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AN INTRODUCTION TO CANNING

For generations home canning was common in many households and considered an integral part of feeding a family. Before the majority of households turned to supermarkets to supply their food, canning was a way to have enough food on hand during the winter months when gardens lay dormant and fresh fruits and vegetables weren’t available. Farming families typically used canning to preserve a great deal of the family’s food for the year. Most nonfarming families also commonly had a kitchen garden of some kind and used home canning to prepare and preserve what was not eaten fresh. Canning even remained a part of everyday life for many rural families long after the supermarket entered the scene.

Recently home canning has experienced an explosion of popularity, even among people who have never gardened or canned before. Many people have become interested in canning because they’re concerned about economic instability. Rising food prices and unemployment rates have them worried about being able to feed their families well should times become hard. Canning can be hard work, but it’s far more economical than purchasing fresh, frozen, or canned foods from the grocery store. By growing your own foods or purchasing them locally and in season when prices are at their lowest, you can avoid the heavy markups on out-of-season produce. By canning your own soups, stews, and other meals, you can realize huge savings on dining out or picking up takeout on those days when you don’t have time to cook or forgot to thaw something for dinner.

Some people are uneasy about the quality and safety of commercially grown produce. They prefer to eat locally sourced foods, and they use home canning to preserve seasonal produce to eat throughout the year. Other people prefer to grow their own food, for either peace of mind or personal pleasure, and they want to be able to store their harvests to enjoy year-round. Talk to any canning enthusiast and you’ll likely hear the person gush about the pleasure of looking at shelves laden with multicolored jars of wholesome food. You’ll probably also hear about the peace of mind that canners get from knowing that no matter what might happen, they can reach into their pantry to put together a delicious and healthy meal.

Not only is home canning insurance against potential hard times and an extremely satisfying undertaking, it also can be great fun. It is most enjoyable, as well as efficient, when it’s done as a group, with several hands pitching in to prep the ingredients, prepare the food, process the jars, and seal and label the day’s work. The home canning process can be a time of togetherness, shared work, and shared bounty.

Whatever motivates you to begin canning your own food, you won’t be disappointed in the rewards. This book has been created to help the most inexperienced beginner to can food safely and successfully using water bath canning, pressure canning, or both. You’ll find plenty of the best-loved classic recipes for fruits, vegetables, condiments, sauces, soups, stews, and other canning favorites to get you started, and you’ll learn how to use each canning method step by step.

Canning is a wonderful way to feed your family and live more sustainably and economically. This book takes you from the planning stages to that point when you, too, can look with pride at shelves lined with multicolored jars and say, “Wow! I did this!”

The Two Methods of Home Canning

There are two methods used in home canning: the water bath (or boiling water) method and pressure canning. The method to use depends on the type of food you will be canning.

The Water Bath (Boiling Water) Method

This method is often considered the best way for a beginner to start canning because the equipment is somewhat cheaper and the process is a little less involved. Water bath canning is used only for highly acidic foods such as tomatoes, berries, and pickles, which don’t require longer processing times to discourage bacterial growth in the preserved foods. The vacuum-sealed acidic environment is enough to keep foods safe and delicious in storage.

With water bath canning, racks are placed in stockpots or water bath canners filled with water and the pot is brought to a boil on the stove top. The filled canning jars are placed on these racks and processed (i.e., boiled) for a specific amount of time according to the food being canned. Then the jars are cooled, which is when the lids seal shut. Once the jars have cooled and the seals are tight, rings are added to the jars and the food can be stored away.

The Pressure Canning Method

Pressure canning is done, as the name implies, in either a stove-top or electric pressure canner. These canners come in many sizes, and the one you choose depends primarily on how many jars you want to process at one time. As in water bath canning, metal racks are placed in the pressure canner, the canner is filled with water, and the jars are placed inside. The jars are processed under pressure (dictated by the foods you’re canning) for a certain period of time (also dictated by the food you’re canning) and then removed to cool and seal.

Pressure canning may seem intimidating to beginners, but it’s easy to learn and incredibly rewarding because it allows you to safely can almost any food, including meats, stews, soups, chilies, and other meals.

You can decide which method you would like to start with. Your decision might be based on the equipment you have available, a friend or family member who can lead you through a particular method, or the types of foods that you’re interested in canning. Whichever method you choose to learn first, you may want to borrow the equipment and purchase only a few jars. This way, you can limit your investment until you know for certain that canning is for you. Start out with very simple foods and recipes, such as dill pickles, tomato sauce, or canned peaches, and gradually work your way toward more complex recipes and even trying your own variations. When you’re completely comfortable with both the science and the process of your first method of canning, then you can confidently start learning the other.

Since many people typically choose to start with the water bath method, this book begins with the water bath canning method and water bath recipes.

Note: You can actually process high-acid foods in a pressure canner, but water bath canning is quicker, so the choice is up to you.

Food Acidity and How It Affects Your Processing Method

Whether food should be processed in a water bath canner or a pressure canner depends on the acidity of the food you’re canning. Acidity can be natural, as with many fruits, or it can be added. The term pH is a measure of the acidity in a food; the lower the pH value, the more acid in the food. You can increase the acidity level in foods by adding lemon juice, citric acid, or vinegar.

