For those who like to can, put-up or want to learn

Fruit in the Kitchen
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For those of your that are new to making jam, jelly, preserves, conserves, confits, coulis, etc. Here are a couple of tips:

The Ball Jar company puts out an ‘all-purpose’ inexpensive book on canning, includes recipes, and putting up fruits and vegetables. It is called the ‘Blue Book’. It is good for learning the basics of canning and lists all supplies you must purchase. Many supplies last for eons, and the jars are recyclable (not the lids or rings).

On the internet I found a great store for jars. It is called The Jar Store, simple enough. They have any shape, size, quantity you might need and the prices are excellent.

There are many excellent sites on the internet for canning instructions and videos. ‘Food in Jars’ is an excellent site.

I personally water process all of my jars so the seal is excellent and any lingering germ or bacteria is killed. Our two person household can’t eat 16 jars of any jam that are to be stored in the fridge. The jars need shelf-life.

Like most passions (fruit for example) have initial costs. You will be rewarded by your jars of jams, jelly’s, sauces, pickles you name it; it is really worth while to spend the small amount of money for a canner, jars, lids, and a few other accessories. Not only will your family adore you for the jars of freshly canned applesauce, from YOUR apples, the ‘jarred’ goodies make amazing gifts that are most appreciated. Homemade Black Currant Jam is a favorite of friends of mine, as is ‘Mirabelle’ jam. The more exotic, the better! Oh, and ask your friends to return the jars. They will! Why? Next year they will want a refill! Hope this helps. It is love in jar!

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Nice inspirational post, MrsG.

I’ve been canning since I don’t know when and pressure canning since ~1970. You’re right. Water bath canners are very inexpensive. I had to replace mine this year because the pot I had used for years developed a pinhole on the bottom. I even splurged and bought a magnetic lid lifter for the first time. It was just a few dollars, but so much easier and safer than fishing those individual lids out of hot water the way I’d been doing it. Some things have changed since I did my first jams. We used to use paraffin to seal jams and jellies. A hot water bath sterilizes and preserves them much better.

I have only one correction, and that is that rings are totally reusable until they start rusting. They last a long time. Jars can often be found at yard sales for a song. When people know you can, they often give you canning jars they’ve had stored or that their granny used and they didn’t know what to do with. The biggest difficulty I have is finding easily accessible, but out of the way and view, places to store unused jars. I usually spin the rings loosely around them and store them upside down. Then I have the right sized ring with the jar when I go to use them.

I’ve thanked Drew for introducing me to Pomona pectin that I ordered through Amazon because now I can make jams with much less sugar. It gives a more pronounced fruit flavor. The resulting appearance is not as clear as with SureJell or Certo, but the flavor is enhanced.

Water bath canning works well for high acid/sugar foods. But lower acid/sugar foods, like most vegetables (even tomatoes unless acid is added) and all meats and soups require proper pressure canning. Pressure canners are pricey, but necessary in order to eliminate botulism, which grows in low acid anaerobic environments. Cooking the product after opening will not eliminate the danger. Even if it eliminates the spores, the toxins remain. (See Olpea’s correction a few posts below.) Therefor, proper pressure and processing times must be maintained. Using undamaged containers and new lids is also important to ensure a proper seal. Do not store unused lids above your stove or other hot and moist place. The sealing compound may degrade. It’s sad to throw away a dozen jars of something you worked hard to grow and can. (Don’t ask me how I know.)

Preserving is fun and worthwhile. It more than pays for itself over the long run. And even though I might have made it sound somewhat scary, it’s totally safe when done properly. Like maintaining an auto, it’s just not an activity where it’s wise to cut corners.

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Mrs. G,

This is a timely subject not just for me but for the abundant fruits harvest at this time of year. I slowly dipped into this canning arena and really enjoyed it. I’ll on the look out for canning supplies that are on sale and push my adventure further!

Thank you for helping me out with the initial learning process. I’m sure to ask more questions as needed.

Tom

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Thanks, mrsg. My mom and grandmother are both gone, now, so no one to help me can. I do have the Ball book, which is extremely good. And, both my supermarket and my really nice gardening center have a full contingent of canning supplies, which I found rather shocking here in S. California, but very glad for it! Even my local Target has some canning supplies.

