Food Canning/Preserving

Do you can, freeze, or dehydrate your food to preserve it?

We started canning a few summers ago. My husband grew up canning, and so his family taught me how. We started out with some very basic applesauce. Last summer, I learned how to can tomatoes and tomato sauce. This summer (today, in fact), I taught myself how to make jam and dilly beans. We canned eight half-pints of Marionberry/boysenberry jam, and about sixteen pints and two quarts of dilly beans. I've only ventured into the world of water bath canning so far.

This summer, I plan on canning more jam, salsa, pickles, apple pie filling, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and learning how to use a pressure canner that I've borrowed from my mother-in-law to can green beans. We have an abundance of green beans (technically purple, but they turn green when cooked) this year, and the cucumbers are coming on strong too--I'm just waiting for the pickling cukes to come on.

Some resources, if you're looking to get started:

http://www.freshpreserving.com/home.aspx
http://www.foodinjars.com/
http://www.mrswages.com/

And your local extension service, whatever that is, but obviously I like mine: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/node/45

If you do can, what are your favorite things to can? What do you freeze or dehydrate? I ran out of freezer space, so I am canning more in response

 

Really? Nobody cans or freezes? I find the latter kind of hard to believe.

I decided to freeze all of my crushed tomatoes this year. I got two quarts and a pint out of them. It was not a stellar year for tomatoes. I'm hoping to get some more from my mother-in-law, but I don't think we'll be canning those either, as I just got a new (to me) freezer and it needs stuff in it.

I freeze: tomatoes, beans, soup, lasagna, quick breads, shredded zucchini, and shredded apple. The latter allows you to make applesauce or apple cake fairly easily, and the variety of apple we use for this (Gravenstein) isn't exactly one I can buy in the grocery store.

 

Dilly beans are green beans packed in a brine with dill and other flavorings. We did ours with garlic and red pepper flakes. They're very easy to do as all they require is a boiling water canner.

Today I made a couple of different tomato jams. This one is my favorite out of the two that I made: http://www.foodinjars.com/2011/08/yellow-tomato-and-basil-jam/

 

It's really easy to can with the boiling water method. You just need a really large pot, mason jars, lids, bands, a jar lifter, a lid wand, a canning rack (if you're using a big enamelware boiling water canner and processing a lot of jars, this is handy), and something to bubble with (bubble: remove air bubbles. I use a skewer). A canning funnel can also be handy. If you buy a package of new mason jars, they will come with lids and bands. Lids are one-time use only; bands last forever. For beginning canners, the Ball Blue Book is a fantastic resource and highly recommended.

Let's take a look at making applesauce, because that is fairly easy to can.

Step 1) Start boiling water in your canning pot (for applesauce, you can process 4 pints in a stockpot; if you want to process quarts, you will need an enamelware canner)
2) Make your applesauce.
3) Sterilize your jars. If your dishwasher has a sterilization feature, you can use this. If not, put them in the boiling water in your canner.
4) Simmer your lids for a few minutes. This softens up the sealing compound.
5) Fill your sterile, hot jars with hot applesauce. Leave 1/2 inch headspace (roughly the bottom of the threads on a mason jar).
6) Wipe the rims of your jars. Anything left on the edge of the jar could prevent the lid from sealing properly.
7) Using your lid wand, fish the lid out of the simmering water, fit the lid on the jar, and screw a band around it. Don't overtighten your bands. You shouldn't be wrenching on the band in order to get it tight.
8) Load into your canning rack or use your jar lifter for the next step.
9) Process in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts (varies depending on your altitude, check this chart: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/applesauce.html)
10) When process time is done, turn off the heat, let them sit for a few minutes, then take them out of the pot. As they cool, a vacuum seal will be formed. You may hear a "thwuck" kind of sound as the lid gets sucked into place (I love this sound).
11) After 24 hours, remove bands and check the seals. I do this by picking up the jar by the lid with my fingertips. If it holds, you're cool.

Finally: Don't store your jars with bands on, and check your seals once a month.

Once you know all of these steps, you can can jam, jelly, tomatoes, salsa, relish, pickles, dilly beans...the list goes on and on as to what can be processed in a boiling water canner. Yes, it is kind of a finicky process, but it is for a reason--food safety. ALWAYS check where your recipe comes from. Only use trusted sources for canning recipes. Once you become a more experienced canner, you'll know how to check that acid levels are okay for the recipe you're making.

