Beginning Home Canning

Many people would like to learn to can their own foods but don't know where to start. Home canning may sound old-fashioned, but it's a simple process with many benefits in today's society. Gardening is on the rise all over the country, and many new gardeners will find themselves with a surplus of produce that they just can't bear to waste after all the work of growing it, but unsure of how to preserve it. Home canned foods can also be very convenient, providing fast home-cooked meals that are quickly heated and served for those busy days that all of us have. It's a good skill to know in order to save money as well. When produce is in season, great deals are to be had, and the home canner knows that jam made from surplus berries gotten cheaply in the summer will keep those savings all year. If the negative effects on health and the environment of grocery store foods concern you, canning your own foods can answer that problem too, giving you control of the freshness of your ingredients and allowing even those consumers in cold climates to eat local produce all year.

There are two basic ways of canning foods at home. One is called Water Bath Canning and the other is called Pressure Canning. Many people think of pressure canning when they think of canning at home, and are intimidated, but beginners will find water bath canning very approachable and just as easy as baking a cake.

Water bath canning is used for high sugar and high acid foods. High sugar content foods include jams and jellies, fruits and applesauce. High acid foods could be things like pickles and relishes, tomato sauce and other tomato products, and juices like orange and lemon juice. The sugars and acids in these foods inhibit bacterial growth as well as the boiling water process that the products under go to seal the jars, so they are safe to keep on the shelf long-term. Foods that don't have high sugars and acids, such as most veggies like green beans and corn, and meats, need to be pressure canned. Pressure canning raises the contents of the jars to a higher heat, since water boils at a higher temperature under pressure. This kills all the harmful bacteria that could live in the low acid, low sugar environment of these foods.

To get started with water bath canning, the would-be canner needs a water bath canner, canning jars, rings and lids, and good basic canning recipes. A water bath canner is a large pot with a rack inside to keep the jars from sitting directly on the bottom of the pot, keeping them from over heating. They come in many sizes and should allow for the largest jar that will be processed to sit and inch or two below the surface of the water. Jars for home canning are available from many stores and the two main manufacturers are Ball and Kerr. They both make the same basic type of jar. The jars are glass, the most popular sizes being half-pint (1 cup or 8 oz.), pint (2 cups) and quart (4 cups), and can be reused. The lids come in two parts, a flat disc (the lid) and a threaded ring to hold it on (the ring). The rings can be reused, but the lids should be discarded after one use. The lids are available in packs on their own to replace the used ones. The Ball Blue Book of Canning Recipes is an excellent book of tested recipes and safe instructions. Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt is also a great source for recipes. It's important to use recipes that are approved and tested to make sure they're safe, and never use any recipe for anything that calls for turning the jars over or letting the seal without boiling them too. These can both be unsafe practices.

A basic canning kit of useful tools such as long tongs, special jar lifting tongs, and a wide mouthed canning funnel will prove to be very valuable for the home canner as well.

The basic process for canning is pretty simple. The most important things to remember are to work cleanly and sterilely. The recipe is prepared, usually by boiling the foods or the syrups in which they'll be packed, and them packing or pouring them into sterile jars. The jars are easily sterilized in the dishwasher, or by letting the rest in the boiling canner for a minute or so. All the rings and lids should be sterilized the same way. The jars are filled, leaving the amount of headspace (gap from the level of food to the top of the jar) called for in the recipe. The lids are placed on the jars, the rings tightened, and then the jars are placed in the boiling water to process for the time indicated, usually ten or fifteen minutes. If the water stopped boiling, the cook should start timing from the point at which it returns to a boil.

After processing the jars are lifted from the water with the jar tongs and placed on a towel on a counter where they can rest out of any drafts for 24 hrs. Each jar will make a "ping" as it seals, and if any don't seal, it's easy to tell because that lid will flex up and down under pressure and will be loose and easy to remove when the ring is unscrewed. If this happens, the food in the unsealed jars is still safe to eat immediately and store in the fridge for a few weeks, or sometimes may be reheated and processed again in a different sterile jar with a new lid. All the sealed jars can be stored in a dark cool place indefinitely, though quality is better if the food is eaten within one year. The rings can be taken off the jars for storage, to prevent them from rusting in place and allow them to be reused when processing other jars.

Canning may seem a little more time consuming or complicated than regular cooking or baking, but getting the hang of it is pretty simple, and after a couple of batches of jam, the new home canner will be ready to take on any challenge, saving money, storing convenience, and putting the desire for green living into practice.