Ball Mason Jar
Location 59
Owner: Mary (De Luca) Degrande
When I think about glass and the impact it's had on my life, one symbol comes to mind: a glass canning jar. It takes me back to cherished times in the kitchen with my mom. This is my memory... "Get up! I need help in here!" That was my mom's way of saying she had a canning pot on the stove, a bushel or two of peaches, and it was time to get them into jars. Her request was never optional, and despite my plan to sleep until ten, the perfume of peaches, boiled just long enough to remove the skin, told me the canning process had already started. I better get up. Barely out of my PJs, I grabbed a paring knife and took my place at the kitchen counter, behind a bowl of steaming hot, fragrant peaches. No cutting board needed, my mom taught me how to slice a peach and remove the stone using just my hands. The Italian way. It made for quick work. On the counter sat dozens of jars, sterilized and ready for us to pack with fresh peach slices. This was not a "mother- daughter quality-time" project. This was serious food prep. One day it might be peaches. Another day tomatoes. And wild elderberries for jelly, my favorite. All sourced from the nearby orchards, farms and woods. Even though I might have been reluctant to rise from my sleep, I always liked those mornings. Those times with my mom were the best ones. We were cooking together, I felt needed, and we produced good work. That's important for a kid. I learned more than she ever thought she taught. And I felt proud to see all those perfect jars. Long after the lids began to pop, signaling the jars had sealed, years and years after that, after my mother passed away, and even today, seeing a canning jar sends me right back to my place at the kitchen counter. I swear I can smell the sweet aromas of peaches, tomatoes, and jellies. Best of all, when I close my eyes, I can see ever so vividly, my mom, Mary (De Luca) De Grandi, doing what she did best: Taking care of my dad, my sisters and me, the Italian way. Lovingly with food.