CANNING INFORMATION

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It seems like everyone has some questions about home-canning your garden produce and meat. I have been canning for almost my whole life, and it seems like everyone calls me when they have a question while canning. So maybe I can give some helpful information to some of you. I have taught many of my friends how to can safely. If you are going to do all the work involved in getting your product to the jar (planting, hoeing, harvesting, butchering etc...) please take the time to learn how to preserve the harvest properly. First borrow or purchase a good canning book. I use several but the best all around one is the Ball Blue Book. It contains many recipes, plus an excellent beginning section on which foods should be canned in a water-bath canner and which should be pressure-canned.even if you have been canning for many years, it is a good idea to read some of the most recent reccommendations. For example, in the case of tomatoes, many of our newer varieties just aren't as acidic as the older varieties, thus a recipe that worked fine for your grandmother might not be safe to use now. As a general rule, fruits, jams, jellies, tomatoes, any items with vinegar added (to the proper strength and acidity} are safe to process in a water-bath canner. All vegetables, meats, or tomatoes with vegetables added must be processed in a pressure-canner. You can boil water for 24 hours and it will never get hot enough to kill some types of mold and bacteria!! I realize that many people boil their green beans for 3 hours, but this could be a health risk for people whose immune systems are weakened. I recently read an article in our paper that said that most cases of so-called stomach flu were actually mild food poisoning. Now is a great time to read up on this subject while the weather is cold!! I can't wait to get back to canning and as soon as I can scrape some snow off of the ground I am going to go plant something!! Best wishes to you all

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), January 10, 2001

Answers

Ayuh! And Amen! Good advice, at least from the perspective of this Maineiac. I only can acidic stuff (tomatoes, pickles, etc.) in a boiling water bath. It is better and more economical to can in a steam bath for most stuff. Get the Ball book! A bit conservative, as are most guides today, given that the lawyers have infected our society. Still -- pretty safe. But don't get too paranoid! Most of what Grandma did worked pretty well. Both of mine hit their 80's, so I'm not too worried about what I learned from them. If your Grandma taught you how to can, and she died in her 30's or 40's of unspecified gastro-intestinal distress, you may want to be careful about her recipes! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), January 10, 2001.

Good Advice Melissa. I am new to canning. So far I have only canned fruits, I figure thats safe for a beginner. I found a lot of help through my County Extension. They have classes for "Master Food Preserver." The classes are free but they require you to volunteer 40 hrs. to teach other people what you have learned. Now is a good time to sign up.

-- Linda (wklkmorgan@ifriendly.com), January 11, 2001.

I have found that by adding lemon juice to the canned tomatoes rather than vinegar that it gives them a fresher flavor. Some friends prefer the vinegar taste though. My kids like both! I am looking forward to the next canning season too! The snow is melted and the rain has hit. When it is dry enough to go to the garden without sinking to my knee pits I will get out there and plant some peas!!! I totally agree with Melissa about the Ball book. That is what I started with 20 years ago and I still use it for a reference on timing. The only thing to change over the last years are the tomatoes. I have always added the lemon juice because I like the taste. My grandparents died in their 80's and 90's too, so I guess it won't kill me either!!!!!!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 13, 2001.

I also use lemon juice in tomatoes, if I have it available. When I mentioned vinegar above I was mostly referring to pickling. When I read it over, it sounded like I was adding vinegar to the jams and jellies!!!! I have answered a few e-mails privately on their canning questions. It is so nice to hear from people who have like hobbies and life-styles. Many people around me are always complaining about their grocery bills, when they have plenty of space for gardens, free time to work them, and kids who would probably love to help. We can get by on as little as $25-$30 a week for a family of six, because of our gardening and canning. Jars are easy to obtain at yard-sales, auctions or from family members and friends who have them taking up space in their basements. You'd be surprised what you can round up for FREE just by asking, and many people feel you are doing them a favor by cleaning them up for them. Happy Canning everyone!

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), January 13, 2001.

Amen sister Melissa! I often wonder the same thing about my friends that have a lot of land and kids and the lack of garden!! We are a family of 5 and make do on around the same. Some of my friends say that they spend 300 to 400 dollars on groceries a month! Yikes!!! It is fun to can and even the younger kids can snap beans or scrub new potatoes. Face it, they are a lot closer to the ground when it comes to planting too!! Well, mine used to be, they are now my "tillers" and I don't have to do the heavy work. When they were small they would get around the wash tub and scrub my new potatoes until they all had red freckles from the skins!!! Wow! Someone out there that thinks like me. My husband would say that is Scary!!!!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 13, 2001.


Hi! I'm a major "canning fool" - I love to can about anything, including meats, fish, vegetables, etc.- my husband always says I'd can rocks if I could! I don't have a Ball book, but do have an older Kerr book, plus the manual that came with my canner (I prefer to can on 15 lbs pressure to save time, which isn't in my older Kerr book). I noticed in some of the recent Countryside magazines that a few people mentioned "canning" pickles with steam in their pressure canners. How is this done? I do all my canning on one of our two wood cookstoves (Pioneer Maid inside in winter; old cookstove on porch in summer), and it's been a real pain to mess with the boiling water bath for pickles - so much so, that I didn't put up nearly as many jars as normal last year. So, I would LOVE any info anyone can give me on steamcanning pickles - times, how to do it, etc. Thanks!

-- Rick & Leslie W (whomestead@hotmail.com), January 15, 2001.

An Amish friend of mine taught me a neat trick to do pickles. She probably doesn't use any canning book, so it is a bit different than the "Recommended" stuff. She makes the crunchiest dill pickles that I have ever had. She cans them in sterilized jars, pours boiling 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water over them and then seals them by putting them in a water bather and bringing it to a boil. After the water comes to a boil she takes them out immediately. I have tried it for the last 2 seasons and the pickles are great. I haven't had problems with any of them coming open. Not bad for 69 quarts of pickles! They are really crunchy too, unlike the ones that you water bath for 5 or 10 minutes. Oh..she puts her spices in with the cucs. before she pours the vin.water over it. We have a lot of get togethers and these pickles are the easiest thing to grab and put in with the potluck stuff. They always go fast with all of the kids and the "big"kids grabbing one. Have fun and God Bless!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 16, 2001.

Nan-what kind of spices?

-- Margie b (bromens5@navix.net), January 16, 2001.

Well, I like a little chopped onion, dill, garlic, of course salt, pepper (hot and black) and anything else that sounds good to you. I put a whole cayenne in the middle one time and my heat-loving husband loved them. I don't like them quite as hot. A friend of mine also includes some store-bought pickling spices, but I don't know what is in those. This is making me wish for spring. How about you?

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 16, 2001.

I had a post last summer, and which still elicits responses, under the heading "How do I make crunchy dill pickles". Look for it in the archives under "Country Kitchen". And I've posted this before as well, but for some super spices, a great catalog, and very good prices, get ye to . I know that this doesn't always work, so if it didn't, go to the 3 w's, then penzeys, then the ubiquitous dotcom. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), January 16, 2001.


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