Canning Your Food is Fun and Easy!

These days everyone is talking about frugality. What could be thriftier than canning your own food? Not only that, you can make it the way you like, without added preservatives, corn syrup, or things with unpronounceable names. Best of all, you can savor the bounty of local food long after the first freeze hits this fall.

Besides canning, you can dry, freeze, pickle, cure, smoke, ferment or place foods in cold storage. When choosing a method for food preservation, safety is a primary concern, with taste being a close second. It’s not too intimidating to throw something into the freezer, the root cellar or the refrigerator with some vinegar. We can be pretty sure that calamity will not follow. You’ve probably made tomato sauce and frozen it, or stored onions in a cool, dark place. It’s canning that’s kind of scary, and therefore the method with the most rules.

While canning does have a lot of rules, it’s also fairly simple—that is, it’s simple if you follow the rules. The most important thing to know is that the bacteria responsible for botulism thrives in the absence of air in moist, low-acid environments. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to increase the acidity of low-acid foods, to kill any bacteria with heat, and to provide an airtight seal so nothing ominous can enter the product after you’ve sealed it. That's it.

Most fruits are acidic enough to can using a hot water bath canner, while most vegetables need to be processed with a pressure canner and some added vinegar or lemon juice to raise their acidity. Tomatoes are a borderline acid item, while green beans are low acid. If you don’t like your tomato sauce with added lemon juice or vinegar, you should probably try freezing instead. However, a bit of lemon never hurt a green bean.

Using the best, freshest produce makes the best preserve. Follow recipes from a reliable source, and you are assured a good product. Don’t omit the lemon juice, change the amount of salt, or try to cut down the heating time. Kosher salt and pickling salt are both good choices. Table salt contains anti-caking additives and iodine that can cause pickles to darken. Salt substitutes can turn bitter and give preserved foods an unpleasant flavor.

Some signs your preserved food has spoiled:

• The food, jar or lid has mold on it, or food has leaked out.
• The food looks slimy, shriveled, spongy or cloudy.
• You can see bubbles or bulging of the lid.
• The jar’s contents “shoot” out when the lid is opened.
• The food has an “off” odor.

Here are some additional resources for you if you decide to give canning a whirl this year.

1. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a terrific website and offers a free, self-paced online course from the University of Georgia. http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
2. Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda Amendt
3. Quick Pickles by Schlesinger, Willoughby and George
4. The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard

A version of this article entitled “Preserving the Bounty of the Season” written by Peg Toscanini was first published in the River Valley Market Newsletter, Summer 2009.