Amish Originals Furniture Co.: Miriam's Journal February 25, 2010

Dear Journal,

I will continue with more on hog butchering day.

After we have the smokehouse running and the fat cooking, the cleaning starts. We also rub a sugar cure on the hams and bacon. The bacons we let set for one week and the hams for two weeks. The bacons we would soak for an hour then hang them up to drain for two days. We like to smoke them but that is optional. The hams we give the second rub in a week then continue with the same process as the bacons.

This year I canned my bacon a little differently than before. I rolled them up, put them in jars and pressure canned them at 3# pressure for five minutes. It worked out quite well. I canned my hams like usual, cut into cubes and pressure canned. We really like it in soups, casseroles, etc. I also sliced one ham, put it in a crock and poured lard over it. This is the first try for this method in storing. I like to keep some sausage without the casing as then I can fry it and can it for gravy, soups, pizza, and casseroles. This was a new way for me when I got married.

In the month of January I made hominy. We use regular field corn, shelled, and cook it in lye water for twenty minutes. Then we wash them until the water is clear, changing the water approximately six times, and put it back into the big kettle to cook until it’s almost soft. We have to let it set for two days, changing the water twice a day, before canning it. When we can the hominy we fill the jars ¾ full as the corn still expands some. You are now probably wondering how we fix it to eat. There are different ways that people fix it. One way that we fix it is just heating it up and serving it with gravy. When I was a little girl growing up we would drain the water and add milk and butter to serve it. I also like to heat it, drain the water, then add brown butter and a little salt, or fry it in butter. It does add another vegetable to the list of veggies in the basement.

We are still enjoying the cabbage from the garden that we have stored in the root cellar. We also have carrots and apples. This year I’m hoping to learn how to store more vegetables in the root cellar.

I am enjoying it more and more,

Miriam