Getting Ready Now for Summer Food Harvest
If you are thinking about
joining the trend in our communities to preserve food this summer, start
planning and preparing now! Start by checking your equipment and supplies.
Proper equipment in good condition is required for safe, high quality home
canned food, for example.
If you’ve not yet
purchased your needed equipment, there are two types of canners to consider:
boiling water canners and pressure canners. A boiling water canner is used for
canning acid or acidified foods like most fruits, most pickles, jams and
jellies. Boiling water canners cost about $30-$100, or can be assembled
yourself with a large stock pot, secure lid, and rack to keep jars off the
bottom of the pot.
A pressure canner is
essential for canning low acid foods such as vegetables, meats, fish, and
poultry. Temperatures inside pressure canners reach higher than boiling water
canners (for example, 240°F and above as compared to about 212°F). This is
necessary to follow the tested processes available to be sure and kill
the toxin–producing spores of the bacteria Clostridium botulinum.
If not killed, these spores can grow out and produce a deadly toxin (poison) in
room-temperature stored jars of the low-acid foods mentioned.
You have two choices for
type pressure canner: a dial gauge canner or a weighted gauge canner. Most
steps in managing the pressure canning process are the same, but the two styles
have different types of gauges to indicate the pressure inside the canner.
Expect to spend $100-$150 or more on a pressure canner.
If you use a dial gauge
canner, then it’s important to have the gauge tested for accuracy before each
canner season or if you drop or damage your gauge. It isn’t as easy as it used
to be to get gauges tested. Try a local hardware store or your local
Cooperative Extension agent, even though not all still provide this service.
For either type of canner, check that the rubber gasket is flexible and soft,
and if it is brittle, sticky, or cracked then replace it with a new gasket.
Also check that any openings, like vent ports, are completely clean and open.
You’ll also need jars,
lids, and ring bands for canning. When getting started, new jars are a
worthwhile investment (versus purchasing used jars from a yard sale or flea
market) because very old jars may break under pressure and heat. Mason-type
jars of standard sizes (e.g., half-pint, pint, and quart) for the tested
processes available from science-based sources such as USDA and your land-grant
university are recommended. Make sure those jars are manufactured and sold for
canning purposes; not all glass and Mason-style jars are tempered to prevent
breakage with the extreme heat and temperature swings during canning. When you
actually get to canning your harvest, be sure to follow manufacturers’ advice
for preparing your jars and lids. In addition to standard cooking utensils like
cutting boards and bowls, a jar funnel, jar lifter, lid wand, headspace tool,
and bubble-freer are items that you will want to have handy for canning.
If you are freezing
your harvest, be sure to use packaging
such as plastic bags or rigid containers that are intended for freezer storage
of foods. Not all plastics are the same, and you want materials that will
hold up to freezer temperatures as well as protect your goodies from damaging
air and mixtures of odors
A final must is reliable, up-to-date canning and other
food preservation instruction book.ions. Specific kitchen equipment or
ingredients could be needed to follow directions as they are written for food
preservation. And in the case of canning especially, very significant food
safety risks by following unsound recommendations. Reliable, up-to-date canning
instructions are available at the NCHFP website, the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, So Easy to Preserve, or the
county or local area Extension office in your state
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