25 LOST Appalachian Food Preserving Secrets They Don't Want You to Know

Mama fed a family from one frost to the next on salt and smoke, sugar and sour, and the cold ground, and she did it before anybody in the hollers had a word for germ. Here's 25 of them, counted down the way Mama had them — sweet potatoes that keep six months with no icebox and no jar, a pinch of something the old women rubbed into their hams by guess, the Georgia high school kids who went door to door in 1966 trying to save these ways, and #1, the one you learn by ear. Where a claim rests on real food science, it's named on screen. Where it's just how Mama did it, I say so. Now pick just ONE of these this week, by feel, not by measuring cup. Tell me down in the comments which one you picked, what your people called it, and which county they put it up in. I read every one. Now it's written down. ⚠️ This video is historical and educational, not medical or food safety advice. Several methods shown here, including open-kettle canning, paraffin seals, oven canning and mashed pumpkin butter, are NOT considered safe today, and home-canned low-acid food can carry botulism. Use a tested recipe, and call your county extension office before you put anything up. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro — the candymaker in Paris 1:33 #25 Cure your sweet potatoes 2:30 #24 Dig winter potatoes late 3:12 #23 Green tomatoes in newspaper 3:51 #22 Shelly beans and weevils 4:40 #21 Corn dried on the tin roof 5:32 #20 The right crock and weight 6:19 #19 Plain salt, never flaky 7:09 #18 Blossom ends and grape leaves 8:16 #17 The aspirin in the jar 8:58 #16 Vinegar you can put a number on 9:42 #15 Pickling lime and alum 10:26 #14 A cap of paraffin 11:15 #13 Zinc caps and bail jars 12:08 #12 Open-kettle canning 13:25 #11 The line at four point six 14:48 #10 Altitude and your jar 15:33 #9 Testing the dial gauge 16:19 #8 Label every jar (Foxfire) 17:17 #7 Pepper and paper on the ham 18:13 #6 Trusting the ping 19:20 #5 Vent the canner ten minutes 19:58 #4 Pumpkin butter 20:59 #3 The pinch of saltpeter 22:12 #2 Read the jar, boil before tasting 23:06 #1 Reading the canner by ear #Appalachia #GrandmaNeverWroteDown #AppalachianCooking #AppalachianFood #FoodPreserving #HomeCanning #OldFashionedCanning #PressureCanning #RootCellar #CrockPickles #CountryHam #Foxfire #DepressionEraMeals