You Should Start Canning (It’s Easier Than You Think)
Now that I’ve been canning for about 20 years, I enjoy teaching other people how to do it. However, the USDA learns something new every year, and so canning regulations sometimes change. Some of these changes over the past 10 years have made canning much more efficient and less painful. (I also have my own hacks that I’ll share here.)
Canning makes food shelf stable
At a basic level, canning involves exposing cooked food to pressurized heat for a long enough time and under enough pressure to kill any pathogens, seal the jars, and ensure stable storage of the food. So, you can’t just do anything. To be safe, foods must have a certain acidity and be cooked in a specific way to prevent dangerous bacteria from growing in your jars. In addition, you will have to use special jars designed for canning. There are still several cases of botulism reported each year, and it is an extremely painful and sometimes fatal disease. The USDA and Ball (the company that makes most canning supplies, as well as the canning authority) produce safe recipes to follow if you’re just starting out. There is special equipment , such as autoclaves , that is needed to safely process certain foods. Tomatoes can be processed at lower temperatures and pressures, so you won’t need a pressure canner for them. But canned tuna and other acidic foods require a canner.
There is no longer any need to pre-sterilize jars and lids.
Previously, in addition to making jam or sauce in jars, you had to spend a lot of time preparing the jars: sterilizing them, handling hot jars, and then sterilizing the lids. All this work with hot metal and glass meant extra time and danger. However, the new rules give you some flexibility. The USDA now states that you do not need to sterilize jars if you intend to process them for longer than 10 minutes. Since I haven’t yet found any recipe that takes less than 10 minutes to process, you can give the jars a good wash (the dishwasher is ideal for this) and use them right away.
More good news: Ball, the manufacturer of most jars and lids, decided in 2014 that boiling lids before use is no longer recommended . Once the food is in the jars, use clean hands to place the lid on the jar and then seal it with the canning ring.
May be in the size jar you will use.
In most recipes and photos, everything is canned in quart jars. A quart is a lot , unless you have a family. If you’re canning one or two servings, don’t be afraid to use smaller jars. Every year I package my tomato sauce in smaller and smaller jars because that’s how much I use per person for lunch. I can package the pickles in half-pint sizes because if I’m making hamburgers, I only need enough pickles so I don’t have to store a whole jar in the refrigerator. Jars come in different sizes, so think carefully about what you’ll actually be using. For example, you shouldn’t have ketchup in a pint – you won’t use it up quickly enough. It’s the same with jam.
You can sous vide your pickles
As I mentioned earlier, different foods have different processing needs. Some foods require a canner, but low-acid foods like pickles can simply be treated with boiling water in a large canning pot. Still, this is a lot of hot water, heat and glass. Leslie Kinzel wrote about sous vide canning pickles several years ago, and now it’s the only method I use . It is gentler on the pickles themselves, resulting in a better crunch; it also means less hot water and heat in the kitchen while still meeting all the processing requirements.
Label, label, label
You think you’ll remember what’s in the jar, but I promise you, you won’t. All jams look the same. All tomato products look the same. You also need a date on each jar since most jars have a shelf life of two years. I just write on the non-reusable lids with a marker. But if you’re looking for a prettier presentation, consider dissolvable labels. Any other label is difficult to remove from jars. But I think you also use regular labels for one purpose: make little labels with your name on them and stick them to the bottom of the jars. This is your guarantee that you will get your jars back when you inevitably give them away.
Make sure you store jars correctly
Part of canning is storing jars properly because the lids must remain closed. So often I see people stacking cans, and this is strictly prohibited. You need to remember two things: first, remove the canning ring before storing. It may seem counterintuitive, but the jars are completely sealed (and if they are not fully sealed, they should be used immediately or the contents thrown away). Leaving the ring on may give you false confidence that the cap has burst, hiding that this has happened. So, before storing, remove the rings; they are designed to be reused again and again. Secondly, when stacking cans, you need to put something between them, such as cardboard. The boxes the jars come in are ideal for this, which is why most people keep them and use them for storage.