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MuddyMess has a great informative post. The only thing I would add is that I use some thick nitrile gloves when canning (I have them marked for food use only). It’s really nice to be able to stick your hands momentarily in boiling water if you need to. I have a jar lifter, but sometimes I just pull the jars out with the nitrile gloves. They offer pretty good protection for handling hot peppers too.

Like Muddy, I use Pomona when I jam. Great advice!

One thing that Muddy mentioned which got mixed up is that cooking eliminates the toxin, not the spores. The clostridium botulinum toxin is actually very fragile. It will break down at 180F in five minutes, so bringing the food to a boil will kill the toxin completely. Experts don’t recommend eliminating the toxin this way because it takes such a very small amount of toxin to kill a human (one of the very most toxic substances on the earth if you want to Google it).

Still, if I don’t feel good about a jar I’ve canned, I boil it and put it in the fridge as an extra safety measure.

The clostridium botulinum spores are much tougher and generally don’t die at 212F. It takes like 8 hrs. at 212F to kill the spores. However under pressure canning the temps rise to 240F or more, which kills the botulinum spores much much quicker. Once the spores are dead there is no risk of the food being able to produce the botulinum toxin. That’s why properly canned meat can last 20 years or more, even though it’s low acid.

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Thanks for cleaning that up, Olpea. I should have looked up the info and refreshed my memory first. I’m usually a laid back, but when it comes to canning safety, I’m almost freakishly watchful. After all, whether served at home or given as gifts, it’s the people I care for most who will be eating the food.

I’ve got some longer armed silicone oven mitts that say they can be worn for removing things from boiling water. I haven’t tried them in that capacity, yet. But after your post, I’m likely to. I’m always misplacing my jar lifter, anyway.

The newest style pressure canners are safer and easier to use than my older ones. I used to have to take the pressure gauge in to the Extension office each year to get it calibrated so that I would be sure that I was actually maintaining proper pressure. Part of my reason for ripping out the electric stove and replacing it with gas was that I wanted the cast iron top to support the weight of my large vessels when full. Also because gas ranges are so much more quickly responsive to adjustments. I don’t even know how many electric range elements I’ve destroyed in my day. and not necessarily from canning. A good gas range handles my heavy use and also cleans up so much easier.

Happy canning to everyone. It opens new avenues to creativity in preserving your harvests.

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Well done, Muddy and Olpea. Real canning as you all know takes reading and experience. Your additions are wonderful and helpful to all. Its worth the time it takes to learn how to do it!

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Muddy

I know what you mean. I bought a used All American pressure canner and it had a pressure gauge with a petcock. I left the pressure gauge in, but converted the petcock to a vent pipe to put the little weight on. Much better than trying to get those darn gauges checked every year.

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HQ, you have the ideal trees for making all sorts of ‘HQ Marmalade’. It isn’t hard and I’ve never had help making these things. I find its relaxing, if its a solitary project. Boiling water needs no distractions.

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I plant, grow and harvest with a focus on fresh eating daily/year round. Standard jarred jams and jellies are not something that we eat very often. They are just too sweet and the fruit tends to have its true essence cooked out of it.

Refrigerator preserves, pickles, sauces and the like are a different matter. You can use a lighter sugar/acid/heat hand and experiment a lot more than you can with regular canning. I would urge folks that are a bit squeamish, or not too fond of canned goods, to try 'fridge pickling and canning. It’s a great starting point and doesn’t require so much produce to make it worth your time. Small batches are easy, fun and fast. Regular canning requires following a recipe very closely, which is something I’m not apt to do.

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" I would urge folks that are a bit squeamish, or not too fond of canned goods, to try 'fridge pickling and canning. It’s a great starting point and doesn’t require so much produce to make it worth your time. Small batches are easy, fun and fast. Regular canning requires following a recipe very closely, which is something I’m not apt to do."

Mr. Clint, canning is not for the faint of heart, it takes work. Also if you have as much fruit as I do you cannot keep jars of jams in your fridge for a year! You have to be careful using faux or other types of sugars with these recipes. I use very little sugar and the taste of my ‘Caroline’ raspberry jam tastes as if the berries just fell off of the bush. I like my jam a bit runny, not like glue, so it really is on the tart side. Nothing I make with the water bath canning process tastes like ‘canned’ food.

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I can appreciate other folks’ preferences and requirements, and if you need enough food to carry you through the Winter, canning makes a lot of sense. You do need to process fairly large amounts to make it worth the effort. Having grown up with home canned peaches and such, it’s just a personal dislike.

