Canning and Preserving For Dummies (10 page)

A teakettle or saucepan
filled with boiling water to use as a reserve.

A ladle and wide-mouth funnel
to make transferring food into your jars easier. The funnel also keeps the rims of the jars clean, for a better seal.

A lid wand
so that you can transfer your lids from the hot water to the jars without touching them and a jar lifter so that you can safely and easily lift canning jars in and out of your canning kettle.

A thin plastic spatula
to use for releasing air bubbles in the jar.

The Road to Your Finished Product

Every aspect of the canning procedure is important, so don’t skip anything, no matter how trivial it seems. When your food and canning techniques are in perfect harmony and balance, you’ll have a safely processed product for use at a later time.

The following sections guide you through the step-by-step process for creating delicious, high-quality, homemade treats for your family and friends.

Always practice proper kitchen sanitation and cleanliness, carefully handle your food, and follow your recipe to the letter. Don’t alter your recipe or skip any processing step.

Step 1: Getting your equipment ready

The first thing you do when canning is to inspect your equipment and get everything ready so that when you’re done preparing the food (Step 2 in the canning process), you can fill your jars immediately.

Inspect your jars, lids, and screw bands

Always review the manufacturer’s instructions for readying your jars, lids, and screw bands. Then inspect your jars, lids, and screw bands for any defects as follows:

Jars:
Check the jar edges for any nicks, chips, or cracks in the glass, discarding any jars with these defects. If you’re reusing jars, clean any stains or food residue from them and then recheck them for any defects.

Screw bands:
Make sure
the bands aren’t warped, corroded, or rusted. Test the roundness of the band by screwing it onto a jar. If it tightens down smoothly without resistance, it’s useable. Discard any bands that are defective or
out of round
(bent or not completely round).

You can reuse screw bands over and over, as long as they’re in good condition. And because you remove them after your jars have cooled, you don’t need as many bands as jars.

Lids:
All lids must be new. Lids aren’t reusable. Check the sealant on the underside of each lid for evenness. Don’t use scratched or dented lids. Defective lids won’t produce a vacuum seal. Don’t buy old lids from secondhand stores. Older lids will not seal properly.

Wash your jars, lids, and screw bands

After examining the jars for nicks or chips, the screw bands for proper fit and corrosion, and the new lids for imperfections and scratches, wash everything in warm, soapy water, rinsing the items well and removing any soap residue. Discard any damaged or imperfect items.

Get the kettle water warming

Fill your canning kettle one-half to two-thirds full of water and begin heating the water to simmering. Remember that the water level will rise considerably as you add the filled jars. Be sure to not overfill at this point.

Heat extra water in a teakettle or saucepan as a reserve. You want to make sure that the jars are covered with at least 1 to 2 inches of water. By adding preheated water, you don’t have to wait for the entire canner to reheat before continuing.

Keeping your equipment and jars hot while you wait to fill them

While you’re waiting to fill your jars, submerge the jars and lids in hot, not boiling, water, and keep your screw bands clean and handy as follows:

Jars:
Submerge them in hot water in your kettle for a minimum of 10 minutes. Keep them there until you’re ready to fill them.

Lids:
Submerge them in hot, not boiling, water in a saucepan. Keeping them separate from your jars protects the lid sealant.

Screw bands:
These don’t need to be kept hot, but they do need to be clean. Place them where you’ll be filling your jars.

Step 2: Readying your food

Always use food of the highest quality when you’re canning. If you settle for less than the best, your final product won’t have the quality you’re looking for. Carefully sort through your food, discarding any bruised pieces or pieces you wouldn’t eat in the raw state.

Follow the instructions in your recipe for preparing your food, like removing the skin or peel or cutting it into pieces.

Similarly, prepare your food exactly as instructed in your recipe. Don’t make any adjustments in ingredients or quantities of ingredients. Any alteration may change the acidity of the product, requiring pressure canning (see Chapter 9) instead of water-bath canning to kill microorganisms.

If your recipe states something specifically, it’s there for a reason. If you don’t follow the recipe instructions to the letter, your final results won’t be what the recipe intended.

Step 3: Filling your jars

Add your prepared food (cooked or raw) and hot liquid to your prepared jars as soon as they’re ready. Follow these steps:

1. Transfer your prepared food into the hot jars, adding hot liquid or syrup if your recipe calls for it, and being sure to leave the proper headspace.

Use a wide-mouth funnel and a ladle for quickly filling your jars. You’ll eliminate a lot of spilling and have less to clean from your jar rims. It also helps cleanup and prevents slipping if you place your jars on a clean kitchen towel before filling.

2. Release any air bubbles with a nonmetallic spatula or a tool to free air bubbles. Add more prepared food or liquid to the jar after releasing the air bubbles to maintain the recommended headspace.

Before applying the two-piece caps, always release air bubbles and leave the headspace specified in your recipe. These steps are critical for creating a vacuum seal and preserving your food.

3. Wipe the jar rims with a clean, damp cloth.

If there’s one speck of food on the jar rim, the sealant on the lid edge won’t make contact with the jar rim and your jar won’t seal.

4. Place a hot lid onto each jar rim, sealant side touching the jar rim, and hand-tighten the screw band.

Don’t overtighten because air needs to escape during the sealing process.

Step 4: Processing your filled jars

With your jars filled, you’re ready to begin processing. Follow these steps:

1. Place the jar rack in your canning kettle, suspending it with the handles on the inside edge of the kettle.

2. Place the filled jars in the jar rack, making sure they’re standing upright and not touching each other.

Although the size of your kettle seems large, don’t be tempted to pack your canner with jars. Only place as many jars as will comfortably fit yet still allow water to move freely between them. And always process jars in a single layer in the jar rack.

Never process half-pint or pint jars with quart jars because the larger amount of food in quart jars requires a longer processing time to kill any bacteria and microorganisms. If your recipe calls for the same processing times for half-pint and pint jars, you may process those two sizes together.

3. Unhook the jar rack from the edge of the kettle, carefully lowering it into the hot water, and add water if necessary.

Air bubbles coming from the jars are normal. If your jars aren’t covered by at least 1 inch of water, add boiling water from your reserve. Be careful to pour this hot water between the jars, instead of directly on top of them, to prevent splashing yourself with hot water.

Make sure the tops of the submerged jars are covered with 1 to 2 inches of hot water. Add additional water from your reserve teakettle or saucepan to achieve this level.