Grandma's Canned Green Beans

Before 1875 the people in the cities preserved their own summer crops (at least those who could afford to) for winter use.  Commercial canning hadn't come of age, but home canning was common, and the only way to enjoy some fruits and vegetables in the colder months.  Housewives made jams and jellies from in-season fruit.  Apples, tomatoes and other locally grown fruit and vegetables were stored in underground cellars.  Are you old enough to remember the doors outside the house leading down into the cellar?  (if not, think of the Wizard of Oz!)

Changes toward the end of the 19th century made it harder for city residents to store their own supply of food for winter.  One was central heating, which made cellars where furnaces were located too warm to store food. 

Secondly, the apartment building - which developed because of overcrowding in the cities raising the price of land.  For instance in Chicago, the value of land doubled by 1873 from $500 million to over $1 billion in value in just 25 years.  The first apartment building, a middle class dwelling (not a tenement) first appeared in New York City in 1873.  Apartment buildings had no private cellars and no place to store food.

The good part of this whole story is for the farmers. More opportunities to sell fresh fruits and vegetables in the city meant merchants needed more wholesale product.  The farmer was now assured of a regular market for all his produce.  Farmers made more money and it was easier to farm.

Before refrigeration, the farmer grew early and late varieties of the same fruits and vegetables.  By planting several times he might have something to sell to the local market over most months (if nature cooperated).  Quality, taste, and appearance didn't really factor in much.  When the refrigerator car came along, it changed everything.  Now farmers could plant one variety that was best for transport and still be attractive and tasty to the consumer.

Next time...Changing in Farming
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Today on Pioneer Pieces Blog: "On October 31, 1517,  the priest and scholar, Martin Luther, approaches the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions of that would begin the Protestant Reformation in theology.