Slow Food Seattle & Canning Wild Pacific Albacore

A few months ago I was invited to apply for a position on the board of directors with Slow Food Seattle, my local chapter of Slow Food International. I was thrilled to come on as their new treasurer, and while I'm definitely still finding my feet- yesterday was my first Slow Food event, and I had an absolutely fantastic time of it.

Jeremy Brown, charming tuna fisherman and canning expert- came down from Bellingham with 800 pounds of locally caught Wild Pacific Albacore tuna and a whole lot of patience. He talked members through the process of canning tuna- from cleaning and trimming fish to stuffing jars and testing for a proper seal. It was at times chaotic and crowded, always cold, and absolutely smelly. We had a seriously great day. And a tremendous "thank you" to Gourmondo for hosting us!

Step 1: Cutting tuna into chunks, removing skin and guts

Step 2: Fine trimming, cutting tuna into smaller pieces to fit into jars

Packing jars

Step 3: Adding salt, olive oil, and our special "secret" ingredient

Filled and cleaned jars waiting to go into the pressure cookers

Step 4: 90 minutes in the pressure cooker

Checking pressure. Yes it takes four people.

Removing cooked jars 

Cleaning and separating unsealed jars

Cooling- the bubbles in the jars are a good sign- it means pressure is built up and they're properly sealed.

Waiting on the last three cookers to finish.