Canning Your Food
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Canning is my new art form.
Learning to can food is an art form. Well, I like to think so anyway. It’s so vintage.
My grandmother canned her vegetables and made jelly. In fact, my grandmother could can anything. She was a wiz in the kitchen. Straight from the garden or pasture to the table. I thought nothing of this when I was younger. Helping her in the kitchen canning is just what we did. If I could go back in time, I would pay attention to everything she did in the kitchen! I would hold on to her every word and follow every instruction and savor in the moments of spending time with my grandmother.
While those days are gone with my grandmother in the kitchen, I am thankful she is still around to give me her recipes. To carry on a family tradition, I have started canning on my own. It brings back a bit of nostalgia and I like to know I am saving money. It is also nice that I can just reach into the pantry and pull out what I need.
Canning was hard for me at first. As with everything, it has gotten easier. There are a lot of steps to canning correctly. I don’t have a garden like I used to so I go to the Farmer’s Market and pick out what is in season. There is washing, cutting and blanching if necessary. We can talk about blanching later. I also make sure that I have everything I need the day before so I can start bright and early the next morning.
Do you know there are two ways to can food? Yep, there are two ways to can food. The first way is called Water Bath Canning. This is simply submerging your jars into boiling water for a certain amount of time. Only certain foods can be canned this way. Those would be high-acid foods like jelly, jams, pickles, salsa, etc.
The second way to canning is pressure canning. A pressure canner has a gauge to determine the pressure inside the pot. Different foods have different pressure requirements based on the type of food and the size of the jar you are using. Pressure canning is for low-acid foods such as meats and vegetable, seafood, etc. You must ensure that your food won’t spoil so pressure canning is a must as the temperature must be at least 240 degrees F.
Now, as you can imagine the water is pretty hot even before you start canning. Your jars must be sanitized and are in the boiling water for this reason. How do you handle hot jars, lids, and bands? You use a jar lifter and a jar handler. Canning cannot be done without these tools. All the tools you need can be purchased together in a kit.
Gather your pots and jars and tools because I am super excited to start canning!! You are going to love this. Are you ready? Watch out for my canning recipes.
Until next time,
Kari
Items used to can your delicious food!
