Diet Fitness Health

Do you ever wonder how our ancestors in days gone by preserved their foods before the times you just bought canned foods from the store? Is there an interest to go back to simpler times where canning was a common place practice? It’s almost a lost art now. If that’s you, all you need is a pressure cooker, some canning jars with lids, and some food you would like to preserve plus a desire to learn. Canning can be such a rewarding and fulfilling hobby. Cooking under pressure will trap stream from the boiling water so temperature rises enough to kill bacteria.

For beginners, it is better to start out with a boiling water canning method. This is the most inexpensive way to learn how to can and you will be proud of your efforts after it is finished. You will need some canning jars, and lids, both pints and quarts, which are very good for canning tomatoes, pickles, and other such fruit. Small 8oz jars are good for preserving things such as relish and jellies. They come 12 to a box and have lids for each one. These jars are tempered for canning and therefore it is unwise to use any jar, such as a mayonnaise jar, or a jar that has previously had jelly or jam in it.

You will also need a canning pot with a lid that is deep enough to immerse the jars by at least one inch, or two inches would be even more preferable. You” also need a rack to put the jars in to keep them off the bottom of the pot. If a rack didn’t come with your pot, you can simply out a rack at the bottom of the pot to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the pot. Another tool that you will need is a plastic spoon, knife or spatula to stir the filled jars to release any possible trapped air. Also you’ll need a large mouth plastic funnel, a set of strong, long handled jar pullers also known as tongs, for removing the hot jars out of the water. You will need a small towel to dry any remaining water from off of the jars as you lift them out of the pot.

Use the freshest fruit possible, wash and cut up and pack gently into the jars to about an inch from the top. Get a product called Fresh Fruit and read the instructions about how to prepare a syrup base that is a basic sugar water recipe. It can either be a heavy, medium or light syrup, as you please. Pour this syrup over your fruit. Take your wooden or plastic spoon or knife and run it around the jar to release any trapped air. Put the lids on fairly tight and clean any excess off off the outside of the jars. Now put the jars back into the canned pot filled with warm or hot water and cover with water at least an inch over the lids.

Turn the stove on high with with the jars loaded into the canning pot. Once you have reached a vigorous boil, let it continue to boil for the time limit in your recipe, but the usual is about 10 minutes for pickles, 25 to 30 minutes for fruits, and 35 to 40 minutes for tomatoes.

When they have been cooking for the allotted time, turn the pot off and place the jars on a towel to drip dry and allow to cool, preferably overnight. Before leaving the jars to cool check each jar to make sure there are no lids popped up in the middle. If this has happened, the jars of food are no good because they didn’t seal. If this is the case you can either refrigerate those jars (once they cool) and use those immediately, or try again using a new jar and lid. Try also wiping the lid of the jar with a clean towel before screwing on new lids to try.

There is no better feeling than the feeling you get once you learn to preserve food. It is beneficial for anyone that likes to learn how things were done by our grandparents, it is one way to work in the past.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 2:29 am and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.