So I entered a give-way on the Harward's blog. She has a nice assortment of items in her give away and her blog looks like it will be interesting to follow. I have never followed a blog before, only done an RSS feed on a couple that I really like.
I've been buying and making items for our 72hr kits and for some food storage items. I've been a canning fool at our local Country Cannery. I'm sad that we didn't find it (and it is JUST DOWN THE STREET!) until Sept of this year. I can't believe I can see it from my house. But since it's an unmarked building and inside the perimeter of the farmer's market. I had NO CLUE that it was a public cannery! Hopefully, they will open on the first Tue after the 4th of July and we will be able to can more items. They can do 108 quart jars in and hour and a half. I can only do 7. Talk about getting your canning done quickly! And it doesn't heat up my house. The cost is 25 cents per jar. You provide your own jars, lids, rings and food for canning. They process it. Or, 50 cents per #2 can. A #2 can holds 3 1/2 cups - or about 1lb of food. All you have to bring is the food.
I've canned soup, chili, meats, potatoes, carrots, tomato sauce, applesauce and pumpkin. One day, my son and I were able to can about 99 cans of food in less than 3 hrs. 150lb of it was potatoes that all we did was wash, cut into chunks and pop into a can. Some was a pumpkin that we cut in half, removed the seeds and they put into the pressure canner for 30 mins. Delivered it back to us and we scraped out the meat, mushed it up, plopped it into the can and sent it back for processing. I think that was also the day we did some apples for applesauce. It was SO easy! We washed them and cut them in half. Put them in the steam kettles with a little water to cook for 15 mins. Drained the resulting fluid off and then put the apples directly into the mill. The mill spit out seeds, skin and stems into one pot and the apple sauce into another. We stirred a little of the juice we drained back into it, along with some ground cinnamon and plopped the results into cans. Easy-peasy! When we opened a can of it - YUM, YUM!
It will be so nice to have this food for an emergency or to just make quick meals when we have those "on-the-go" days. And at least some of that pumpkin will be pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!
The crazy world of a former homeschool mama whose babies are young adults. Come learn about baking bread, Once-a-month/bulk cooking, making soap, sewing, self-sufficiency, what food storage is and how to start your own. What a 72 hr kit is and how to create one. I'm not an expert but I have been doing most of these skills for a long time. I like to be as self-sufficient as I can. I love learning new skills or ways of doing things at home instead of having to buy at the store. Come join me.
Showing posts with label canning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canning. Show all posts
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Are you canning food or just sealing your jars?
Time for a post on the difference between CANNING food and meerly sealing the jar (making it "ping" and the lid button go down.)
I just read a blog about canning and someone commented that they had an easier way to "can" salsa. Instead of putting the jars into boiling water (or using a dishwasher on the "sanitize" setting and keep them in there and hot), they put them on a tray in a 250 deg oven. They made up the uncooked salsa then put it into the jars, popped a lid and ring on, closed the jars and put the jars back into the 250 degree oven for 10 minutes?!??!!! That salsa wasn't even brought to a boil before it was "canned"!
Here is the comment that I left. Hopefully, others will see this on the blog in question and not try the suggestion of the other commenter.
re:xxxx's comment:
DO NOT USE THIS METHOD!
I took a Master Home Preserver course from the local extension office. One thing people don't seem to understand is the difference between a "sealed" jar and a "canned" jar.
ANY jar of hot food with a sound, dry, chip-free lip and a new lid put on it will normally SEAL. The heat will cause the compound to soften and when the pressure in the jar drops as the food cools, the lid will "ping" and the jar is SEALED. That does NOT mean the food is "safe". All it means is that the mechanical part of "sealing" has been done. This does NOT mean that there is no bacteria in the food, only that the jar lid is "glued" to the jar itself. Which means that any bacteria that is anaerobic (doesn't need oxygen)can multiply and poison you. Can we all spell botulism? These types of instructions are what give canning its bad name. People think the jar is "canned" after all, the lid "pinged" and then eat food that makes them sick.
CANNING is where you prepare food, put it in a jar, put a hot lid on a hot, sterilized jar and then HEAT THE FOOD IN THE JAR in a canner or pressure canner for a specific amount of time and in a specific way so that any bacteria that was in the food is killed. Acidic food can be "water bathed", any other foods need to be pressure canned with a pressure CANNER, not a pressure COOKER. (a big difference having to do with size of pot and amount of time not being correct for "caning" in a cooker.)
