Home Canning Fruits and Vegetables

Whether you have a garden in your back yard and find yourself overloaded with tomatoes or your local farmer's market has a sale on veggies, home canning is the answer to preserving this delicious produce. Not only does it give you a supply of fruits and vegetables all year, but it is economical, as well.

When you can fruits and vegetables, you heat them hot enough and long enough to destroy the molds, yeasts, and bacteria that cause the food to spoil. The canning process is done in either a boiling-water-bath canner or a steam pressure-canner. Which type of process to use depends upon the type of food you want to can.

Fruits, tomatoes, and pickled vegetables need a boiling-water-bath canner. These acidic foods can be processed in boiling water.

Vegetables, other than tomatoes (considered a fruit), require a temperature higher than boiling water for safely canning. A pressure saucepan with a gauge for controlling the pressure at 10 pounds or 240 degrees F. can be used as a steam-pressure canner for vegetables in pint jars or tin cans.

Selecting Fruits and Vegetables:

For the best results, choose fresh, young, and firm vegetables and fruits. Can them as soon as possible before they lose their fresh flavor. Sort the produce by size for even cooking.

Washing Fruits and Vegetables:

Wash all the produce thoroughly. Wash small portions at a time under running water. Take the food out of the water after each portion, so dirt doesn't get back on the food. Don't allow the produce to soak in the water because this causes loss of flavor.

Filling the Containers:

Fruits and vegetables can be packed raw into glass jars or tin cans, or preheated and packed hot. Tightly pack raw food into the jar because it shrinks as it processes. Hot food should be packed loosely and should be near the boiling point at the time of packing.

Make sure there is enough juice or syrup to cover the food in the jar. It takes about ½ to 1 ½ cups of liquid for a quart Mason jar or No. 2 ½ tin can.

Sealing and Exhausting Tin Cans:

Tin cans are sealed before the food processing. The temperature of the food in the cans has to be 170 degrees F. or higher when sealing the cans. The reason the food is heated to this temperature is to drive out the air and make a good vacuum in the can.

Raw packed food must be heated in the cans before they are sealed. This is known as exhausting. Hot packed food does not need to be heated any more, just be sure the temperature does not drop below 170 degrees.

To exhaust the can, put the open, filled cans on a rack in a kettle that contains enough boiling water to come two inches below the tops of the cans. Cover the kettle and bring the water back to a boil.

Remove the cans from the kettle one at a time and add boiling packing liquid or water to fill the head space. Put a clean lid on the filled can and seal immediately.

Cooling Canned Food:

Glass Jars - Complete the seals immediately when taking jars from the canner. If any liquid boiled out during the processing, don't open the jar to add any more. Seal the jar just the way it is.

Cool the jars top side up. Set the jars apart with enough room for air to get at all sides of the jar. Remember to never set a hot jar on a cold surface. It is best to place the jars on a folded cloth or towel.

Tin Cans - Place the cans in cold water to cool them. Change the water a few times as they cool. Remove the cans from the water while they are warm and air dry.

Day after the Canning:

Check all the Mason jars and can to be sure the seal is tight. Do this by turning the jar and watch for leakage. If the jar has a flat metal lid, you can tap the center of the lid with a spoon. You should hear a clear, ringing sound.

Label the canned food with the date before storing them in a cool, dry place.

Specific Instructions for Canning Fruits, Tomatoes, and Pickled Vegetables
Packing Tips:

Raw Packing - Put cold, raw fruit in the containers and cover with boiling water, juice, or syrup. Press tomatoes down in the containers so they are covered with their own juice - do not add water.

Hot Packing- Heat fruits in syrup, in water or steam. Juicy fruits and tomatoes can be preheated without adding liquid and packed in the juice that cooks out.

Processing in Boiling-Water Bath:

Put filled glass Mason jars into the canner containing hot or boiling water. For raw packed food in glass jars, have the water in the canner hot but not boiling. All other packing requires boiling water.

Add boiling water to about and an inch or two over the tops of the jars. Place the cover on the canner. Start timing the processing when the water reaches a rolling boil. Boil gently for the recommended processing time from the recipe.

Immediately remove the jars from the canner when the time is up.

There are many recipes to follow for home canning fruits and vegetables. Nothing is better than making homemade spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes you canned yourself and grew in your own garden. Have fun with the canning and use up all those fruits and vegetables.

Resources: Home Canning, Good Reading Rack Service, Inc., 76^th Avenue, New York, New York.