Canning

Dear Polly: There's a new device being advertised for processing canning jars in the microwave. Is it safe? Does it work? - Mary Dear Mary: I have seen the ads for the microwave canning dome that is supposed to allow you to process a jar of food in the microwave. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any proof that this device is really safe and effective; to the contrary, according to some reports, this device is not effective in destroying all bacteria that could contaminate a jar of home- canned food.

"I don't believe in using a freezer, except for ice cream," said Jack McDavid, owner of the Down Home Diner in the Reading Terminal Market, 12th and Arch streets. "I think freezing deteriorates food. But canning and preserving, that's what our parents did before refrigerators. That's our heritage. " Methods of preserving the harvest by canning, pickling and smoking will be demonstrated today and tomorrow by Reading Terminal Market merchants and canning experts. They'll answer question and, of course, sell their preserved specialties.

Now, to begin with, you probably wouldn't ever be driving through Wilton, because it's just a little dot on the map, about 35 miles northwest of the state capital on the way to not much in particular, and although a lot of New England towns are like that, Wilton doesn't even have the quaint center common or striking church steeple to make out-of-state tourists want to take a side trip off the highway. But let's say you had gotten lost and were wandering down this one particular road just a few blocks off Wilton's main drag.

Friday, April 6-Friday, April 13 Passover dinner with a Mexican twist, featuring a non-kosher menu that meets most Passover requirements and includes a salmon tostada, red chile and matzo ball soup with avocado and chicken, a chile-barbecue-braised-brisket taco with chipotle coleslaw, and a pistachio pavlova with mixed berries and lime sorbet. $30 plus tax and gratuity. Served during dinner hours at Cantina Feliz, 424 S. Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington, 215-646-1320, www.cantinafeliz.com and La Calaca Feliz, 2321 Fairmount Ave., 215-787-9930.

CANNING ISN'T just for grandma anymore. Long associated with life on the farm, preserving, or "putting up" tomatoes, peach jam and dill pickles, was as foreign to city folk as mowing the back 40 and milking the cows. Unless your family had some kind of connection to the land, the notion of canning just never came up. Times have changed. Thanks to a foodie zeitgeist stoked by creative chefs, urban farmers and a crackerjack blogging community, canning is all the rage. From her apartment on the 20th floor of a Center City high-rise, Marisa McClellan is one of the bloggers leading the charge.

Campbell Soup Co. announced yesterday it was canning its 59-year-old Chicago food plant, leaving 460 looking for new jobs. The Camden-based firm said the six-story factory would reopen next year as a distribution warehouse for its Midwest region. "It's become obsolete," said Campbell spokesman Scott Rombach. "We can't change it fast enough, the way the food business is changing. " The canning factory was Campbell's second-oldest, opened after its first in Camden, which dates back to 1869.

Dear Polly: I have eaten eggs pickled in vinegar at various taverns, and they were all delicious. Two attempts to make them were both failures: the eggs were very tough and rubbery. Please give me a recipe. - Leonard Dear Leonard: First of all, you must make sure your hard-cooked eggs are tender. My favorite method is to cover cold eggs with cold water, then bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat, and let the eggs stand about 25 minutes. Then rinse them in cold water and peel.

A baking instructor at the A. Phillip Randolph Skills Center allegedly pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars operating a commercial bakery out of the school while using free student labor and ingredients and equipment paid for by the School District. Those are among the findings of a district report into the activities of Joseph A. Canning, the baking teacher, who was fired in July after being accused of sexual misconduct with a female student. Information about his alleged for-profit bakery, which customers said produced bread unlike anything "you could buy in a store," became known at School District headquarters only after his dismissal.

The Atlanta Braves won a battle of World Series teams to swing a trade for lefthander Denny Neagle, sending three prospects to the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday for the 14-game winner. Anxious to replace the injured Steve Avery in their rotation, the defending champion Braves outbid the Cleveland Indians by giving up minor league slugger Ron Wright, outfielder Corey Pointer and a player to be named later. That player might be righthander Jason Schmidt (3-4, 6.75 ERA), who began the season as the Braves' No. 5 starter but is on the disabled list.

Visitors to Linvilla Orchards this weekend can smell the peaches as they ride to the crop on a hay wagon pulled by a tractor. Rows of more than 2,000 trees are heavy with sweet, ripe peaches that are ready to be picked, eaten, and used as prime ingredients for pies, preserves and ice cream. Linvilla grows 40 varieties of peaches picked in two-week intervals for freshness and welcomes the public to Pick Your Own Days, said Norm Schultz, farm manager. "We have some people who have been coming for 10 years, each time bringing back their picking box taped up and ready for another year," Schultz said.

