Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 4:59 pm Post subject: canning food
Hello. I need info on how to start canning my own food this year. I know absolutley nothing. I will not be freezing bc we live in a small 800 sq. foot home w/o a freezer, and with just a small fridge/freezer. But, we have tons of cabinet & shelf space. I would like any advice, recipies, information, ect. I will mainly have a lot of tomatoes, peas, cabbage, and berries of every kind this year. Of course, i can always get other things from the market if you know of something that can't be missed! I appreciate all info! Thanks!
PS- I do bicycle, so if anyone knows of a site where I can buy jars and equipment with free or reduced shipping that might be easier than trying to transport stuff on bike or mass transit. Again, thanks
Joined: May 10, 2007 Posts: 2747 Location: The Entropisphere
Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 5:51 pm Post subject: Re: canning food
I am going to also recommend a book that you can get used I mentioned it in this thread. If your county has a coopertive extension office they should also have some information. If you run into some little old ladies and become friends they may even give youtheir old copy. The recommendation is
Quote:
the original "Stocking Up" by Stoner or "Putting Food By" by Hertzberg, Vaughan and Greene
_________________ "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
-Friedrich von Schiller
"What I try, may not work. It may be ineffective. It might even turn out in the pages of history to be the exact wrong thing to do, but I'm going to try to do what I c
Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:04 pm Post subject: Re: canning food
Good to meet you, Wren
The Ball Blue Book
about a 10 dollar bill
In stock in most Wal-Marts, along with canners, jars, lids, rings, jar lifter, jar funnel, and every sort of food there is under the sun, in case you did not want to wait.
If your garden is not yet ready, pick up some carrots along with all the gear. They are about the simplest thing if you'd like to try a batch.
Peel, cut, follow the directions in the blue book
After you try the first batch, everything else is pretty much the same.
There is an entire thread in place for food storage by canning, be sure to check it out. In the future, be sure to do a search before starting new threads, lots of stuff has already been talked about.
Moderators, this thread would do moved to Planning For the Future/[Food] Storage – Canning, but give it a couple of days for Wren to learn her way around. _________________ If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:25 am Post subject: Re: canning food
Wow. Thanks everybody. I actually mentioned at work that I wanted to start doing this and I had two other people say they were wanting to do the same. We are going to see what we can find at the library, and then in late summer rotate weekends and can at all of our houses. We also decided we should take a knitting class together, OR if anyone has any good book suggestions for that...
I think I did figure this site out a little better and will atempt to post in the correct spot next time. Thanks for the suggestion.
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:55 am Post subject: Re: canning food
sharing the workload and the booty is a fine plan. Back in Maine 3 of us got together, bought the gear and ingredients, made a batch of beer every week. The cost was turned into pocket change, we got 18 beers out of the deal each week and id not have a closet full of any single recipe. As we got more experienced, the stuff got better. We developed our own preferences, then started trading leftovers. One guy liked the pale ale, I liked the honey wheat. I can see the food canning club working out pretty well. _________________ If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984
Joined: May 20, 2008 Posts: 284 Location: Tennessee
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:07 pm Post subject: Re: canning food
I agree with the Ball Blue book. I buy butter from the Amish every week and can it-16 pints this weekend....Go to the site called The End Times Report under the section of manna meals and it has some really good ideas how to can butter, cheese, applesauce cake. If you have trouble googling for the site-go to the site Urban Survival and it has The End Times Report listed as one of the information sites. Even though we have a garden, I found several "pick your own farms" in our area. One month ago my kids and I picked strawberries and I canned 40 pints of strawberry jam and froze a few quarts. My big problem is keeping my family out of the strawberry jam-they keep asking me what I am saving it for-I joke with them "December 21, 2012! I also used the instructions under the End Times Report to put up flour, sugar, pinto beans. The blackberries will be in probably in two weeks and the peaches probably in July. Right now I just have a waterbath canner, but I think I'm going to break down and get a pressure canner for beans and corn. We have a large chest freezer and will be receiving 1/2 side of beef (I have 6 people to feed in our home, and if things get worse I am anticipating more). I am also getting set up to be able to "smoke the beef" if we are knocked off the power grid for a long period of time so we don't loose the meet in our freezer. End Times Report also gives so good ideas on how to make soap, etc.
