Canning Food is Smart and Gratifying

Discover all about canning food from your garden, as well as try Canning Fruits, canning meats and more! This is the best source for home canning instructions out there.

Canning vegetables and Canning Tomatoes is fun and saves you so much money every month. All you need to start are some home canning supplies and your mind set to work. Your garden is the organic source and your pantry the grocery store. Now you can pay yourself when you shop your kitchen cupboards!

Get ready for canning food! If you have decided to preserve meats or vegetables you will need to use a pressure canner.

Let's Start With Step by Step



Pressure Canning Instructions.

1. Prepare the Harvest.

Right after picking is the ideal time to get your fruits washed, peeled and sliced according to your recipe. Nutritional quality diminishes with every hour delayed, so plan on same day Home Canning if at all possible.

When Preserving Food, you may need the following additives depending on your canning recipes: Lemon juice, fruit fresh, cider or white vinegar 5%, pickling or Kosher salt (no iodine), either liquid or powdered fruit pectin called sure jell. Apple pectin is what will cause your jams to thicken to the right consistency.
You can make a sugar/water solution for light, medium and thick syrups, just pour it over your cut fruit and leave about 1/4" headspace.
Do not mix liquid and powder types of pectin as you could have jam that refuses to set, no fun!
Ball Canning Recipes are considered highly reliable and set the industry standard for home canning.

2. Sterilize and Prepare the Jars

Now is the time to check your jar rims for small cracks or chips before actually canning food. If you find one don't bother processing as it will not seal. Wash your jars in either hot soapy water or an efficient dishwasher.

Fill those big pots now, fire up the stove and get them boiling. Add the empty jars and boil for at least 10 minutes. At the time you start filling jars, you will use some of that hot boiling water and place it in a pan to set your lids and rims to soak.

3. Fill Your Jars

If you are making tomato sauce, jam or other High Acid Foods food, simply fill the jars using your funnel. Pack chunky fruits and vegetables with a spoon. In either case you will need to fill leaving a 1/4"-1/2" headspace.

Run your plastic spatula through the mixture and then take that clean damp dishtowel and wipe away any drips on the jar rims.

Center your lids on each jar, followed by the rings, firm but not over tightened.

Great! You are almost done canning food for the day! Now just put those lovelies into the boiling water and process for the time called for. Make sure they are fully submerged at all times. You start the time after the water is at a rolling boil. A good rule is 40 minutes for Canning Salsa or Canning Roma Tomatoes , 25 minutes for fruit, fruit pie fillings and applesauce, and 10-15 minutes for pickles. If you are Canning Tuna or Canning Green Beans or any kind of meat, fish or vegetables you must check your recipe carefully for processing times and use only a pressure canner.

7. Boil and Wait

When the time is up, get your jar tongs and take the jars out and place right side up on your towel. They need to cool, and there is nothing so satisfying as the little plink plink sound you will begin to hear that tells you your seals are securing themselves for you.

8. How to Store the Jars

Courtesy of quirkygranolagirl

After a few hours check the seals by gently pressing the top of the lids. They should not move up and down. If one or more does, they cannot be stored with the others and you have several options. Either put it in the fridge for use that week, or remove and inspect the rim for chips, replacing with a new lid/ring and reprocessing for the full time, or you can freeze the contents in another container.

For storage, cool and dry is the only way to go. You can opt to remove the bands or leave them on. The prevailing wisdom for removal is if your jars could get damp over the winter and rust. If that is not a problem it is best to leave the bands on so you can use one on the mason jar in the fridge you are using that week.

You do not want to have to buy new bands next year, so keep them in storage where they will not get stacked upon or bent. The lids, however, are done for and must be bought new each canning season. Ball home Canning Supplies are high quality and reliable products that exceed industry standards for canning food.

9. Label Your Jars

Use the cute labels that come with your pectin or make your own. Be sure to date and don't forget to give one to someone you love. They will remember hand canned treats and fresh colored eggs from your hens far longer than any other gift.