Home gardens and local markets are supplying fresh grown fruits and vegetables.

If you take advantage of this abundance by canning fruits and vegetables, now is the time to make sure you are doing so safely.

Make sure the dial gauge on your pressure canner is accurate. Testing of this gauge takes only a few minutes and is a free service of Penn State Cooperative Extension. Weighted gauges do not have to be tested.

Mary Alice Gettings, a registered dietitian and nutrition and food safety educator with Penn State Cooperative Extension, will be available to test dial gauges at the Butler County Cooperative Extension Office, 101 Motor Pool Way, Butler, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 10.

Drop off your lid and gauge before this date, or call 724-287-4761 to make an appointment for Aug. 10.

An inaccurate gauge means canned goods are either under-processed, and therefore unsafe to eat, or overprocessed, resulting in lower quality. Make sure your dial gauge is accurate to provide your family with food that is both safe and tasty.

Visit Penn State's food safety Web site at http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu and click on "Home Food Preservation" for reliable home canning resources.

This material is submitted by Donna Zang, extension director, and the staff of the Penn State Extension office at the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center complex.