Written By Myrhanda .
It’s that time of year where I’m digging out my canning equipment, and getting ready for the onslaught of putting up veggies from the garden. And of course, around this time of year I get a lot of questions on how to can. I had planned on doing lessons, and utilizing the extra hands to cut things up etc, but Covid threw a monkey wrench into that plan… You see, I’ve been canning for years, and I’ve accumulated a vast knowledge on it, and I LOVE to share knowledge.
Canning is fun! Yes the thoughts of what can go wrong are pretty darn scary, but if you follow some pretty simple rules, it’s really not that scary or hard! I promise! So why do I do it when I can just go to the store and buy it? Straight up – the flavour… hands down it’s the flavour. It’s just soooo much more glorious, especially if the food you put up is from your garden. You know everything that has gone into those plants, and you’ll know everything that’s gone into those canning jars. The difference in taste is what makes all the hard work worth it. But if you cannot grow enough, that’s ok just call your local Famers Market. You can order bushels, half bushels, pecks etc from them.
First things first, you need some equipment:
- Canner with a rack or grate to put at the bottom., or alternatively you can use a pressure canner too.You can use a stock pot, but you need to ensure the pot is deep enough to have 1” of water above your canning jars
- Glass canning (Mason) jars, and 2-piece lidsHere in Canada, Bernardin and Golden Harvest are the go to brands that are readily sold in most stores. Please don’t re-use the lids you get from sauces and other canned goods that you buy from the store. They really require special equipment – even though your granny says it’s fine, just please don’t.
- Jar LifterUnless you have asbestos hands (I really hope you don’t) get these, so much easier and safer to lift the jars out of the hot water with them.
- Canning Funnel
- Tongs or a ladle for lifting the food out of the pot into your jars.
- Plastic flat spatula for releasing bubbles along the insides of the jars
- Vinegar and a clean cloth for cleaning the rims of your jars
- and the obvious, ingredients
- An approved and well tested recipe too. I will link below some sites for you
- Find your altitude to find out how long you’ll need to have your goodies in the canner too, here in the Parry Sound area we’re sitting at 176 meters (577 feet).
Next, before you fill your jars, inspect the rims for any cracks or gouges – don’t use those. Toss those or use them for something else, like hand made soap jars. Then wash the good ones in hot soapy water, make sure you rinse them very well, you don’t want soap flavour! For water bath canning you will then need to sterilize your jars. I boil them for 10 minutes in the water I would be using for the canning process. Keep them in the very hot water until you’re ready to fill them. This is where people will go wrong… you really really need to ensure everything is sterilized. Botulism is no joke. It will either make you very sick or it’ll kill you. So don’t play around with this step, ok? Sterilize, sterilize, I can’t repeat that enough.
If you don’t have a pressure canner, you need to “pickle” your food. Any hot water bath recipes need a high-acid environment in order to keep those botulism spores at bay. Please don’t use homemade vinegar either, there’s really no home test for the acidity (that I’m aware of, but when there is I’m all over that!). You can’t get the contents hot enough to kill off any spores with hot water bath method. If you don’t want to pickle things, then please invest in a Pressure Canner. This is where it’s important to utilize a recipe that has been properly tested.
After you fill your jars, wipe the rims clean with that bit of vinegar and clean cloth that you’ve got tucked away, you want a good clean surface for the lids to seal properly. When you put the lids on, finger tighten the rings down. You need to allow for vacuum sealing – so don’t crank them on! The lids nowadays don’t need to be boiled ahead, but for sterilization purposes I dunk mine in that super hot water quickly. It’s not recommended to reuse the metal lids anymore, so you’ll be using brand new lids, but I would still do an inspection on them in case there was an issue in manufacturing. There shouldn’t be any nicks in the rubber or the white enamel coating, if so, use another one.
I’ll do a post and review a new-to-me product that circumvents that shortly.
Once you’ve processed your goodies for the allotted time, use your jar lifting tongs to carefully lift them out onto a drying rack. I prefer a towel on the counter as quite frankly this ol’ house moves with the excitement of a toddler and the towel just provides an extra stability for this Mama. While it might be tempting to start popping the lids, don’t. Let the process work and create the vacuum seal needed. If you’ve done everything properly they’ll be popping away in no time. Leave them there for a couple hours or until they’ve cooled completely. Once they’ve cooled, then you can check the lids to see if they’ve popped. When you store them away, take the rings off. This prevents a false sense of seal.
Give your goodies a few weeks before digging into them, this allows for everything to marinate in the awesomeness you just created!
