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| Victory gardens were encouraged in WW2 |
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Canning is a great way to preserve your own harvest. After canning, you can just store at room temperature so if you are short on freezer space, it is great option. I do only water bath canning, which just requires canning jars and a big pot, no pressure canner needed.
When you can your own food, you know that you are putting the peak of freshness and nutrition in every jar. Plus, it is a great money saver. The jars can be re-used year after year and you likely have all the kitchen tools you need to can already.
When canning acidic foods like fruit or tomatoes or anything using vinegar or sugar, you can likely use only a water bath. When you can, you have to follow the recipe exactly to make sure it is safe to eat. Canning of low acid foods like green beans require a pressure canner to achieve high enough temperatures to kill off the bacteria that cause botulism.
I stick with canning extra tomatoes, pickled garlic, hot sauce and pickles as all are high acid and only need a water bath to make them safe for long term storage. Tomatoes are naturally acidic and some lemon juice is added to make sure it is acidic enough for water bath canning. As a rule of thumb anything canned in vinegar or lots of sugar will be acidic enough to not require a pressure canner. Stick to the recipe exactly to make sure your canned goods remain safe to eat. If you do that, you can have lots of canned goods to eat year round.
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| Homemade tomato sauce in Weck's canning jars |
Here are links to the blogs covering each of the produce that I can:
Here are some web pages and resources to use:
Mother Earth News “How to Can” app
National center for home food preservation http://nchfp.uga.edu
USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning http://goo.gl/pwrxd
Home Canning www.homecanning.com
“Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving” book
“The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving” book
Many of the lids in today's canning jars contain BPA, a chemical that studies suggest act like estrogen in the body with babies and young children are especially susceptible to its effects. In 2012, BPA was removed from baby bottles after banned by the FDA, but is still found in many products including conventionally canned foods. Even those that advertise BPA free can contain other substances that are just as harmful.
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| Old fashioned canning jars, 1946 canning pamphlet, Weck's glass canning jar |
My favorite BPA free canning jars are these beautiful glass jar with glass lid made in Germany-Weck’s (it is the second from the right in the pic). The only thing that comes into contact with your food is glass.
The Weck’s work great. Easy to use, easy to know that the seal is good, and beautiful to look at. I highly recommend them. Since I started using these glass jars, I have seen other European makers of all glass jars and lids available, like Terrina Ermetico and Bormioli Rocco.
There is also a plastic lid that is BPA free that can be used with modern jars made by Tattler, made in the USA since 1976. They are a seamless replacement for the metal lids with today's canning jars. If you already have Mason jars, these are an inexpensive way to convert them to BPA free.
There is little other equipment you need to get canning. All you really need when canning high acid foods is a tall stock pot with lid, tongs, a stainless steel spoon, a towel to put the hot jars on, a cutting board to stage the hot jars, and your canning jars. You can just use what you have or you can purchase a canning kit in stores or on line.
Happy canning!
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