What was I thinking...

15 years ago

All right. We all I can start off with these stories...

LONG time back... my dad took us kids sucker fishing in the spring. We had a blast wading in the creek and tossing the fish to shore and... we got (as far as I can remember, being a kid) a LOT of fish! Well, while us kids were dreaming of fried fish fillet dinners, my dad got the brillant idea that he could can those suckers like salmon. And... the recipe he found had some sort of tomatoey sauce if I remember correctly.

Two things:

1. Suckers are NOT salmon.

2. Fish + tomatoes + kids = hunger strike

Those jars sat on the shelf a long while.

Now my mom...

Mom likes rhubarb, and truely, I do too.. in its place. Growing up we had a nice big patch of rhubarb. And one year, wouldn't you know that gelatin/rhubarb jam recipe starts making the rounds. Mom was thrilled! I think, eventually, we had at least one batch of jam for every type of gelatin flavor available (and probally more!)

Well, let's see, mom was in a hurry of course so the rhubarb didn't get chopped too fine, so it was a bit stringy. And of course kids don't always appreciate mom's hard work. So, while we did eat (and enjoy) eventually the sheer amount of jam and the decision that those strings were actually "worms"... well, another shelf sitter!

And since confession is good for the soul, I better 'fess up too...

I had a beautiful parsley crop one year and happened across a recipe for parsley jelly. "Oh!" I thought, "Here's another way to make good use of my beautiful parsley." It actually didn't taste too bad, more lime than anything really. But another one of those good in theory, name needs work, items. Another shelf sitter.

Thankfully, those don't happen too often, but when they do they can be the stuff of legends. Anyone else have a "shelf sitter" story?

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Comments (5)

eric_in_sd_z4
15 years ago
I remember those days sucker spearing as well. We didn't can ours though, we smoked them. The guy we took them to would charge us half the fish. We always had several 5 gallon pail-fulls and didn't mind.

I made some corn relish late last fall. Absolutely hated how watery/vinegary it turned out. I put all the pints on the shelf instead of throwing them away. I just opened up a jar this week and WOW...all the liquid had turned into a "syrup" and it has now taken on a great flavor. I made hamburgers the other night and went thru half a pint just myself. Corn relish was falling off my burger all over the place and I scarfed it up as soon as it dropped. This stuff is corn gold now! Glad I never pitched it.
ruthieg__tx
15 years ago
I think in our area the suckers were canned very much like Salmon or tuna but not with tomato.

My issue is this......I was having a good time making jelly, jam and marmalade and read about making jelly out of things like carrot, kool aid, beets......so I have quite a few jars sitting around. It isn't so much that they don't taste good, it's just that we know what they are and have to choose between carrot or orange marmalade or strawberry and the regular ones always win.......
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berrybusy
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, I can't be positive anymore they actually had tomato in them, but I do remember it wasn't just plain canned fish. There was something odd about the recipe.
david52 Zone 6
15 years ago
During the Depression, canned sucker was a staple around here.

re corn relish - for years we've been using the kernels from summer sweet corn, and the results seem to get worse from year to year as the corn hybridizers do their stuff - too sweet, falls apart when canning.

Then we tried using the supermarket frozen corn kernels - much better flavor and resulting relish.

The best solution would be to plant a variety of flavorful field corn and harvest it during that short period when the kernels are that perfect combo of softness and sweetness. Dream on.....
denninmi
15 years ago
When my father was alive and active, back in the 1980's and 1990's, he did a lot of salmon fishing on the Great Lakes. When we canned salmon at home, we always put one to two tablespoons of ketchup (preferably Heinz) into a pint jar of salmon -- it mixed into the broth and generally just seemed to help the flavor. Home canned salmon is the best -- I really miss having this stuff, but my life has neither the time nor the ability to go fishing.