Canning food at home is something that’s been done for decades because people didn’t have the easy, convenient access to grocery stores what we have now. This method of preserving food caught on in the United States in the 1800s.
Home canning is a great way to enjoy delicious, healthy foods all year ‘round. Not only will you be eating better, but you’ll save money, too. You’ll also be able to save time because you won’t be running back and forth to the store as often.
What Is Home Canning?
Home canning simply means that you’re going to take food and can it to save it for later use. You can use food from your garden or foods that you pick. Beginners often have the mistaken impression that canning foods is something that’s done in the spring or summer to have food set aside for the winter.
But this isn’t the case. Home canning is something that can be done all year long. This way, you won’t miss out on the delicious foods that nature offers in the cooler months of the year.
Some people also tend to think that home canning is a long, drawn out and complicated process, but it’s not. It’s easy and convenient and if you can cook, then you have the ability to can foods.
So if you’ve been toying with the idea of getting into home canning but were worried that it would be too hard, rest easy. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to do it easily. There aren’t a lot of steps to home canning, but each step has to be followed carefully.
You have to make sure that you have the right equipment for the preserving as well as for the actually cooking. When you want to can food, whatever item it is that you’re canning has to go through a process in order to preserve the food inside the jar.
This keeps the food from going bad and it also keeps the food from becoming contaminated with dangerous bacteria. The most popular foods that are canned are usually fruits and vegetables, and even some kinds of meats.
Regardless of the food that you choose to preserve, you need to take the home canning steps to properly save the food. If you don’t, then you can end up with a severe case of food poisoning or botulism that can be extremely dangerous.
The number one reason that anything unsafe occurs with home canning is because of improper cooking method, wrong sealing method or a problem with the containers where the food is stored. By being diligent, you can prevent all of those issues from happening.
There’s a balance to be had between how long you can heat the food without destroying its nutrients and how long you must heat it to destroy the potential for any dangerous organisms.
Types of Canning Methods
When you decide to start home canning, you’ll need to choose the method that’s right for you. There are two basic home canning methods that have been proven to keep food nutritionally sound and prevent the development of bacteria.
You can use the pressure method or you can choose the boiling water method. Either one of these methods is able to keep air from spoiling the food and to seal it up tightly for future use.
You may end up using each of the different methods because the method that you use will be dependent on the kind of food that you want to preserve. You’ll determine the method based on the acidity in whatever it is that you want to preserve.
High acid foods should not be canned in the same manner that low acid foods are done. The low acid foods are things like vegetables and meat. These foods are more susceptible to giving people who use home canning problems with the potential to make someone sick.
When you have a low acid food, it means that there’s no safety mechanism within the food that will impede bacteria. You can’t preserve low acid foods using the boiling water method.
The reason that you can’t do this is because the boiling water method won’t kill the microorganism that can cause botulism poisoning. This means that if you use the boiling water method and the spores aren’t eliminated, they will thrive within the jar because you’ll store these jars on the shelf at room temperature – which is perfect for the growth of botulism.
To make sure that you and your family are not at risk of botulism with low acid foods, you have to use a pressure cooker. The heat inside a pressure cooker is a greater temperature than that of boiling water.
It’s different with foods that are high in acid. Foods that are high in acid make it more difficult for botulism spores to survive. You can use boiling water to can highly acidic foods.
But be aware that if you mix a high acid food with a low acid food in the same process, the low acid food is at risk even if you combine it with foods that have a higher acid amount.
Remember that if you want to combine two foods such as fruit with vegetables, choose the pressure cooking method to make sure the items are preserved at the higher temperature.
If you’re not sure if the food is low acid or not, look it up before simply taking a chance on a method. Through the water boiling method, the temperatures from the boiling water flows around the jar with the food in it.
The jar remains in the water long enough to kill off any organism or bacteria. The amount of time that the jar of food should be in the water will be determined by what the food is.
When you’re using boiling water as your method of canning food, make sure that the water reaches the correct temperature. The boil needs to be a hard boil, not a soft one. If you’re processing hot food, the temperature has to reach at least 180 degrees.
If you decide that you’re using a pressure cooker, you’re using steam to preserve the food that you want to store. The steam heats the food to the proper temperature. But you want to make sure that that the pressure level is kept at the temperature it’s supposed to be at to prepare the food. If it varies, then you need to begin your time again.
Picking Out Your Canning Jars
One of the most important things about canning – besides the method that you choose to use – is what you’re going to put your food in. You have to have jars in order to can the foods that you want to save.
One of the most often used kinds of jars are commonly called mason jars. You’ll find these by their proper name which is Ball jars – and these are specifically made for home canning.
Another good brand to use is Kerr. You’ll want to figure out which ones you’ll need as far as the size goes before you buy the jars. What most people who’ve been doing home canning for awhile do when they pick out their jars is they pick them out according to what they’re putting in them.