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:57 pm Post subject: Re: canning food
Eureka!! I've just discovered that when people in the US refer to canning it isn't using a tin can like a tin of baked beans but bottling in a glass jar!. just found it out reading the Luz cartoons on another thread.
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject: Re: canning food
lol Runcorn Bridge...
Yes, I suppose that could be confusing for others. Canning does go in glass jars. However, if you had the setup for tin cans, you could also call that canning. Isn't American English wonderful ?
Kathy
Joined: May 20, 2008 Posts: 284 Location: Tennessee
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject: Re: canning food
I have been checking out sites regarding tomatos and canning, especially with this salmonella scare. The water bath canner done properly will kill the salmonella, but I came across an article where 14 people were hospitalized in Russia, one died, after eating home canned tomatoes that were contaminated with botulism. The article recommended to not eat any tomatoes that are in jars that did not seal properly and to boil the canned tomatoes for 10 minutes before consuming.
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:57 pm Post subject: Re: canning food
Wren, stick with the recommendations in the Ball book and you won't go wrong.
mystiek wrote:
I agree with the Ball Blue book. I buy butter from the Amish every week and can it-16 pints this weekend....Go to the site called The End Times Report under the section of manna meals and it has some really good ideas how to can butter, cheese, applesauce cake..
mystiek, I know you have good intentions but canning butter and cheese is NOT SAFE nor recommended by the experts. You won't find a recipe in the Ball book either.
You said: "I have been checking out sites regarding tomatos and canning, especially with this salmonella scare." Take that same precaution with butter and cheese. They can kill you with botulism because the procedure in the End Times report is NOT canning and there is no consumer procedure for canning milk products. Their method is simply putting hot butter in a jar and sticking it on a shelf.
Here's the scoop from the experts:
Quote:
Should I use directions for canning butter at home that I see on the Internet?
Indeed, there are some directions for 'canning' butter in circulation on the Internet. Most of what we have seen are not really canning, as they do not have Boiling Water or Pressure Canning processes applied to the filled jar. Jars are preheated, the butter is melted down and poured into the jars, and the lids are put on the jars.
Some directions say to put the jars in the refrigerator as they re-harden, but to keep shaking them at regular intervals to keep the separating butter better mixed as it hardens. This is merely storing butter in canning jars, not ‘canning’. True home canning is when the food is heated enough to destroy or sufficiently acid enough to prevent growth of all spores of Clostridium botulinum (that causes botulism) and other pathogens during room temperature storage on the shelf. ...
There are a few issues with the common directions circulating on the Internet at this time (Spring 2006):
Physical safety and food quality: In the provided directions, the jars are preheated in an oven (dry-heat), which is not recommended for canning jars. Manufacturers of canning jars do not recommend baking or oven canning in the jars. It is very risky with regard to causing jar breakage. There is no guarantee that the jars heated in this dry manner are sufficiently heated to sterilize them, as we do not have data on sterilizing jar surfaces by this dry-heating method.
The butter is not really being 'canned'; it is simply being melted and put in canning jars, and covered with lids. ... Although mostly fat, butter is a low-acid food. Meat, vegetables, butter, cream, etc. are low-acid products that will support the outgrowth of C. botulinum and toxin formation in a sealed jar at room temperature. Low-acid products have to be pressure-canned by tested processes to be kept in a sealed jar at room temperature.
It is not clear what the botulism risk is from such a high-fat product, but to store a low-acid moist food in a sealed jar at room temperature requires processing to destroy spores...given that it is low-acid and that fats can protect spores from heat if they are in the product during a canning process, we cannot recommend storing butter produced by these methods under vacuum sealed conditions at room temperature.
Some other directions do call for 'canning' the filled jars of butter in a dry oven. This also is not 'canning'. ...
In conclusion, with no testing having been conducted to validate these methods, we would NOT recommend or endorse them as a safe home-canning process, let alone for storing butter at room temperature for an extended period....
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lol Runcorn Bridge...
