They are women who can.

These friends have found that by working together and sharing the chores involved with canning, they produce more, learn some, laugh a lot and, on this day, leave with their share of all the good memories sealed in jars of onion confit, double cherry conserve and sweet-and-sour pickled cherries.

The can-doers assembled recently in Eloise Hess' big, bright Bradford Woods kitchen. There to can were Kathryn Giarratani of Regent Square, Nancy Hanst of Valencia and Sandy Woncheck of Fox Chapel.

It was an idyll. The sun filtered through the trees onto the deck outside the screen door, while inside women shared stories and busied themselves with their assigned chores, most onerous first: the slicing paper thin of a dozen tennis-ball-size sweet onions from Harvest Valley, a farm market just over the hill. In the background, clean jars and lids were getting cleaner. Clean is the first rule of canning, and almost all day, the dishwasher was going and someone in an apron was at the sink scrubbing and rinsing.

Ingredients were finding their way onto the big center island. Every ingredient had its aesthetic.

Why did Kathryn can? "I remember my mom's canned peaches," she said.

Why did Nancy can? "Because you can make things that you can't buy."

Why did Sandy? "To learn from Nancy and for the socializing. I like sharing the labor with friends."

I know why Eloise cans. It's because she has a generous heart, and she likes to gather friends around her, feed them a lovely lunch and send them home with one of Ann Hubicki's handmade pot scrubbers, colorful wads of net that remove what sticks. For people who spend a lot of time at the sink -- and every cook does -- these are a godsend, and I don't say that just because Sister Theodora, at the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God, 3603 McRoberts Road, Whitehall, sells them in the convent gift shop for $1.50 each.

Sister Theodora, who called them "the talk of the town," says Hubicki has donated more than a thousand of the useful brightly colored scrubbers to the gift shop and that many are sold as party favors. Information: 412-882-9911.

Sweet Onion Confit

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet onions, halved and very thinly sliced, by hand or on a mandoline slicer
  
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  
• 2-inch peel of fresh orange rind or 1-inch peel of dried rind
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Cassis or black currant cordial (see note)
  
• 6 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  
• 1 cup dry red wine
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh summer savory or 1/2 teaspoon dried savory ground with mortar and pestle

Heat oil in a large saute pan; add onions, salt, pepper and sugar; cover pan and heat onions over very low heat for 30 minutes, until onions are limp, stirring occasionally.

Add peel, cordial, vinegar and wine; simmer uncovered for about 2 hours or until most liquid is absorbed and onion slices melt into a mass. The mixture should bubble slowly. Remove peel and add herb in the last few minutes.

Pack tightly into sterilized jars, and burp to eliminate bubbles (run a long knife around the inside of the canning jar). Cover with a clean jar rim and a cap.

Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath or steam canner. Makes about 3 cups.

Note: Black currant cordial is made by Sand Hill Berries, Mount Pleasant.

Adapted from a recipe by three-star French chef Michel Guerard

Double Cherry Conserve

• 2 oranges
  
• 3 1/2 cups pitted unsweetened sour cherries (about 2 1/2 pounds before pitting) (see note)
  
• 4 cups sugar
  
• 1/4 pound dried tart cherries

Peel off outer skin of 1 orange very thin, taking just the orange part and leaving the white. Cut this into threads and cook in a little water until it is tender. Meanwhile, chop the fruity pulp of both oranges. Discard the white pith.

Add sugar to sour cherries and boil for 15 minutes.

Add orange threads and chopped pulp, along with dried cherries, to the pot. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes or until thickened. Test on a cold plate for a drop to stand up in a little globule.

Pour jam into jars. Clean rims with damp cloth, burp (run a knife around the inside edge of jar) and cap. Process jars for 15 minutes in boiling water bath or steam canner.

Makes 4 to 6 cups. Aging 1 month is recommended.

Note: Unsweetened cherries were purchased frozen at Soergel's Orchard, Wexford.

Adapted from a recipe from "Fine Preserving" by Catherine Plagemann with M.F.K. Fisher

First Published: August 15, 2004, 4:00 a.m.