Water boils at 212 degrees, but it takes either an acid environment OR 240-260 degrees to kill some types of common bacteria, bacteria that are found in the normal environment that doesn't hurt us as long as the bacteria has to deal with oxygen. However, when we seal a jar, then the oxygen is gone and the bacteria multiplies and when it does, it excretes toxins. It's not the bacteria that kills or sickens you, it's the toxins that the bacteria releases. The only way to get water above 212 deg. is to put it under pressure - hence pressure canning.
Remember that we put meat in a 350 degree oven for several hours and only have meat that gets to about 190 degrees. Stuff put in a 250 degree oven for 10 mins doesn't get even CLOSE to 212 degrees, unless it was put in boiling first. But that STILL doesn't do the trick. Remember that in a water bath, 212 deg water is under, around and over the jars for 20-30 MINUTES FOR ACID foods ONLY. You should not even think about water bathing non-acid foods. Here again, yes, you CAN make the lids "ping", but it's STILL NOT safe!
Hopefully, at least the person who owns the blog and said she was going to try this method will read the post and chose to not try the oven "method of canning".
I just read a blog about canning and someone commented that they had an easier way to "can" salsa. Instead of putting the jars into boiling water (or using a dishwasher on the "sanitize" setting and keep them in there and hot), they put them on a tray in a 250 deg oven. They made up the uncooked salsa then put it into the jars, popped a lid and ring on, closed the jars and put the jars back into the 250 degree oven for 10 minutes?!??!!! That salsa wasn't even brought to a boil before it was "canned"!
Here is the comment that I left. Hopefully, others will see this on the blog in question and not try the suggestion of the other commenter.
re:xxxx's comment:
DO NOT USE THIS METHOD!
I took a Master Home Preserver course from the local extension office. One thing people don't seem to understand is the difference between a "sealed" jar and a "canned" jar.
ANY jar of hot food with a sound, dry, chip-free lip and a new lid put on it will normally SEAL. The heat will cause the compound to soften and when the pressure in the jar drops as the food cools, the lid will "ping" and the jar is SEALED. That does NOT mean the food is "safe". All it means is that the mechanical part of "sealing" has been done. This does NOT mean that there is no bacteria in the food, only that the jar lid is "glued" to the jar itself. Which means that any bacteria that is anaerobic (doesn't need oxygen)can multiply and poison you. Can we all spell botulism? These types of instructions are what give canning its bad name. People think the jar is "canned" after all, the lid "pinged" and then eat food that makes them sick.
CANNING is where you prepare food, put it in a jar, put a hot lid on a hot, sterilized jar and then HEAT THE FOOD IN THE JAR in a canner or pressure canner for a specific amount of time and in a specific way so that any bacteria that was in the food is killed. Acidic food can be "water bathed", any other foods need to be pressure canned with a pressure CANNER, not a pressure COOKER. (a big difference having to do with size of pot and amount of time not being correct for "caning" in a cooker.)
Water boils at 212 degrees, but it takes either an acid environment OR 240-260 degrees to kill some types of common bacteria, bacteria that are found in the normal environment that doesn't hurt us as long as the bacteria has to deal with oxygen. However, when we seal a jar, then the oxygen is gone and the bacteria multiplies and when it does, it excretes toxins. It's not the bacteria that kills or sickens you, it's the toxins that the bacteria releases. The only way to get water above 212 deg. is to put it under pressure - hence pressure canning.
Remember that we put meat in a 350 degree oven for several hours and only have meat that gets to about 190 degrees. Stuff put in a 250 degree oven for 10 mins doesn't get even CLOSE to 212 degrees, unless it was put in boiling first. But that STILL doesn't do the trick. Remember that in a water bath, 212 deg water is under, around and over the jars for 20-30 MINUTES FOR ACID foods ONLY. You should not even think about water bathing non-acid foods. Here again, yes, you CAN make the lids "ping", but it's STILL NOT safe!
Hopefully, at least the person who owns the blog and said she was going to try this method will read the post and chose to not try the oven "method of canning".
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