It’s easy to see why Lancaster County is so popular with tourists from around the globe. The county has a peaceful, nostalgic atmosphere, friendly people, beautiful natural scenery, and many historical attractions. Visitors of all ages will find something to do, whether looking for vintage trains at Pennsylvania’s Railroad Museum, going to outlet malls, making ice cream at Turkey Hill Experience, or visiting the Amish village in Pennsylvania\u2019s Dutch Country.<\/p>\n
Lancaster County’s produce and farming industry have been a critical part of the region’s success since the 18th Century. It continues to flourish. We are here to help you explore the fascinating food-making, packaging, and manufacturing processes of Lancaster County.<\/p>\n
This comprehensive guide to Lancaster’s traditional food preservation will help you learn more about Lancaster and the history behind each dish. Let’s start with some generic canned foods; then, we’ll move on to specific foods and canning methods used in Lancaster. Let’s begin!<\/p>\n
If you’ve ever been to a grocery shop, canned foods are something you will be familiar with. This preservation method involves preserving foods and beverages by preparing them before sealing them in sealed containers like mason jars, steel cans, or tin cans.<\/p>\n
Canning preserves freshness, increases shelf life, and\u00a0destroys microorganisms that can cause spoilage. To kill the bacteria in the food, boil it and seal it. The food can be kept fresh for a long time because it is sterile. Tin cans are used for most fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. Aluminum cans are lighter and more resistant to rust and are commonly used for sodas and other beverages.<\/p>\n
Many factors affect the canning process. Before canning, fruits and vegetables may need to be pitted, peeled, or their stems removed. Some vegetables may be heat treated to remove air and make them more efficient packaging. Most juices and acidic vegetables are sterilized before canning.<\/p>\n
Some meats and fish may require cooking to soften and separate the flesh from the bones. Some fish species require shelling before being packaged.<\/p>\n
Canning plants are usually located within a few minutes of harvesting areas so that foods can be packed at their best. Although fruit and vegetable canning plants are often situated near farms and fields, seafood canning locations are usually closer to the docks where fish is caught.<\/p>\n
Here are the most popular canned foods and beverages.<\/p>\n
Fruits pears and peaches, mandarin oranges and fruit cocktails, pink grapefruit, and mandarin oranges<\/p>\n
Vegetables –\u00a0Corn, Green Beans, Mushrooms, Green Beans, Carrots, Asparagus, Asparagus, Pumpkin, Tomatoes,\u00a0Pickles, and Okra<\/p>\n
Meats\u00a0Ham, bacon and chicken breasts, beef, turkey, and pork<\/p>\n
Fish:\u00a0shrimp, tuna, sardines, and salmon.<\/p>\n
Beverages\u00a0soda, juice, and alcohol<\/p>\n
Evaporated Milk:\u00a0Dairy<\/p>\n
Dressings\u00a0olive oils and balsamic vinegar<\/p>\n
Spreads:\u00a0jams, preservatives, butter, relish, and\u00a0salsa<\/p>\n
Beans & legumes:\u00a0pinto beans and kidney beans, chickpeas, chickpeas, and lentils<\/p>\n
Soup -noodle soup, barley soup<\/p>\n
This is how you can mass-produce foods in grocery stores and supermarkets. But have you ever thought about traditional canning methods? Lancaster, Pennsylvania, offers the chance to enjoy traditional Amish cuisine made with local ingredients. You won’t find the same comforting and nostalgic taste experience with commercial food when you eat fresh foods from Amish farms.<\/p>\n
Lancaster County is the home of Pennsylvania’s Amish population. This hardworking group has been farming Pennsylvania’s land since the mid-18th Century. Lancaster County has the most farms in Pennsylvania, thanks to its farmland. It is the\u00a0top producer\u00a0in Pennsylvania of cattle, horses, and poultry.<\/p>\n
European colonists brought various domesticated animals to Pennsylvania when they first arrived. In the beginning, farmers raised cattle for their own personal and limited local consumption. In the late 1700s, however, they started pasturing beef cattle in Philadelphia’s growing markets.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania railroads began transporting grass-fed cattle from the west by the 1850s. Lancaster farmers would buy cheap cattle and feed them with local corn before selling them at the city’s market. Lancaster County would be\u00a0Pennsylvania\u2019s largest producer of beef cattle\u00a0by 1870.<\/p>\n
Many animals and livestock roam Amish farms in Pennsylvania’s Dutch Country. You can also find delicious Amish specialties in Lancaster’s local shops, including smoked cheeses, meats, and sweet Dutch apple dumplings.<\/p>\n
The Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Dutch still raise cattle and grow their food on farms. They also serve comfort food in the form of hearty, family-style meals — the epitome of comfort food. There are many traditional ingredients in the region’s gardens, such as potatoes, sweetcorn, and sweetcorn, carrots, sweetcorn, celery, and other fresh produce. Traditional Amish dishes often include cloves, bay leaves, thyme, and other fresh seasonings.<\/p>\n
These fresh, local ingredients combine to create delicious meals that can be enjoyed inside and outside Pennsylvania Dutch Country. These are some of the most popular Amish foods and dishes that are found in the Lancaster region:<\/p>\n
Scrapple -Commalso is known as “poor man\u2019s bacon,” scrapple is a popular breakfast or brunch dish in Lancaster County. This Dutch and German dish contains finely minced pork, fresh spices, buckwheat, and cornmeal flour. It is essentially a type of meat pudding.<\/p>\n
Apple butter\u00a0This highly concentrated applesauce was created in the\u00a0Middle Ages from Limberg\u00a0(now Belgium and the Netherlands) and Rhineland (present-day Germany). It is still a popular spread in Lancaster today. Slow-cooking apples in water or cider is how you make apple butter. This allows the sugar to caramelize. This creates a rich brown color that lasts longer than regular applesauce.<\/p>\n
Chow Chow:\u00a0Chow Chow refers to a sweet, tangy relish made of fermented vegetables like onions, bell peppers, and green tomatoes. Its name is believed to come from the Chinese, who often sent pickles and spices to England and the United States.<\/p>\n
Chicken Pot Pie:\u00a0While you can find chicken pot pie almost anywhere in America, the most famous version is made in Lancaster’s Pennsylvania Dutch Country. For a savory taste and texture, the Pennsylvania Dutch add noodles to this dish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s easy to see why Lancaster County is so popular with tourists from around the globe. The county has a peaceful, nostalgic atmosphere, friendly people,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desserts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12,"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/12"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumodesserts.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}