I agree with everything you wrote @Beth Gallagher except storage with the rings on. It can indeed mask a seal failure. It is a good ideal to lift each jar by the sealedd lid after the jar has COMPLETELY COOLED to check for failures as well. Good for you @Kate Ellery and thanks. If you are a drinker--even a little bit--you can use the small unripe apricots to make a liqueur from the greenies or thinnings if you do that. layer the green apricots, plums, etc., into th bottom of a jar and put a thin layer of sugar over the top, then put another layer of green fruit and another layer of sugar. Continue this to the top of the jar, then fill the jar with clear alcohol--vodka is the usual but gin can be used--then let it sit undisturbed for about 6 weeks out of direct sunlight. At the end of the period, drain through a strainer or colander and taste the liquid. Water can be added to dilute the alcohol or sugar can be added if you desire more sweetness. It makes a good celebratory drink for holidays, or special occasions and can be given as gifts where it is legal to do so. The Ball Blue Book is small and cheap and contains only the basic canning and preserving information. The Complete Book of Canning contains recipes and much more.
I thought you just checked to make sure the center of the lid is indented by the vacuum...but I've not been around canning much.
Yes, I guess I might be considered a “canning” outlaw too. I learned to can from my grandmother and some of her older lady friends from church. I learned how to speak and understand German pretty good during those times too, which was pretty interesting conversations. I can’t speak hardly any German now. Sorry, I digressed. Leave me alone, I'm old. Most things I canned were their recipes and some I found on my own. They were not recipes with a lot of ingredients, except for maybe relish and vegetable juice that I can recall now. They showed and explained to me how everything was done. I also had many canning books for reference to look at because I liked cook books. I don’t know, did I answer your question?
My mother was British and my father's parents were German. I did not pick up any German from the one side, but I did learn how to be passive-aggressive and derisive from the other. I guess my question was "Do you do anything different for recipes you can than you do for recipes you would just put on on the table?" Or maybe "Are there things you cook for meals that you would not can?" I assume you all did not cook the food before canning it...that canning and reheating are the sole cooking steps. As an aside, I'm reading a caning website (Healthy Canning) and they point out some of the flaws in the advice that "professional sources" put forth. Some state extension offices are just plain wrong, while Ball claims to follow The National Center for Home Food Preservation as their sole authority, yet they diverge from the NCHFP in some areas. "Reliable sources" seems to be a very short list, and the rest of the world is "At your own risk."
The only rules that we abide by as far as ingredients are 1) Don't can any purees unless it is an acid product like tomato sauce. Commercial canners can do it because they allegedly have ways to stir while pressure canning while home canners do not, and 2) Be careful when canning oils and fats unless it is in an approved recipe. We do it since we can 3-bean salad and such, but I would never recommend it to others. We can paasta sauces with tomatoes of all kinds, but like I said before, can to to "worst" ingredient. If you put meat in your sauces, you have toe pressure them, If no meat is included, you can waterbath them if the pH is low enough (add vinegar or commercial lemon juice.) For labels @John Brunner it is nice to get the soluble labels so that when you hand wash or run jars through the dishwasher, the labels dissolve. Obviously, you cannot use them if your jars will/may be exposed to moisture in storage. We label most stuff on the lids with sharpies though. The water soluble labels can be made pretty if you get them on a sheet and you have a color printer. Nice for gifts or sale.
Sorry, I don’t know if I am communicating or explaining things very clearly. No, I did not cook the food before canning it. Most of the stuff that I canned got reheated and served at the table like; canned roast beef, green beans, peas, and other veggies. A lot of other things could be consumed straight from the jar after it was canned, or chilled first; juices, ketchup, pickles, relish, fruit, etc. I also froze a lot of things.
No …and No I’ve never drank …. But thank you anyway @Don Alaska I ate a liquor flavoured chocolate last night it was horrible . We have huge prickly pears that grow around our areas in town many pick then at this time of the year and preserve then my very old flower preserving book had instructions for prickly pears
I have been using the water soluble labels for years on my leftovers containers. Otherwise, I forget when I put the stuff in the fridge and toss it to err on the side of caution. Regarding purees...one guy commented that thick stuff like that will not get hot enough all the way through during the pressure canning process, so to avoid it. As I've been reading, I came across steam canning as the preferred alternative to water bath canning for high acid foods. The problem is you need a specialized steam canner to do it: It saves the time & energy it takes to get a pot of water to full boil (and then back to a full boil after the jars are added), but cannot be used for foods that are processed for longer than 45 minutes, and that's just due to the risk of the steamer running dry. (45 minutes seems like an arbitrary "will run out of water" number, given the variety of steamer canners there are on the market.)