High-acid foods contain enough acid to block the growth of Clostridium botulinum. High-acid foods have a pH of 4.6 or lower. These include fruits; pickles; jams, jellies and marmalades; fruit butters; and sauerkraut.

Low-acid foods don’t have enough acid to prevent the growth of the Clostridium botulinum bacteria, which is what causes botulism. Low-acid foods need to be heated to protect them. Low-acid foods have natural pH values higher than 4.6. These include meats, seafood, poultry, milk, and fresh vegetables, except for most varieties of tomatoes. When you create a mixture of low-acid and high-acid foods, that mixture also has a pH value above 4.6, unless the recipe also includes enough lemon juice, citric acid, or vinegar to make it a high-acid food. The chart below gives approximate pH levels for popular canning foods. Note that levels may vary with different varieties of the fruits and vegetables listed.

Note: Although tomatoes are generally considered a high-acid food, some of them have pH values slightly above 4.6. You should either add lemon juice or citric acid to these varieties, or use a pressure canner to process them.

Botulinum bacteria are almost impossible to eliminate simply by bringing them to a boiling temperature (212 degrees F). This is why low-acid foods need to be processed at temperatures between 240 and 280 degrees F.

In a pressure canner, this means processing the food at 10 to 15 psi. The abbreviation psi means “pounds per square inch of pressure,” which you measure by using the pressure gauge located on or near the lid of the canner. At temperatures of 240 to 280 degrees F, the bacteria in low-acid canned food can be destroyed in 20 to 100 minutes. The exact time it will take depends on the kind of food you’re canning, the way it is packed, and the size of the jars you’re using. The time needed to safely process low-acid foods in a water bath canner would range between 7 and 11 hours, but the time needed to process high-acid foods using a water bath canner only runs between 5 and 85 minutes.

Processing time using either pressure canning or the water bath method depends on:

• the type of food

• the altitude of your geographic location

• the recipe’s acidity

• the size of the jars

Each of the recipes in this book includes processing times.

Fresh produce from your garden or a farmers’ market is the best choice for canning.

Selecting Produce for Canning

Canning does not make mediocre foods taste more palatable, nor will it rescue food that’s about to spoil. It’s important to be choosy when selecting the foods you’ll be canning; that way, your canned foods will be delicious and safe to eat.

Choose the Best Quality You Can Find

Fresh is best and fresh in season is even better. Canning began as a way to preserve the best flavors of a given season, in addition to putting food up for the non-growing season.

Pick fruits and vegetables that are at their very peak of flavor. This means buying in season as much as possible and locally, if available in your area. Foods picked before they’re ripe and shipped thousands of miles will lack the flavor of locally sourced foods. This means you should be looking for strawberries in June and in the fall, fresh peas in the spring, and so on. Many types of produce have long growing seasons, especially if you live in a more temperate climate, so it’s fairly easy to buy them fresh and flavorful for much of the year. Cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes are good examples.

If you’re not able to grow your own produce, try to purchase foods for canning at a farmers’ market or from a local farmer. Organic produce is always a good choice for canning, and farmers may be willing to give you a price break on the larger quantities for a day of canning.

Inspect Your Produce Carefully Before Processing

If you’re buying your produce by the case, bushel, or bucket, be sure to carefully inspect each piece as you wash it. Discard anything that appears to have mold on it (either green or a thin, white coating near the stem). Also be sure to toss anything that has holes, cuts, or other openings that could be portals for bugs, insect eggs, or bacteria.

Tips to Avoid Spoilage

The last thing you want after carefully growing, choosing, and canning your wonderful foods is to lose some of them to spoilage. More important, you don’t want anyone to become ill from eating spoiled food.

Canning is a safe way of preparing and preserving fresh foods as long as you follow the recipes and instructions carefully. The following additional tips can help you can foods successfully and minimize the chances of spoilage:

 Always follow the guidelines in the following sections for testing the seals on your canned goods before you store them away. If you are ever in doubt about the seal or if a jar has not sealed properly, either refrigerate it and use immediately, throw it away, or reprocess it. Reprocessing is recommended only for foods that do not contain meat, eggs, or seafood. (To reprocess, prepare another sterilized jar, bring the food to a boil in a saucepan, and pour it into the new jar. Cover and process for the required time, and allow it to sit undisturbed for another 12 to 24 hours.)

 Have enough clean towels on hand so you can wipe each jar with a fresh section of towel. Once a section of towel has become soiled with liquid or food, use a new section or a new towel.

 If you’re canning more than one type of food, always wash your utensils, cutting boards, knives, and other tools before moving from one food to another.

 Can only what your family can eat or give away within a year. Always mark the jars accordingly, and eat the oldest foods first. A good practice is to write the canning date in marker on the lid and write the expiration date on the label. When adding new jars to a shelf, move the older jars to the front and store the newer jars behind them.

 Always store your canned goods in a cool, dark place where they will be safe from jostling. Never store canned foods in movable storage such as totes or under-bed storage boxes, as frequent moving can result in chipped or cracked jars and cause contamination.