You’ll find that some canning recipes will tell you to use a bigger jar – such as a quart size. So it depends on what you need the size for. Regardless of which brand of canning jars that you choose, make sure you get one that’s a good quality.
Never assume that because you’re buying these jars new at the store that they’re in the perfect condition for home canning. There can always be defects that can make them unsafe to use.
It’s imperative that the jar be free from any cracks. This means not only should you check the body of the jar but the rim as well. And you should do this with each jar. If the jars are sealed at the store and you can’t check them at the store, then check them at home before you use them.
A jar that has a crack in it can cause bacteria to grow in your food because the jar won’t seal properly during the canning process. Some home canners will buy new jars for every batch of food that they make.
This can become expensive over time. It’s okay to reuse jars as long as they’re in good condition and seal well. Because the sealing is where you can have issues, it’s best to replace the lids every time you can something new so that you get that tight seal.
Your lids should have a flat metal piece that lays across the top of the jar. This piece should have a way to seal onto the jar and then be held in place with the ring. Never use lids where the flat piece and the ring are one part.
These don’t seal as safely. You’ll want to avoid jars that come with pushed out or oddly shaped areas because it may not be possible to correctly seal these types of jars. One thing that you’ll need to watch out for is sudden breaking.
This is what will happen if the food is not the same temperature as the jar. You can shatter the jar if the food is hotter than the temperature of the jar. Because a lot of home canning recipes are geared toward bigger quantities of food, if you’re not sure how much time you’re supposed to use for smaller portions, then look up the timing that’s required for the bigger one and go by that time.
After you’ve canned the food, you’ll want to push your finger down in the middle of the lid. If you feel any give to it, it means the seal isn’t good. If the lid doesn’t move beneath your finger, then it sealed properly.
The Home Canning Equipment That You Need
To get started in home canning, there are some supplies that you’ll need. If you’re going to use the water boiling method, then you’ll need a Dutch oven or a large stockpot. You’ll also want to make sure that you have pots that you can use to boil the lids for the jars.
Because the water that you’ll be using is going to be scalding hot, you’re going to need a safe way to get the jars out of the water. What many home canners have found very helpful for this task is a jar lifter.
You can use the jar lifter to pick up the jars once they’ve gone through the processing period. The jar lifter that you get should have rubber on the bottom grips that hold onto the jar so that the jars won’t slip free.
You can find these lifters separately or sold as part of a home canning kit. You’ll also want to buy a lid lifter. This is a tool that has a magnetic end on it so that the lids will stick to it and come up out of the water easily.
Having a funnel for home canning is a must. Trying to get the food into the jars can be a hassle because you’ll have to deal with splash over. Since the funnel is wider than the mouth of the jar, it makes the process of transferring food to the jar faster and neater and it keeps food from the rim of the jar.
You’ll also want to get an air bubble remover. This is an expensive tool. You can find them for less than a dollar in some stores. But it allows you to be able to remove the air bubbles from the jars to ensure that your food is safe.
Make sure you have something that you can use as a headspace tool. When you can foods, you have to have some headspace because the food that you put in the jar will expand.
For meat have between an inch to an inch and a half of headspace. Use at least an inch for vegetables and a half an inch for fruit. If you’re going to make jelly or some kind of spread, you only need about a fourth of an inch of headspace.
Avoiding Spoilage and Storing Your Home Canned Foods
Food can be more inclined to spoil if you don’t use good foods to start with. Don’t try to can food that’s overripe – even if it’s a bargain. Foods that are overripe can spoil faster and then won’t be safe to use.
When you’re going through the canning process, make sure that all of your canning equipment is sterile. Sterilize the jars and the lids and when you’re done, put them on a clean rack.
Bacteria from the utensils can cause the food to spoil. Boil your utensils before use and make sure that all your counters and jar cooling items such as the lifter are sterilized. Never just wing it when it comes to the processing time of the food.
Use specific guidelines that are set out for the recipe that you want to can. Once your foods are properly prepared, you’ll want to be sure that you label them. You might be able to easily recognize them now, but after a few months, you might not be able to tell exactly what’s in the jar.
So use food labels to write down what’s in the jar and when you canned it. When you put the jars away, you need to keep them away from light. Put them somewhere out of the way that doesn’t have access to direct sunlight.
You’ll also want to make sure the place that you store them is free of moisture. The temperature shouldn’t get above 65-70 degrees or below 40. Check the foods after they’ve been stored for a while to see if there’s anything wrong with the food.
Sometimes, when you stack jars away out of sight, they can slip or fall over and this can break the seal. If you see something that looks like white fuzz inside the jar that means that mold is growing and the food should be tossed out.
You’ll also want to check for foods that noticeably change colors, this can be a clue that there’s fermentation going on and that can damage the taste and safety quality of the food that you canned.
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