to dehydrate it rapidly so botulism cannot grow.
I hope to get better at writing and make a small book of the way we do things to give out to people like you how thirst for the knowledge.
Devaka Cooray wrote:I think this is the image you wanted to add: