Replica Ships and Cuyahoga County Fair

[lady_branwyn]

Two weeks ago, Lord Branwyn and I drove out to the Black River Landing in Lorain to see replicas of two of Columbus' ships then went to the Cuyahoga County Fair in Berea.

Comments

[curiouswombat]

How fascinating to see the replicas of Nina and Pinta - I can't say I have ever envied the sailors of that era.

Ad I am fascinated by your pictures of the agricultural show because it is so very familiar - all those exhibits could just come here and compete in the classes at ours!

Out of curiosity, why is what we call bottling or preserving fruit and vegetables called canning in America when you don't actually put the stuff in cans?

[lady_branwyn]

All 88 counties in my state still have at least one agricultural fair. I also have photos to post from the much larger Lorain County Fair that is running this week.

The usage over here is that preserving is the more general term for several different means of "putting food by" and canning refers to one specific process. It is possible that people in the US were exposed to commercially canned food (which actually was in canisters) before home canning in glass jars became popular or feasible, though I don't know. My mother (who did a lot of canning when we lived out in the country) did use the term bottling for liquids--tomato juice or grape juice were bottled and not canned. And Coca Cola refers to its soda manufacturing facilities as bottling plants.

[curiouswombat]

Our term of bottling is almost as odd, as the fruit or vegetables are put into glass jars, not bottles, now I think of it.

Actually whenever I hear of Coca Cola bottling plants I only imagine them putting it into bottles - it had never really occurred to me that they put it into cans in the same place :) I can be a bit dense at times!

[cairistiona7]

Out of curiosity, why is what we call bottling or preserving fruit and vegetables called canning in America when you don't actually put the stuff in cans?

If I may... prevailing theory as far as I can research online is that our usage of "canning" for preserving food even in glass jars may have its roots in the old English canne, which refers to a "cup or container" but not necessarily the material from which it's constructed. I think that theory holds water (no pun intended!) considering how many Old and Middle English words are still fairly common, regionally, in the US, thanks to English, Scots and Irish settlers (especially in Appalachia, but also beyond, thanks to movement of settlers and, nowadays, television and radio).

Language is such a fluid thing... always fascinating to me to trace a word back to where it might have originated.

[curiouswombat]

Ah - that makes sense - so they 'canned' their fruit before the advent of sealed tin containers, and these became tin cans because they contained canned food.

In the UK we rarely use the word 'can' to talk about the tin containers for foods - we call them tins - so we will buy a tin of baked beans or a tin of condensed milk and so on. But, for some reason, we buy cans of pop! And when I was young boys would pile up empty 'tin cans' to throw or kick a ball at.

Language is fascinating, isn't it? Especially the way our two versions have developed from common root stock to be not quite the same.

I was amazed the first time an American friend said she had been canning tomatoes. It sounded so complicated - how on earth did you seal the lid on the tin, I wondered. And was equally amazed when, some months later, another friend said she had been doing the same thing and then posted a photo of the tomatoes in a kilner jar! And I wouldn't be surprised if, now, you are going 'what on earth is a kilner jar?'

[lady_branwyn]

I am going to guess that a kilner jar is the same thing as a mason jar (which is used as the generic term even though there are other manufacturers like Ball and Kerr). ;)

The vacuum seals with the rubberized coating are a fairly recent innovation. My mother still had some of the old jars which used the wire bales and rubber gaskets. People now sell them as antiques. http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-BALL-IDEAL-GLASS-CANNING-JAR-W-WIRE-BALE-/251612125743

The term "can" may very well be derived from "canister." The process was developed to preserve food for armies in the field, and the term canister was already used by the military for metal cylinders (as in canister shot). I will have to check the OED.

[lady_branwyn]

In my family, we often referred to tin cans instead of just cans.

[cairistiona7]

In the UK we rarely use the word 'can' to talk about the tin containers for foods - we call them tins

I actually hear some people call it that here, too. My region is heavily English/Scots/Irish, with a lot of first-generation immigrants even now, so I imagine there's more "British" terms in use around here than in other areas. (As a matter of fact, the owner of our local coffee shop is from England... so between that and being friends online with a lot of British folk, I'm used to hearing your lingo!)

And I wouldn't be surprised if, now, you are going 'what on earth is a kilner jar?'

LOL... nope, not saying that because I just assume it's the UK version of our Mason jars. And after googling, I see that's exactly what they are. Google is very handy for learning new terms.