We should mention the National Center for Home Food Preservation as the primary point of reference for food preservation. The recipes and practices are completely safe, backed by solid science and kept up to date.

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Yes, it is an excellent site. Mr. Clint, when we grew up peaches were cooked (over-cooked as were most fruits and vegetables). Now the cooking is slight and blanching is a wonderful process. Alum used to be used to supposedly keep pickles fresh (turned out not to be true). Remember canned asparagus and green beans at school? I think that is what you mean, or when it comes to Jam. . . Smuckers.

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Couldn’t eat any of those unless I was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

Raw packed might not be too bad. For green beans as an example, I would need to process nine pounds to make a canner load of nine pints.

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You can cook for only 2 minutes and use 1/2 cup of sugar. The flavor is as good as fresh. Muddymess mentions Pomona and enhanced taste. IMHO it really is the short cook time needed. This also can be done with low sugar pectin. Yet another reason I use pectin, or some kind of jelling agent. Over cooked jam may taste OK, but mine will blow you away. Well you have to like tart a touch as most jams I make are not sweet at all. I would go so far as to say taste is improved with some preserves.
Although the alternative you mention is fine. I find as mentioned in the first post, that I just have way too much not to process.
What I really want is a freeze dry machine. Talk about fresh, freeze dried products are quite amazing. All freeze dried products have a shelf life of about 20 years if stored correctly.
I’m not a fan of pressure canning as to me cooking anything that much is just not good. It removes about 50% of the nutritional value. Freeze drying removes 0% of nutritional value. So any low acid foods I do not can. I do add acid to tomatoes, the one exception.
I just don’t have 3 grand though for the machine! I have too many other bills to pay. If money ever becomes a non-issue (and it may, I’m trying hard to make it so) I will pick up a machine.

Here is another advanced tip, if you feel the end product is too sweet, try using under ripe fruit. You will taste a huge difference in sweetness. Always use some under ripe fruit, increase percentage for a more balanced taste.
Different strokes for different folks. Canned peaches in my youth is what inspired me to can myself. it was better than fresh! I guess taste depends on who is doing the canning and the skill they have! I find freezing them works well. I’m still experimenting.
As for green beans I get 9 pounds a week from my pole beans. About 15 plants. I give most away, I do not like any form of preserving beans so far. Well i do like them pickled, but how often can you eat them? I started using them like pickles on sandwiches to try and use them up. Hoping freeze drying will produce a decent product with beans.

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Depending on the fruit being used, you can safely use gelatin, fruit juice, and added acid on low sugar jam/jelly recipes at the National Center for Home Food Preservation web site. They suggest adding food coloring to help retain some of the color, which is an important role that sugar plays in home canning.

It is unsafe to water boil for less than the recommended times. Most jams/jellies are brought to a rolling boil for a minute and then placed in the boiling water canner for five minutes (depending on altitude). It is unsafe to omit the recommended acid, depending on the fruit used, as well.

Please remember that this thread has a “want to learn” element, so be careful to only pass along safe tips and recommendations.

How Not to Die of Botulism

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I can’t imagine adding food coloring to my own, since part of the many reasons for preserving my own food is reduction, preferably elimination, of chemical/unknown additives, anymore than I’d add it to fruit leathers where the color really does change. You don’t seem like the type of person who would lean that way, either. However, for many appearance and presentation are an important part of pride in a product, and it’s safe to use.

One thing that I do tend to do is to add more acid to fruit products. That’s only slightly in part because increasing the acid increases safety. My main reason is that, for me, increased acid enhances the other flavors. I’m also a person who does not prefer fruit that is strongly sweet but lacking flavor, aroma, and acid balance. So, it’s just my own personal preference.

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You are right, I wouldn’t use any food coloring. Having grown up with home canning, I only dry, freeze or refrigerate overage that I don’t otherwise use or give away fresh.

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Ah! That may be the problem - too many youthful memories of over-processed canned foods.

I’m fortunate that my own grandmother was creative and made many wonderful products that could never be purchased. So, my memories and enjoyment come from positive experiences while young.

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I wouldn’t downplay the amount of work and attention to detail to assure a safe and pleasing outcome. Home canning safely is a pretty rigid process. You can’t just wing it or grab a recipe from a magazine or random website.

Being able to eat fresh from the garden every day of the year has taken my food preferences in that direction. I am enjoying my brined refrigerator olives a lot. Refrigerator fig jam is off-the-hook as well.