Fan of canning
COVID-19 pandemic-created food shortages this spring got people planting “pandemic gardens.”
Now the literal fruits and vegetables of their labors are ripe, and the question becomes what to do with a bushel of zucchini other than leaving it in the lunchroom for co-workers.
It might be time for first-time gardeners to learn another skill: home canning.
Virginia Mangel of the Butler Pomona Grange said it's hard to find people canning nowadays.
“I noticed that cans are back on the shelf at Walmart,” she said. “But not a lot of people can anymore. It's work.”
Not “putting up” food wasn't an option for Mangel growing up.
“There were 14 kids in the family and eight girls and we helped my mother can all summer long.
“We had a big garden — carrots, corn, beans, tomatoes, potatoes,” she said and all the vegetables got put up as well as plums, pears, peaches and apples as well as sauerkraut.
“It's how we got through the winter,” she said, adding her mother would put up 1,500 quarts of fruits and vegetables to keep the family fed during the cold months.Mangel said she still cans beans, peaches, and jams and jellies.Anna Schweichler, food safety and quality/food, families and health educator for the Penn State Extension, called canning a way to have safe food that can last at least a year on the shelf.“The processing of food is the most critical part that some people ignore,” said Schweichler.There are two ways to prepare foods for canning: the boiling water bath and the pressure canner.The boiling water bath is safe for foods with a high acid content.“Fruits or a pickle product, you can do those in a water bath canner,” said Schweichler.The canning jars and rings are placed in a pot of water which is brought to a boil to sterilize them.Once removed from the pot, the jars are filled, Schweichler said.“Leave an appropriate amount of headspace, usually between 1/4 and 1 inch, between the top of the food and the rim of the jars. This should be specified in the recipe,” she said.
Place the lids and the round canning rings on the jars and then screw on the bands, just fingertip tight, she said to allow air to escape in the canning process.Place the filled jars in the pot, bringing the water to boil. Once the water is boiling, she said, start a timer and leave the jars in the boiling water for as long as the recipe calls for.Once the time limit is reached, remove the pot from the heat, let it sit for five minutes, and then remove the jars by pulling them straight up from the container, she said.“Place them on a kitchen towel. Do not tip the jars or tap them. Leave the jars sit for 24 to 48 hours to make sure the seals have sealed correctly,” Schweichler said, noting sometimes the seals make a pinging sound as they seal.If sealed properly, the lids won't wiggle and will feel solid when pressed on, she said.Then the rings can be removed and the jars wiped down and stored in a cool, dry place for up to a year.One rookie mistake, said Schweichler, is trying to reuse jars not intended for canning such as jelly jars.Another is not using a rack for jars in the pot.
She said, “You don't want the jar sitting directly on the bottom of the pot. Use a wire cooling rack or just place the rings on the bottom.”And make sure of the recipe, said Jennifer Taylor, hospitality program coordinator at Butler County Community College.Taylor said, “I do can at home — tomatoes, vegetables, fruits. My parents canned when I was a kid.“We talk about it in a food safety and food production course. They leave the course knowing — whether they are purchasing the food or canning themselves — knowing what the guidelines are and not relying on passing the torch from one generation to another,” she said.Taylor said the acidity, or pH, of foods determines how they must be processed for canning. Acidic foods such as fruits and pickles with a pH of 4.6 or lower may be canned in a water bath canner.Low-acid foods such as vegetables and meats with a pH above 4.6 must be processed in a pressure canner.Schweichler said, “Tomatoes are right on the line at the 4.6 pH line. You either need to pressure can them or if using the boiling water method, for example for whole tomatoes, add lemon juice to the jar. It will tip the acidity just enough to make the acidity safe.”Pressure canning is the only safe method of preserving vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood.Jars of food are placed in 2 to 3 inches of water in a special pressure cooker which is heated to a temperature of at least 240° F. This temperature can only be reached using the pressure method.Taylor said, “This heat discourages the growth of microorganisms and spores. The spores won't grow and produce toxins that are deadly.”Those toxins are caused by clostridium botulinum, said Schweichler, a bacterium that can cause botulism, a severe form of food poisoning.Schweichler and Taylor said canning jars and boiling water and pressure canners can be found in hardware stores and retailers such as Walmart.Taylor said, “Make sure the jars are actually canning jars. Crafting jars from a craft store are not necessarily for canning. Look on the bottom of the jar.”Schweichler said the initial investment in equipment and jars is an investment in the future.She said the jars can be used over and over again, and each year canning will cost the canner less and less if the equipment is maintained. The only things that need to be repurchased are the canning lids, the flat part of the top with the rubber rim, which cannot be reused.“And, consumers are getting lower cost food items geared to their flavor profile,” she said.Taylor stressed the importance of using canning recipes that have been safety tested.“There are lots of recipes we know are safe out there. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Extension services across the country have canning recipes.” she said.“The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has a book that is a great resource. They have all been tested. We know those methods are safe.“People can get seriously ill and die if proper canning methods aren't followed.”But Taylor said, “I think people are canning more now. Canning has come back in the last few years.”
