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This European woman received a jar of home-preserved garden produce from North American Mennonites around the time of World War II. 
Looking for an alternative to glass jars — about a quarter of which broke during shipment — Mennonites designed a portable canner for tin cans. More HistoryThe unique idea for a portable meat canner took shape as reports of hungry World War II refugees reached North America. Drawing on its experience channeling home-preserved food to men in Civilian Public Service camps, MCC put out a call for relief contributions. As soon became apparent, shipping food overseas in glass jars was inefficient and messy due to 25 percent breakage. So a business in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley built a portable canner for tin cans in 1945. A Mennonite relief committee in Hesston, Kansas, hearing of the Virginia project, also built a canning unit. Scoffed at by government officials and local can companies as impractical, the idea of a portable canner caught on in Mennonite communities. After several years of operating west of the Mississippi, the Hesston-built canner was turned over to MCC for use all over North America. The canner has been replaced several times; the current one was built in 1993. Allen Zook, of Hesston, Kansas, was one of the original "canner boys" who travel with the equipment each year. His memories — of community spirit and long, cold days of work — aren't so different from current realities. But one thing has changed: In 1947, some people were skeptical that food canned in tin instead of glass could be safe. "After a few days we'd open a can just to show them the meat was still good," Zook remembers. |
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