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I taught myself canning this summer. I was surprised how cheap and easy it is to get started. Basic primer:
- you preserve foods by heating them to drive out air, kill bacteria, and activate the adhesive on the lids to seal the jar
- high acid foods (salsa, pickles, citrus, many fruits and jams, etc) can be preserved by submerging in boiling water for 10 minutes (or more, based on altitude). This is called "water bath canning"
- Low acid foods (meats, veggies, etc) need to be heated to a higher temperature (~245 F) so you need a pressure canner. I have not tried this yet. Equipment:
- a pot, rack (makes dunking/lifting easier), funnel (makes filling jars so much easier), jar lifter (for lifting hot jars out of boiling water). There's a kit here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KHN602/
- wide mouth mason jars (about $1/each at Amazon or Wal-Mart) I did typical nerd internet research, but it all coalesced to http://www.simplycanning.com. Good material, clear instructions, good recipes. She sells a book and ebook, but there's plenty of material on the site to get started. I've had so much fun doing it that I've made way more than I can use and opened an Etsy store - https://www.etsy.com/shop/seattlesweetness. It's a really satisfying break from all the mental work programming. |