A hella of a mess @Beth Gallagher without a rack cause like you say the jars can float / rattle in the bottom of the pan and break … One YouTube I watched said fill any gaps with jars of water if you haven’t got enough filled with foods ….i did exactly that yesterday when I only had 3 jars of apricots to process and it seemed to stabilise the 3 jars none floating or fallen over in sides I use mainly the 475 ml ( pint) wide month size now days ..they fit far better in the fridge
I got the canner today. Holy poop!!! This thing is a beast. And it's only the 11 qt model. I can't imagine what a 41qt would weigh. Now I see why they cost so much!!! But it's as-advertised. New in box with all the parts & papers. (I'll pickup the other canner from my friend this weekend.) I went into the big city and picked up a couple of canning books today...I didn't want to wait for an internet order to arrive. One is the Ball book and the other is by an individual author. I will say the one disappointment (misunderstanding) I have/had is that I cannot can my own recipes. And I can't easily convert the "approved" recipes because they are meant for using your own produce, not for make-ahead meals from grocery store fare. I'll have to figure out how to convert pounds/bushels of tomatoes into 28oz. cans of Hunts and hope I don't kill myself But seriously, it looks like all you have to be careful of is to not make stuff so thick that it does not heat up all the way through. The universal admonishment is to hold off on the thickeners when you can, and to use them when you reheat to serve the meal. The specific admonishment in the strictest books & websites is to just freeze your food if you feel like tinkering with approved canning recipes.
You will have fun learning how to use your new toys. I have to admit, I am still half-way scared of canning stuff which is why I stick to pickles and tomatoes. I almost bought a Presto pressure canner a year or two ago but finally snapped out of it since I have two water-bath canners in the garage that are usually covered in a layer of dust. I still like to play with fermenting, though.
Yeh, I've yet to step my toe into the world of fermenting, although I've bought the supplies. Water-bath canning is nice for pickles & such, but the heat kills the probiotics. I may go down that path...I'll buy a steam canner if I do. It's interesting that the Ball book and a really in-depth website (Healthy Canning) both say to not stray from the tested recipes, and to never use the recipes that come with the canners. Sure enough, in the All American recipe book--by it's beef stew recipe--there's this note: If using your own recipe, remember not to thicken gravy with flour, as this makes sterilization difficult. I'm gonna start off with chicken broth and beef broth, and then move on to soups. Regarding trying to sterilize foods that have a thick consistency, the recipes for chili con carne say to can it in pint jars, without stating why (we now know that it's to make sure the food gets heated all the way through.) I think I need to read a bit more before canning solid·ish food. And as I said, the tomato-based recipes use pounds/bushels of tomatoes, so I gotta learn before making my own conversions.
I don't know why you can't use your own recipes (mostly) @John Brunner. You do have to observe the puree cautions, but if it is acid enough (below pH 5 I think) it isn't as much of a worry. Usually tomato sauces can be acidified enough, but if you put meat in it, you will not only have to acidify it (if it is thick) but pressure can it as well. The think most people fail at as far as purees go is pumpkin or winter squash. Folks think that if you can buy it in a can, you can do the same at home and that isn't true. I am told the commercial canners can stir the puree while it is heating, which ensures that it is heated evenly throughout. You cannot do that at home. Good luck with your new hobby. I hope you have fun with it.
I see recipes that bump up the level of acidity by using bottled lemon juice, but I've yet to run across any recommendations or directions to use pH test strips. If you've sold stuff for others to eat, I'd imagine you've tested the pH of the foods you've canned. I've just not seen it mentioned in my reading so far. And what do you think of the [somewhat universal] recommendation to not thicken soups & stews until you reheat them for serving?
John, as with most things, there are several good canning forums and a lot of youtube videos on canning safety. There's a group on Reddit that are pretty much the Canning Police because anyone who steps outside the USDA Guidelines gets bounced from the group... no "Rebel Canners" allowed. So you might just spend a lot of time sifting through stuff and come to your own conclusions. I find that canning practices are all over the place... from people like my sister who "do it like mama/grandma did", to the people who practically have hospital sterilization techniques in place in their kitchens. It seems to me that people who follow the old ways seem to do just fine.