| Canning
Basics
By
Jennifer Slaugh, staff writer
When
I left for college there was only one thing I snuck out of
my parents pantry: the bread and butter pickles. At the time
I didn't know they could be purchased in a store, but even
now I will only eat the ones the my dad has canned. And, call
me crazy, but no Sunday dinner is complete without them.
I have good memories of family canning adventures... except
for the time I broke my leg, but no one believed me, and I
was still put in charge of washing the peaches. Other
than that, the memories are good.
We had
shelves of peaches, tomatoes, relish, pickles, beets, and
other summer garden yield. With
a family of seven, everyone was given a station to man and
the process seemed to go smoothly.
As a current
family of one, canning is a little more tricky. The first
thing I've learned is that it isn't easy. It becomes easier,
so don't be frightened away. As my brother-in-law put it,
"there are many critical steps and a lot of information
that must be learned and followed."
Get a
detailed canning book. I recommend Ball Blue Book. Cooking
times, liquid amounts, food acid content, and processing directions
all vary depending on where you live and what kind of food
you are canning. The recipes included here are very basic,
and you will want a reference guide for when you get stuck.
The first time you can will be messy and maybe even frustrating,
but it's all worth it. Having canned homegrown vegetables
and fruits will keep a little bit of summer in your kitchen
during the winter months.
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qts sliced unpeeled medium cucumbers
6 med white onion, about 6 cups sliced
2 green peppers, sliced, about 1 2/3 cups
3 cloves garlic - on toothpicks for easy removal later
1/3 cup pickling salt
cracked ice
5 cups sugar
3 cups cider vinegar
2 Tbsp mustard seed
1 1/2 tsps celery seed
1 1/2 tsps ground turmeric
Combine first four ingredients, add salt, cover with
cracked ice. Mix thoroughly. Let stand 3 hours, drain
well. Remove garlic. Combine remaining ingredients;
pour over cucumber mixture. Bring to boiling. Fill
hot pint jars with vegetables and liquid, leaving
1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process in boiling
water bath 5 minutes (start timing when water returns
to boiling).
Makes 8 pints.
My
dad Carl's recipe, Hiawatha Branch, Topeka Kansas
Stake.
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5-6
quarts tomatoes coarsely chopped, about 6 quarts
8 medium onions, about 8 cups
4 large green sweet peppers, about 4 cups
2 large red sweet peppers, about 2 cups
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 Tbps salt not iodized
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 qt cider vinegar
Chop onions and peppers, cut tomatoes coarsely. Add
rest of ingredients and boil 2 hours or until desired
thickness is reached. Seal in hot water bath for 10
minutes.
Makes about 13 pints.
Recipe from my Great-Aunt Edna, Preston and Mink
Creek, Idaho, 9 Aug 1986.
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Select ripe firm peaches.
Get more peaches than you think you will need.
Mix
a light syrup water, four cups of water to two cups
of sugar. Heat to boiling on your stove, keep hot.
Pack your peaches (blanched, halved and pitted) cut
side down, edges overlapping in your jars. Fill the
jar with the boiling syrup. It will take about 1 to
1 1/2 cups of syrup for each quart.
Run
a thin rubber scraper between the peaches and the side
of the jar to release all the air bubbles which might
be trapped. This is important. If you leave the air
in the jar you will get a big air space at the top after
processing. Add more syrup if necessary. Leave about
1/2 inch head space at the top of the jar.
Wipe the top and threads of the jar clean with a paper
towel. As you finish each jar, stand it on the rack
in your canner or large pot which is half full or
simmering hot water. The water should not be boiling,
plunging jars into boiling water may cause them to
crack. Using a special canning pot is helpful. The
wire rack keeps the jars from banging against each
other. However, many a jar has been processed in a
regular pot, just be careful.
Once you have filled enough jars for one batch, lower
the jars down into the water. There should be an inch
or two of water over the jars, add more water if you
need to. Cover the canner. Bring the water to a boil,
process pints 25 minutes, quarts 30 minutes, at a
gentle but steady boil. Remove jars from the canner.
Let cool 12 hours. Jars should be wiped clean and
may be stored with or without the bands.
Recipe from
www.terhuneorchards.com.
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When canning cherries
select bright, uniformly-colored, mature fruit. They
should be ideal for eating fresh or cooking.
Stem and wash cherries. Remove pits if desired. If
pitted, pre-soak in a salt/vinegar water solution
(see side bar "Helpful Recipes for Canning Fruit")
to retain color. If cherries are canned un-pitted,
prick skins on opposite sides with a clean needle
to prevent splitting.
Cherries may be canned in water, apple juice, white
grape juice or sugar syrup. If another liquid is used,
heat it to boiling.
Remove cherries from salt/vinegar
water solution and drain well. Place cherries in a
large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup water, juice or syrup
to each quart of fruit. Bring to a boil.
Pack cherries in hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space.
Fill jars to 1/2 inch from top with hot liquid. Remove
air bubbles. Add more liquid if needed. Wipe rim and
screw threads and adjust lids and screw bands. Process
in a boiling water bath canner (pints. 15 min.
quarts. 20 min).
Recipe from www.canning-food-recipes.com.
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Have
all the needed utensils handy. Wash jars, rings, and
lids in hot sudsy water. Rinse. Place the jars in
hot water and leave them there until needed. Place
the lids in a pan and let them simmer for a few minutes,
then remove them from the heat and let them stand
in the hot water until needed.
Pick ripe but firm, unblemished tomatoes, enough for
one canner load. Wash the tomatoes.
Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds,
then remove the skins, core, and any unsightly spots.
Pack the hot tomatoes into the jars, trying not to
crush them. Leave about 1/2 inch of head space. Add
1 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
to each quart jar, and half a teaspoon of salt and
1 tablespoon lemon juice to each pint jar (salt acts
as a preservative).
Run a non-metallic spatula around the inside of the
jar to remove air bubbles. Clean the threads of the
jar with a clean damp cloth. Remove a lid from the
hot water and place flat on top of the jar. Screw
in the ring, making sure it's tight and firm.
Stand each full jar on the rack inside the water-bath
canner, in hot (not boiling) water. The water should
stand 1 to 2 inches above the jars. Add more hot water
if needed. Cover the canner with its lid, and bring
water to a boil. Process pints and quarts for 85 minutes,
at a gentle, steady boil (refer to altitude charts
if you live above 1,000 feet).
Remove the jars from the canner and set on a folded
bath towel. Place each jar apart from the others,
and cover them with another towel. Allow them to cool
for 12 hours, then remove the rings and check to see
the jars are indeed sealed (the lid should curve inwards
a bit). Wash the outside of the jars, dry, and store
jars in a cool, dark, dry place. You're done!
Recipe
from www.spirasolaris.com.
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The
Basics
Jar
Selection: Mason or Ball jars with a two-part lid
are recommended for long-term storage. For whole vegetables
and fruits, select wide-mouthed jars so filling will be easier.
The jar and metal band are reusable. You can buy new lids
separately.
Sterilizing the Jars and Lids: Wash jars
in hot suds and rinse in scalding water, or put through the
sanitizing cycle of a dishwasher. The jars should be hot when
filled with hot liquid. Place the lids in a shallow bowl and
pour boiling water over them to soften the rubber seal. Allow
to soak for 3 minutes before using.
Filling the Jars: Pack vegetables of fruits
tightly into the jars and pour hot or boiling (depending on
the recipe) liquid or syrup over them to within ½ inch
of the top of the jar. This allows headspace, which is necessary
for the expansion of food and to allow a vacuum to form.
Sealing the Jars: With a clean, damp towel,
wipe the rim of the jar to remove any drips, which would interfere
with sealing. Place a hot lid on the jar. Tightly screw on
a metal ring.
Checking Seals: On the day after canning,
examine each jar carefully. Test seal by pressing on the center
of the lid; jar is sealed if lid is down and does not move.
If a jar is not sealed, set aside and use within a few days.
Labeling and Storing: Write the name of the
product and the date it was canned on a label that will stick
to the jar after it has been cooled. A faster, but not as
attractive, labeling method is to write the product name and
date on the lid with a permanent marker.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
How
long will canned food stay edible?
Canned food will last at least one year when stored in a cool,
dry place. Be sure to keep canned food away from hot pipes,
sunlight, and dampness.
Do jars really need to be sterilized before processing?
Yes. You can never be too careful when it comes to food safety.
One time through a dishwasher sterilizing cycle should be
good enough. It's a good idea to keep the bottles in the dishwasher
until you are going to put the food in so that they remain
clean. As a favor to me, if you are reusing bottles you dug
out of your garage, and there was a dead spider in any of
the jars, run them through the dishwasher twice.
Is
it all right to reuse jar lids and bands?
Lids should never be used a second time since the sealing
compound becomes indented by the first use, preventing another
airtight seal. The screw bands may be reused unless they are
badly rusted or the top edge is pried up, either of which
would prevent a proper seal.
What vegetables expand instead of shrink during processing?
Corn, peas and lima beans are starchy and expand
during processing. They should be packed loosely.
Helpful
Recipes
for Canning Fruit
Salt
and Vinegar Solution:
Drop cut fruit into mixture of 1 gallon water and 2 tablespoons
each salt and vinegar. This will help to keep fruit from darkening.
When all the fruit has been cut, rinse and drain before packing.
Sugar
Syrup:
Light: 2 cups sugar and 4 sups water (yields
5 sups)
Medium: 3 cups sugar and 4 sups water (yields
5 ½ cups)
Heavy: 4 ¾ cups sugar and 4 sups water
(yields 6 ½ cups)
To prepare syrup, while heating water, add sugar slowly, stirring
constantly to dissolve. Bring to a gentle boil. Fill jars
while syrup is still boiling hot.
Canning Definitions
Cold pack - Canning procedure in which jars
are filled with raw food. "Raw pack" is the preferred
term for describing this practice. "Cold pack" is
often used incorrectly to refer to foods that are open-kettle
canned or jars that are heat-processed in boiling water.
Hot pack - Heating of raw food in boiling water or
steam and filling it hot into jars.
Headspace - The unfilled space above food or liquid
in jars. Allows for food expansion as jars are heated, and
for forming vacuums as jars cool.
Pickling - The practice of adding enough
vinegar or lemon juice to a low-acid food to lower its pH
to 4.6 or lower. Properly pickled foods may be safely heat
processed in boiling water.
Blanch - Blanching is taking the peel off
peaches and tomatoes. Forthose who don't know, a blancher
is a two-part pot (similar to a double boiler). The inside
part is perforated (like a collinder) and holds the fruit
to be blanched. The outside is just a tall pot. Heat the water
in the tall 'outside' pot to boiling and then lower the inside
basket (which is filled with fruit) into the boiling water.
After one minute, lift the basket out (let it drain over the
pot) and put fruit into a sink full of cold water. Take a
dull knife to use as a lever to pull the skins off the peaches.
Sometimes, you don't even need the knife; the skins will naturally
slip right off.
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