Do You Fancy Yourself a Home Canner?

I must say a few words about home canning. I'm something of a fanatic- Janet and I put away hundreds of jars every year. It's hugely nerdy and I fully embrace that. Canning rumors abound, however, and I want to set the record straight. Read this to find out why.

1. If you are canning "just the way your grandma did it" then there is a very real likelihood that you are going to kill yourself, especially if you are canning anything containing vegetables or tomatoes. Over the past few decades, foods (particularly tomatoes) have been bred for a sweeter taste, which has changed their acidity, which means that processing methods and times that were adequate for your grandma are no longer adequate now.

2. The purpose of processing (when you boil your goods in either a canner or a pressure cooker) is not merely to achieve a vacuum seal on your jars. Many people think that if you ladle your hot food into jars you can simply turn them upside down, let them cool, and turn them upside right, and if the jars seal, you are fine. This is not the case. The boiling of your jars is necessary to kill bacteria, and the entire processing time is required to heat the food to a high enough temperature to eliminate these bacteria. The mere achievement of a vacuum seal does not mean that your food has been rendered safe.

3. Creativity is not allowed. If you are making salsa, for instance, you can't add additional peppers just because you feel like it: the addition of additional vegetables changes the pH of the food, which in turn changes the necessary processing time. Find a different recipe for a salsa you do like, or submit your current (or grandma's) recipe to your local extension agent for analysis. Follow the recipes exactly, including ingredients, processing method, and processing times.

Here are some reliable sources- Colorado State Extension, Utah State Extension, "Putting Food By" by Greene, Hertzberg, and Vaughn, or the Ball Blue Book.

Are you a little afraid now? Good. That's the first step to being a successful home canner.