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Canning Salmon... In the Way We Were Taught

by Al & Vi Sewid

18 pages; Saddle stitched; catalogue #08-0397; ISBN 1-4251-7456-6; US$12.00, C$12.00, EUR8.20, £6.20

A book on canning your own salmon at home. The information was provided by our elders when we would work together with them as they did their own home canning.

About the Book

This book was produced by Alvin and Vi Sewid to provide instructions on how to can salmon as it was taught to them by their elder family members who had worked in the canneries throughout the west coast of British Columbia. (It was initially written for the use of their children and grandchildren.) It provides instruction on how to clean and how to cut up the meat for "stuffing" into the cans, how long to cook and also tips on the safe use of pressure cookers. It mentions how they would cook their canned salmon in huge metal drums with a roaring fire under it and how they changed over to using the more modern pressure cookers.

There are pictures included in the book to add to the explanation on what has to be done. Alvin would take the pictures every now and then when he and Vi were cleaning, canning or cooking salmon. There are also pictures of their "teachers" and an explanation on who they were and how they provided the important "how to" instructions. The older pictures are from Jimmy and Flora Sewid's collection of pictures. One is of the cannery workers at Glendale Cannery in Knight Inlet. All the "teachers" are included in this picture as well as the other ladies who, in all probability, returned home and instructed their families on how to can salmon.

About the Author

Alvin Sewid wasborn into a fishing family in 1942 at Alert Bay, BC. He would pitch in with his family when they did their annual salmon canning sessions. To him it was more like a game… something to enjoy and not really thought of as work, even though it was very hard work at times. There were many late nights, when he had to sit by the fire, waiting for the drum load of cans to reach the cooking time and then the cans had to be washed when the cooking was done.

The elders who taught the youngsters never gave orders on what had to be done. The teaching was usually done by example with the elders showing the children what had to be done and then letting them take over.

When Alvin and Vi were married in Saskatchewan in 1964, they returned to live in Alert Bay and Vi got right into the canning routine. She mentions in the book how Totty used to dump the meat out of a can when it wasn't done "neatly" and without saying a word she would refill the can… the right way. Then she would allow her to carry on again, with no scolding, just a silent example on how it should be done.

Alvin and Vi still can salmon whenever they get the opportunity and their grandchildren love to get in on it, usually with Vi showing them how.