Canning

[skinyea]

Last several years I have frozen or dehydrated veggies at the end of season. this year I am considering canning. a few questions for a novice.

1. do you need a pressure cooker or can you just boil the jars
2. Do you have to use vinegar?
3. how safe is canning?
4. what ingredients are needed for canning most garden veggies
thank you in advance

 

[Chuck]

Last several years I have frozen or dehydrated veggies at the end of season. this year I am considering canning. a few questions for a novice.

1. do you need a pressure cooker or can you just boil the jars
2. Do you have to use vinegar?
3. how safe is canning?
4. what ingredients are needed for canning most garden veggies
thank you in advance

#1. It depends on what you are canning. For instance, you do not need pressure when canning acidic vegetables such as tomatoes, but you do need pressure when canning beans or other non-acidic foods.
#2. Vinegar, AFAIK, is only used in pickling and when pickling pressure is not needed. A water bath is used.
#3. My mother canned everything. So do I and I am 72 and have been canning my entire adult life and I am still alive.
#4. Salt or lemon juice for non-acidic foods with pressure.

There is a book you can get on Amazon named Putting Food By that explains very well the do's and don'ts. It tells you whether to use pressure or water bath. It tells you the amount of cooking time and the pressure needed. It has recipes. It is full of a LOT of other information as well and it is cheap. It is the only reference book you will need

 

[skinyea]

thanks Chuck!!

 

[Meadowlark]

Good questions Skinyea.

I just started a new thread aimed at collecting storage methods and recipes that folks are currently using. I'd invite you to post up your freezing and dehydrating methods there.

2020 Garden Produce Storage Thread

It's that time of year in Texas to harvest and store the spring crops. From now until August, we will be harvesting and storing our food for the year. I'm hopeful we have enough interest in this thread to get some new ideas, recipes, and techniques for storing our garden produce and prolonging...

www.gardening-forums.com

My answers to your questions:

1) both are valuable tools depending on the type of veggies
2) no, vinegar isn't always required but is in certain situations
3) my families going back generations on all sides have had "canners". We can now based on that history...but unfortunately I didn't learn near enough of what they tried to teach me. Safe? Not one, none, incidents of food problems going back more than a century.
4) all kinds of ingredients can be used...according to your tastes. Generally, recipes are suggestions that can be tailored to your tastes. How ever . the specific steps in a process whether water bath or pressure canning or whatever that are recommended in credible books should be followed without exception.

 

[vette-kid]

I do pickled jalapenos and cucumbers with a water-bath, as mentioned already. Going to try relish this year with onion, provided I have a crop (still learning). Home made pickles are fantastic and last a long time if done right. I water-bath canned and stored in a spare fridge and have done that are going on two years and still good. I found refrigerator pickles also last longer than what I read a lot, which is 2-4 months.

 

[Durgan]

http://durgan.org/2011/

I can all vegetables about 400 liters during the peak growing season. I keep a detailed journal of the method , which is unique. I live on what is produced. It is all here. http://durgan.org/2011/

 

[LouisFerdinand]

My grandmother uses vinegar when she cans beets.

 

[Durgan]

Pressure canning kills all bacteria. No additions are necessary. The industry has put the general public off Pressure caning is not very common. I with no apology am a pressure canning expert. Slurry at 15 PSI for 15 minutes and I have canned all vegetables about 3 to 5 thousand liters and never a spoilage.

8 July 2016 Vegetable Juice (Carrots, beets, collards, broccoli, basil).
Posted on July 8, 2016 by Durgan EXAMPLE


http://durgan.org/2016/July 2016/8 July 2016 Vegetable Juice/HTML/ 8 July 2016 Vegetable Juice (Carrots, beets, collards, broccoli, and basil).
Vegetable juice was made from fresh garden vegetables, carrots, beets, collards, broccoli, and basil. About twelve pounds of material was prepared and placed in a cooking pot and covered with water. The material was cooked until soft about 20 minutes then blended into a homogeneous slurry. The material was strained through a 2 mm mesh food mill then the residue was put through a Champion juicer to extract maximum nutrients. The juice was then placed in liter jars and pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. Annotated pictures depict the process.

 

[headfullofbees]

Thanks to Durgan, who inspired me to take up canning, I have plentiful supplies of food whilst in lockdown for coronavirus.
My wife is a double transplantee (Kidney & pancreas) and her anti-rejection medication works by immuno-suppressence.

 

[Durgan]

My method of slurry pressure canning certainly reduces the labour involved. Experience indicates that it is safe and totally reliable. It must be done properly which is simple to follow. However I be voice in the wilderness.

 

[skinyea]

thank you all for the info. I purchased a pressure cooker from Amazon. It arrived today. I plan on using it a ton this summer/fall.

 

[Durgan]

thank you all for the info. I purchased a pressure cooker from Amazon. It arrived today. I plan on using it a ton this summer/fall.

Which canner? Where are you located?

 

[skinyea]

Roots & Branches VKP1130 Harvest Stainless Steel Multi-Use Canner with Temperature Indicator, Holds 7 Quart Jars, 20 Quart Liquid
capacity

usa zone 6b

 

[vette-kid]

That is a water bath canner and NOT a pressure canning device. Just pointing it out because you said "pressure cooker". Hopefully that was a typo, I'd have for you to end up with something totally different than you expected.

 

[Durgan]

That device you bought is a fancy water bath not pressure. The only pressure canner that I have years of experience with the PRESTO 23 quart canner. It is polished aluminium. Used correctly even the gasket lasts a long time.

Pressure cooker or pressure canner are the same except for size. I use the device as a cooker seldom but do use it for some things. For pressure canner you need a pot that goes to 15 PSI meaning it is sealed with a gasket. It need not be fancy. PRESTO is perfect IMO

http://durgan.org/2016/July%202016/8%20July%202016%20Vegetable%20Juice/HTML/dsc_01258%20july%202016%20vegetable%20juice_std.jpg