And Craven: You can totally learn how to make dilly beans yourself. Here is a recipe: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_06/dilled_beans.html

 

I honestly think you're better off freezing tomato sauce with stuff added to it. Added vegetables take away from the acid of the tomatoes, and so it may be unsafe to process in a water bath canner, unless you're just doing straight-up tomatoes/herbs. Even then, you have to add extra acid to ensure safety. Disregard this if you're going to use a pressure canner
http://www.foodinjars.com/2010/08/canning-101-why-you-cant-can-your-familys-tomato-sauce/

 

And here we are once more. It's that time of year again!

Here are some great resources for beginning canners:

Canning Etiquette, aka return my jars, you get more stuff: 8 Etiquette Tips and Helpful Hints for Canning and Preserving | The Kitchn

Don't Start with the Hard Stuff: Why Strawberry Jam and Cucumber Pickles Are the Worst Ways to Start Canning | The Kitchn
I started with applesauce and went from there. I really only got into making jam and preserves after a year of canning other things, including applesauce, tomatoes, and dilly beans on my own. I'd say get the process down BEFORE adding a cooking step to something, UNLESS you know how to make candy. If you know how to make cooked candy (i.e. if you're familiar with the terms soft ball, hard ball, soft crack, hard crack), you'll find it much easier than a complete novice.

Annual Safety Speech: Water-bath canning is the easiest method to go with, but ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS follow a REPUTABLE* recipe and DON'T IMPROVISE!!!

And a Beginner's Guide: New to Canning? Start Here: Boiling Water Bath Canning | Food in Jars

*What does reputable mean? It means that the recipe came from a source where they checked the PH of their recipes to ensure safety for water-bath canning. Sources include National Center for Home Food Preservation, university extensions such as Food Preservation | OSU Extension Service | FCH, Ball
Canning | Canning Jars | Preserving | Ball Jars
, and (typically published) authors such as Marisa McClellan (Food in Jars - A Canning Blog) or Linda Ziedrich (A Gardener's Table | Celebrating the Harvest).

 

Based on comments by noodle, mixedmedia, and Levite on my blog, I thought I'd throw up some additional information for them and others here, as my main goal is to get other people into preserving food.

A pickling primer: Pickling Primer: How To Get Started! | The Kitchn
I think this is the fridge pickle recipe noodle referred to: Small Batch Recipe: Garlic Dill Refrigerator Pickles Urban Preserving with Marisa McClellan | The Kitchn Haven't tried it myself, but Marisa McClellan's recipes are always great and highly recommended. There's also this one: Seasonal Recipe: Aunt Lorraine's Refrigerator Pickles | The Kitchn Additionally, Linda Ziedrich, the author of The Joy of Pickling, has a blog with lots of resources: A Gardener's Table | Celebrating the Harvest

Haven't made my own sauerkraut, mixedmedia, but my MIL has and apparently it's stupid easy. I need to rescue her pickle crocks from the attic. Here's a small batch recipe from TheKitchn that I plan on trying: How To Make Homemade Sauerkraut in a Mason Jar Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn | The Kitchn
This recipe from Alton Brown is consistent with others I've seen in preserving books/magazines: Sauerkraut Recipe : Alton Brown : Recipes : Food Network
Kim chee uses a similar process: How to Make Easy Kimchi at Home Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn | The Kitchn

Also, if you're really interested in fermented foods, listen to this interview with Sandor Katz: Sandor Katz: The Science And 'Art Of Fermentation' : NPR He's pretty much the king of fermented foods. I just put his book on hold at the library.

And Levite, the sanitizing process only takes about 10 minutes. I sanitize my jars, bands, and equipment simultaneously in a giant pot of boiling water, usually the same pot of boiling water I'm going to use to process the jars once they're filled. Given how much you enjoy cooking, I think you'd find canning quite rewarding. It's really only adding another couple steps to cooking. I think a lot of people want to get into preserving but don't because they find the various steps intimidating, but it's really quite easy once you've got a couple of canning sessions under your belt. I'd recommend picking up a copy of the Ball Blue Book. Their directions are easy to follow for beginners.

 

Canned 9 pints and 3 quarts of Romas today. Canning tomatoes is not my favorite--I much prefer making jam or chutney or pickles. But it is ultimately worth it. I also roasted about 8 cups of tomatoes that I'm going to process into sauce and can tomorrow night. Also on the list: a pear chutney and a tomato jam. I also managed to snag 2 massive bunches of basil for a buck a piece. I'm going to be making a LOT of pesto!