Canning/Pastry Table

 

Here’s something my Grandma had and nearly every home used to. A Canning or Pastry Table was very useful as it was lower than the typical counter top, it had a little drawer in the middle for utensils and a metal porcelain enamel top to handle hot things and be a cool surface for dough.  It was good for rolling out dough for pies and my grandmother kneaded her bread on it and rolled out pastas that she would hang and dry.  They are also the right height to work on if you are canning because you can place hot jars and pots on it. They also hold very nicely many appliances of the day…here I have my grandmothers cheese grinder towards the wall with the wooden top with which you push the cheese through and a meat grinder. I also have an industrial can opener somewhere…still looking for it since the move! Probably still in a box in storage somewhere. One of the downfalls in moving from a 3,000 sq. ft. house to a 2,000 sq. ft. house…we’ll change that eventually!

There is room underneath for a chair, or to keep many things that you may need in your kitchen. Because I typically make meals in bulk, grow or raise our own food, cold pack, can or dry storage the food, I really enjoy using the old way of doing things. People talk and talk about energy conservation, going green and then use every electric appliance mankind can dream up, spend lots of money on all those new appliances and on top of that, spend money to go to the gym to work out...if you want to energy conserve and get a work out...this is the way to do it! We used to use "hand power" rather than electric power. Women were well fit, the environment was much cleaner and the food tasted much better! Women were valued in the home! And although since moving to Texas, I understand we have our own power grid...we still have outages, so it's always nice to be able to do the work without being interrupted!

Here is a closer view of those grinders to the right and yes, those are eggs from my chickens!  

New Finds! I was at an estate sale and got the "pick" of butter churns! They had about 5 of them, different sizes and many that were cracked and only for ornamental use. I found this one, it's a 3lb. churn and is in perfect condition except for the lack of the churn handle but my husband knows how to make one, so that will be a future project for y'all to learn about! I'm really excited to get this as I've never been able to afford one, they are very pricy...I happened to go to the sale again on 50% off day and lo and behold, there were still a few of these there! It was originally $40 which isn't a bad price, but I got it for $20...well within my budget! I hope to someday get a milk cow but we'll see, the family still would rather have beef, but at least I've got the churn and can always go buy cream from a dairy until I get a cow!

Also, found these canning jars, it's a 100 yr. celebration that brought them back in a "Heritage Collection" and can be found at any store with canning supplies. I had my Mom over and she said she believed the green jars came before the blue ones...this is from her memory growing up on a farm in Upstate New York where her Mom canned all the time. Although, they have a blue that has come out, it really doesn't look as close to the originals which were kind of an aqua color, which seems to have more green than blue in it. The blue they have brought back is just not as close to the originals. For those who want to know, jar canning was invented by Mason in 1858 and he died a poor man, having let his patent expire! It's all debatable as to which is best, the color helps retain the color and flavor of the food, while the clear helps you see what you have and if it's retained its color! I guess it's a toss up on this one!

As you can see, I LOVE my jars! Especially the huge glass ones. I've found that boxed items just don't keep their flavor and living in the country...we are always susceptible to bugs and mice! Because I've typically lived out on land (especially in Colorado where one may have to endure blizzards and road closures so you can't even get into town to stores very often) plus, the distance of the travel alone 30-60 min., I keep a HUGE stock of dry goods. Here at our new place in Texas, I'm the closest to town that I've been in years! But still think this is an advantage as if there were ever a shortage for any reason...I'm stocked up without paying those high priced Survivalist items!

Here you see another part of my "work station"...we make & sell these if you want one! I buy the "restaurant size" foil and saran wrap from Sam's Club...another way in which I keep from going to the store every other minute and keep costs down!

Another part of my work station holds the flour sifter I grew up with, it was my Mom's. Just above it is my Grandma's Hand Crank pasta maker! It has many different "rollers" that will cut different styles of pasta! Above that is a scale and yes, it does still work! So, if you are interested in antiques and how to actually USE them...keep checking my blog or better yet...follow it so you'll get regular updates!

Also, I'm more interested in dry storage for many reasons...one of them being that on a ranch, there are lots of hungry men to feed and canning jars (even the large ones) get used too quickly for the amount of work that is put into canning.

Typically, I'll can specialty items like my hubby's Mama's (from her Mama's recipe) for Watermelon Preserves. I'll give a class in it at some point and also dry storage when I get the chance. This a pic from a few years ago, in Colorado. My Mom lived on a farm but her Mom was the only one who canned because she was worried about safety of canning. Kelly's Mama had always told me that if I'm worried about it, I'll never can...so just do it and do it right, watch for problems but if you're scared of it, you'll never do it! She taught me to can years ago, when Kelly & I first married. His Daddy had a tractor and used to plant acreage so always had things to can. His Daddy especially liked beets (we are not fond of them but we canned them for him!)

Here is a picture of Kelly's Mama from years ago. She is originally from Texas!