A community cannery should be available to all people interested in
preserving food. Ideally, canneries are open during daytime and evening
hours. Weekend hours are a possibility. When canneries are limited to
processing vegetables and fruits, at least 6 months of potential
operation are lost in certain sections of the country. If at all
possible, canneries should be operated to process a wider range of foods
such as jams, jellies, pickles, preserves, meat, fish, poultry.
[Illustration: William E. Carnahan
Tomato juice being processed at a community cannery. Since cannery
is operated by State of Virginia, only charge is for cans used.]
A processing fee is usually set for use of the canning equipment,
ranging from 5¢ to 10¢ for pints to 10¢ to 15¢ for quarts. These prices
do not include the cost of jar, lid, screw band, or any canning supplies
such as salt, vinegar, sugar, spices that may be sold at wholesale
prices at the cannery. An additional charge of 50¢ per hour is common
for the use of a pulper-juicer and steam-jacketed kettle.
It may be a financial hardship for some low-income families to meet
these costs, but they can be given the opportunity to exchange work time
at the cannery for payment. Families of limited resources might leave
off a percentage of their processed high-acid foods to be sold by the
cannery. Sponsoring agencies may apply for grants, such as might be
available from Title XX of the Social Security Act, in an effort to
subsidize canning costs for low-income families.
To date, no community canneries are completely economically
self-sufficient, so far as we know. There are centers in the South which
do enough community canning to pay for all their expenses except
salaries. To become self-supportive, some canneries are now developing
specialty products to be sold commercially. Organic-health food
distributorships and food co-ops are often a good market for community
cannery processed foods.
The future of community canneries depends on continued interest in home
gardening and food preservation, and concern for proper nutrition.
Undoubtedly, the cost of food in the marketplace will also be a
contributing factor.