Mother and daughter team produce blue-ribbon pickle

Photo by Michael Woodward

READY TO EAT: Claire Ely spoons finished bread and butter pickles into mason jars.

Photo by Michael Woodward

IMPRESSIVE PANTRY: Ely looks over her supply of preserved fruit and vegetables.

Photo by Michael Woodward

IN THE KITCHEN: Claire Ely gets a Happy Birthday call as her daughter Beverly slices onions.

Photo by Michael Woodward

SPICED RIGHT: Beverly Cooke pulls a ladle of pickles out of the pot.

Claire Ely doesn't know where the blue ribbons have gone. She won at least 20 at this summer's Shasta District Fair for her various pickles, relishes and preserves.

"Oh heavens, I probably have them around here somewhere," said Ely, 81, who has been canning for 50 years and shows at the fair every year.

On her birthday two weeks ago, Ely answered Happy Birthday greetings on the telephone while her daughter, Beverly Cooke, 48, sliced four onions for bread and butter pickles.

A pot with four quarts of sliced pickling cucumbers in salted ice water sat on the table near her.

"These will go into the fair next Sunday," said Cooke, who has shown off her canning and baking skills at the Tehama District Fair.

The mother and daughter team work out of the same kitchen, but show at different fairs to keep confusion to a minimum. The two also work with different brands of canning jars: Cooke uses Ball, Ely sticks with Kerr.

"We don't compete," Cooke said. "The kitchen is too small. It's hard to get all the baking done as it is. Both of us baking at the same time is impossible."

Canning is done about every other day from June through October, said Ely. She and Cooke live on 10 acres in Cottonwood that holds an expansive garden, 12 cows, some chickens and nine cats. Her garden feeds her pantry, which glows with rows of jars of peaches, cherries, pickles, relish, peppers, green beans, tomatoes and apricots.

Ely was born and raised on the family farm in the Churn Creek area on Ely Road. The cows she milks today are relatives of a calf her father gave her when she was 10. She showed a picture of the barn he built from the wood saved from a garage in Kennett, a community displaced by the flooding of Shasta Dam. She moved to Cottonwood in 1979 as Redding city limits encroached on their farm.

"I don't like to move. We hated to move from up there," Ely said. "That was where we raised our children."

For the pickles, Cooke brought a quart of vinegar and four cups of sugar to boil. The large amount of sugar cuts the acidity of the vinegar. Along with the spices, the sugar gives bread and butter pickles their mellow flavor, according to Cooke.

Cooke drained the pickles and added the onions along with one tablespoon celery seed, two tablespoons whole yellow mustard seed, one tablespoon ground ginger and one teaspoon of turmeric. Cooke dumped the mixture into the boiling vinegar solution.

"She helped me in the kitchen when she was big enough, just like I did," Ely said. "None of my six turned out to be city kids."

She didn't leave it to chance, though, putting all of her children through 4-H. Ely also has 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

"It's our way of living, this is how they have been raised," Ely said.

"Most of the grand kids love her pickles," Cooke said. "The bread and butter pickles are their favorite."

After the mixure on the stove returned to a boil for several minutes, Ely started spooning the pickles into the clean mason jars. The lids were pulled out of boiling water to top the jars and the jars were plunged into a boiling water bath to sterilize and seal the containers.

After 5 or 10 minutes, the jars were retrieved and placed on the counter to cool.

"I know people who don't want to tackle canning, because of the botulism, but if you follow the book, you'll do okay," Cooke said.

"Considering what goes on in the world with canned food, I feel safer with mine," Ely said. "Being able to do this helps with grocery bills."

Properly sealed, Ely said her canned goods would last three to four years, provided the seal doesn't fail and they don't lose color.

Both referred anyone interested in learning canning to the Ball Blue Book, which has been considered a canning bible since 1908.

"Yay! They all sealed," said Cooke, tapping the lids for the tell-tale high pitched tone.

She went on to win nine blue ribbons at the fair last week, one of the ribbons was pinned to a jar of her bread and butter pickles.

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