'Putting Food By' at the Callaway Cannery

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Hours of operation are Tuesdays and Fridays, 7 a.m. until it’s done, July 5 through mid-December. Get there by the arrival deadline of 11 a.m. or you’ll have to come back another day. The idea is to complete as much prep work at home as possible to lessen time and work at the cannery. For example, apples should be cored and quartered at home; green beans should be cleaned and snapped at home. Some fruits and vegetables are blanched and peeled in preparation for freezing, and patrons often bring pre-soaked fruits, beans and peas for canning. With tomatoes and corn, washing is all that can be done in advance.

Community in a cannery

People use canneries for a variety of reasons. Community canneries were established during World War II to help women provide for their families. Almost every county in Virginia had a cannery. Some people can to save money at the grocery store. Others like the social gathering and sense of community. More and more lately, people can to improve and control the quality of their food.

Throughout the years, use of the Callaway cannery has ebbed and flowed but it always garnered enough need to support its mission. More than 100 families regularly use the cannery, including those from Roanoke, Fincastle and Natural Bridge. It’s a combination of old timers and young families new to the community, singles, church groups and community organizations. Ages range from preteens to the oldest supporter, who is 92. Some people bring in what they grow; others buy produce from local farmers, can it in Callaway and take it home.

“Everyone enjoys the social aspect of it and we tend to be a gathering place,” Doug Minnix says. “The Ruritan Club makes its famous Brunswick stew and sells it at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum, Virginia. We have five churches that regularly use the cannery to make apple butter, and, each time, half the church is there. It’s always an all-day affair, and people pop in and out. Sometimes they’ll make two batches. People from the church groups almost always bring a picnic and have a ball.

“Making applesauce is so much easier at the cannery. And, tomato juice only takes a few minutes in the cannery but would take all day at home,” Minnix says. “In recent years, organic farmers from Floyd County have canned with us. We also can a lot of meat: sausage, tenderloin, beef, pork, chicken, turkey and venison.”  

The Callaway cannery is located approximately 27 miles from Roanoke, less than 15 miles from Boones Mill, Virginia. Call ahead for processing meats, vegetable soup and apple butter: (540) 484-1966.

Linda Shockley is a writer based in New York City with vivid memories of her childhood in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the wonderful food “put by” that appeared on the family dinner table.

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