Choosing to Preserve the Harvest - Canning 101

Cooking with vegetables fresh from my garden brought me so much joy.  The rewards of the summer’s hard work would end with the first cold snap. But did it have to? Why should I spend the winter using inferior canned tomatoes when I could enjoy my own home grown tomatoes? Canning was the answer, and a guide to canning food would be very helpful for all undertaking this pursuit.
The prospect of home canning can be intimidating. I learned as a child at my grandmother’s side and watching my mother make her own jams and jellies.

Follow along with me and we will venture into canning and preserving for sustainable living,  You too can tread fearlessly into home canning.

Choosing to Preserve the Harvest

People choose home canning for many reasons. Memories of families getting together when their favorite fruit ripened and working in a steamy kitchen are enough to bring some folks back year after year. Others seek to reap the fruit of their labors long out of season, every jar of pickles stretching summer’s bounty a little further. Many appreciate that home canning is environmentally friendly in a tangible way: glass jars can be reused for years, a bumper crop that would spoil before it can be consumed doesn’t go to waste, peels become compost, and fuel is not used to transport goods from farm to factory to table.

Choosing and preparing the produce yourself gives you control over the use of pesticides, sodium, sugars or potential allergens. Still others choose to home can to provide healthy food for their families. Homegrown vegetables are higher in nutrients than their commercially grown counterparts, and home canning means nutritious vegetables can be preserved at the height of their freshness without chemical preservatives.

Beginning the Canning Process

Home canning is a good idea for so many reasons, the only real question is how to go about it?
The good news is that many great (and free) resources are available for beginners. Your local cooperative extension system is a great source of information. Many have books and websites covering all the basics, including recipes and canning guides.

Several recipe books also are available, the “Ball Blue Book” being a perennial favorite. Ball also offers tutorials, instructional video, and step-by-step recipes on its website, FreshPreserving.com.

Acidity is Everything

Whatever resource you choose to guide you, the bottom line is this: The golden rule of canning is “acidity is everything.”
“Foods that do not have acid require pressure canning. These are foods such as green beans, peas, corn, potatoes and many others,” Weese says. “When you place food with no acid in a jar and seal it with a vacuum, you have created a great place for Clostridium botulinum to grow. This organism, when placed in the vacuum environment, can start growing and create the deadly botulinum toxin, which causes an illness known as botulism. If a person consumes even a small amount of this toxin it can result in death.”
The natural acidity found in some fruits and vinegar provides an inhospitable environment for botulism-causing microorganisms. Foods without this acidity must be processed at a temperature that cannot be reached in a boiling water bath, and so a pressure canner must be used.

Food Spoilage

The causes of food spoilage are constant: loss of moisture, enzyme activity, exposure to oxygen and microorganisms. The process of canning slows the activity of spoilage enzymes, creates a vacuum that seals in moisture and keeps oxygen out, and prevents growth of undesirable microorganisms like mold, yeast and bacteria. Choosing fresh produce and cleaning it thoroughly also is important because micro-
organisms live on the surface and can spread in bruised or insect-damaged fruits and vegetables.
Weese recommends jams, jellies or pickles for the beginner because the recipes are simple and forgiving. In that light, we’ll go step-by-step through a simple Apple Jelly recipe that is as delicious as a glaze for pork loin as it is spread on English muffins.

Pressure Canning

Pressure canning can be a little intimidating for folks unfamiliar with a pressure cooker. When I first began canning, I would only approach my pressure canner using a pot lid as a riot shield. (Later, through a Google search, I learned that the pressure-regulating weight on my particular model is supposed to rock “more aggressively” than other models; at the time, though, I was convinced I was going to be killed in a tragic green bean accident.)
You also will need jars with two-piece self-sealing lids in an appropriate size for the type of food you are preparing. (Do you really need a half gallon of jelly?)
Remember that bands and jars can be reused (as long as the rings are free of rust and the jars are free of scratches or chips), but the lids cannot. You must use a new lid every time to achieve a good seal. You also will need a plastic spoon, a ladle and a funnel. Other inexpensive canning tools are available to make the job easier and safer. Jar lifters, headspace tools and magnetic lid lifters will keep your fingers out of trouble and can be found wherever canning supplies are sold.

The options for preserving your late-summer harvest are many. The experience is priceless, and the possibilities are endless!