Friday, April 6-Friday, April 13 Passover dinner with a Mexican twist, featuring a non-kosher menu that meets most Passover requirements and includes a salmon tostada, red chile and matzo ball soup with avocado and chicken, a chile-barbecue-braised-brisket taco with chipotle coleslaw, and a pistachio pavlova with mixed berries and lime sorbet. $30 plus tax and gratuity. Served during dinner hours at Cantina Feliz, 424 S. Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington, 215-646-1320, www.cantinafeliz.com and La Calaca Feliz, 2321 Fairmount Ave., 215-787-9930.

4 cups apricot puree (pit apricots and puree in blender or food processor until fairly smooth) 4 cups blackberry pulp 4 1/2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 lemon, zested and juiced 2 packets liquid pectin (one box) In a large, nonreactive pot (stainless steel or enameled cast iron), combine the apricot puree, blackberry pulp and sugar and bring to a simmer. Let the mixture reach a boil, stirring frequently to prevent it from boiling over. Add cinnamon and lemon zest/juice and stir to combine.

CANNING ISN'T just for grandma anymore. Long associated with life on the farm, preserving, or "putting up" tomatoes, peach jam and dill pickles, was as foreign to city folk as mowing the back 40 and milking the cows. Unless your family had some kind of connection to the land, the notion of canning just never came up. Times have changed. Thanks to a foodie zeitgeist stoked by creative chefs, urban farmers and a crackerjack blogging community, canning is all the rage. From her apartment on the 20th floor of a Center City high-rise, Marisa McClellan is one of the bloggers leading the charge.

Among restaurant chefs and home cooks, the preference for fresh, local ingredients grows steadily. But those ingredients, particularly produce, often have a small window of availability, sometimes with excess supply. You can serve only so much. Then comes the question: How can I preserve this plenty? Home canning takes some work, but the taste is fresher than that of the canned fruits and veggies sitting on store shelves. For some tips and insights on home canning, we sought out natural foods-vegetarian chef Lindsay Gilmour of Organic Planet Handcrafted Foods in Mount Airy.

Visitors to Linvilla Orchards this weekend can smell the peaches as they ride to the crop on a hay wagon pulled by a tractor. Rows of more than 2,000 trees are heavy with sweet, ripe peaches that are ready to be picked, eaten, and used as prime ingredients for pies, preserves and ice cream. Linvilla grows 40 varieties of peaches picked in two-week intervals for freshness and welcomes the public to Pick Your Own Days, said Norm Schultz, farm manager. "We have some people who have been coming for 10 years, each time bringing back their picking box taped up and ready for another year," Schultz said.

There's a time to plant and a time to reap, and, as they'll tell you at 123 Railroad Ave. in Williamstown, a time to can. From now until the first week of October, tomatoes by the trailer-load will be arriving at Violet Packing Inc., and the weekday air will be thick with the red-gravy smell of a Sunday in South Philadelphia. During that time, Violet Packing, run by cousins Lou and Chip Sclafani, will produce nearly a million cases of Sclafani brand tomatoes and Don Pepino pizza and spaghetti sauce.

Perfectly ripened peaches and nectarines are the most luscious and sensuous of the summer fruits. I love the giving feel of a tree-ripened, locally grown peach. Caressing the light fuzz with my fingertips calls to mind the delicate, velvety down on my daughter's cheek. The evanescent fragrance is better than any perfume. And all this before taking one bite! Peaches, of all fruits, most closely resemble human flesh. It's no wonder they have long inspired artists. Warm golden-skinned peaches blushed with deep rose seem painted just to please the eye. Peaches are prevalent in Chinese myth and poetry, as in tales of the mythical peaches of immortality, said to bear fruit every 6,000 years so that the gods may eat of it and continue to live forever.

Tom Canning knew his time would come, so the Council Rock senior has been waiting patiently. He recognized his role early on what was a multitalented boys' soccer team his sophomore and junior years. Patience seems to have worked well for Canning. Through Tuesday, the 6-foot-2 outside left midfielder was leading Council Rock with 16 goals and 15 assists this season. Along with teammates Brian McGettigan, Tim Parisi and Mike Wade, Canning spent the summer sharpening his scoring skills playing for the national champion FC Delco Dynamo under-17 team.

Francis J. Canning, 76, of Holland, a former inspector with the Internal Affairs division of the Philadelphia Police Department and a former corporate security chief, died Sunday at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township, Bucks County. He had been affiliated with the Philadelphia Police Department for nearly 25 years, retiring as an inspector in 1969. He then was director of security in a five-state area for Acme Markets for a decade. Mr. Canning was born in Philadelphia, graduated in 1939 from La Salle College High School and attended what is now La Salle University.

A Northeast Philadelphia bulk e-mailer doesn't have a constitutional right to lay siege electronically to the seven million customers of America Online, a federal judge in Philadelphia ruled this week. And you know what? The Republic will survive. The overheated rhetoric of some cyber-libertarians aside, not every limitation on cyberspace's rollicking laissez-faire is a blow against truth, freedom and justice. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Weiner said America Online has every right to attempt to block the nearly one million daily advertising messages that Cyber Promotions Inc. had been beaming at its customers' e-mailboxes - a practice known as spamming.