Canning and Preserving For Dummies (26 page)

As discussed in Chapter 3, botulism poisoning can be fatal. Because botulism spores have no odor and can’t be seen, you can’t always tell which jars are tainted.
If you suspect that a jar of food is spoiled, never, never, never taste it.
Instead, dispose of the food responsibly.

When you need to dispose of spoiled low-acid foods, use one of the two disposal methods described in the following sections. The first method is for sealed jars and second is for jars with broken seals.

If your jar is still sealed

If the jar has the seal intact, you can simply place your container in a garbage bag, tie it tightly, and discard it in the trash. This keeps the product from coming in contact with any human or animal and eliminates the transfer of bacteria. Be sure to thoroughly wash your hands and any surface that may have come in contact with spoiled food or its juices.

If your jar has a broken seal

If you see signs that the seal is broken or not tight, place the jar, the lid, the screw band, and the contents of the jar in a deep cooking pot. Cover the items with 1 to 2 inches of water, taking care not to splash any of the contents outside of the pot (this can cause cross-contamination with other foods in your household).

Cover the pot with a tight-fitting cover. Bring the contents to a boil. Keep the contents boiling for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the contents to cool while remaining covered. Discard the contents in a sealed container in the trash or bury them deeply in the soil.

Never pour the contents into a water source, a sink or garbage disposal, or down the toilet, because the contents may come into contact with humans or animals through a water-reclamation process.

Using a solution made up of one part household chlorine bleach to four parts
tepid
(lukewarm) water, thoroughly wash all equipment, working surfaces, clothing, and body parts that may have come in contact with the jar or spoiled food. You may also add dishwashing soap. Dispose of the jar, the lid and screw band, and any sponges or dishcloths used in any phase of this process by wrapping the items in a trash bag, sealing the bag, and placing it in the trash.

Pressure Canning at Higher Altitudes

If you’re canning at an elevation higher than 1,000 feet above sea level, adjust the pounds of pressure used during processing, according to Table 9-1. Your pressure-canner processing time will remain the same.

If you don’t know your altitude level, you can get this information by contacting your public library, a local college, or the cooperative extension service in your county or state. Or go to
http://national4-hheadquarters.gov/Extension/index.html
Click on your state on the map and follow the instructions on your state’s Web site.

Chapter 10

Preserving the Harvest: Just Vegetables

In This Chapter

Organizing your vegetables

Filling your jars: raw packing versus hot packing

Processing vegetables perfectly

Preparing nutritious meals from your canned vegetables

Don’t you just love the time of year when you’re starting your garden — preparing the soil, sowing seeds, pulling weeds, looking for pests, and asking the gardening gods for perfect weather and an abundant harvest? Then, after months of hard work and dirty fingernails, you’re rewarded with fresh vegetables. At first, your garden produces enough each day for one or two meals, and then the explosion starts. Tomatoes, zucchini, and beans, to name a few, abound. You wonder, “How can just a few plants produce so many vegetables?” You’re proud to share your bounty with friends, neighbors, and coworkers, but there’s a limit to how much you can give away!

Now, reality sets in. You have to do something with this harvest or it will go to waste! It’s time to get out your pressure canner, check your equipment, and get busy pressure canning. You must act quickly if you plan to preserve these vegetables for use in the winter and spring.

This chapter gives you basic information on selecting and preparing your vegetables, understanding which packing method (raw or hot) works best, knowing the correct pressure and processing times, and using the proper jar sizes for your vegetables.

Selecting Your Vegetables

When choosing your vegetables, be picky. The quality of your final product is affected by the quality of the food you start with. You can find specific guidelines of what to look for for each particular vegetable in the “Pressure Canning Vegetables” section of this chapter.

Picking the perfect produce

Whether harvesting your vegetables from the garden or shopping at a farmer’s market or your local supermarket, select vegetables that are free of bruises and imperfections. These marks could encourage the growth of bacteria in your food. Follow this basic rule for evaluating damage on vegetables for canning: If you won’t eat that portion of the vegetable, don’t buy it and can it.

The key to keeping all this wonderful, perfect freshness? Process the vegetables the day of harvesting or purchasing — the sooner the better. If you need to wait a day, store the items in your refrigerator to preserve the quality and prevent deterioration of your food. Don’t make your vegetables wait longer than one day! For more information on how to successfully process your canned vegetables, head to the section “Processing Tips for Successful Results.”

Even if you don’t have a garden (or access to one), you can find vegetables of high quality at your local farmer’s market or supermarket. Purchasing vegetables in season (when they’re abundant) is usually the best time to find the best pricing. Look for vegetables that are locally grown — they’ll taste fresher and won’t be covered with wax that prolongs the life of veggies.

Vegetables not recommended for pressure canning

Some vegetables shouldn’t be preserved by pressure canning because the food may discolor, produce a stronger flavor when canned, or just lose its look (meaning it disintegrates or falls apart when placed under high heat and high pressure). Other methods, such as pickling (see Chapter 8) or freezing (see Chapter 13), may be better preserving choices for these foods. Table 10-1 lists some vegetables you may be tempted to pressure-can but that will preserve better in other ways.

Prepping Your Veggies

You can prepare your clean vegetables for filling your jars in two ways: raw pack or hot pack. Not all vegetables are suited for both methods. Follow your recipe instructions or check out the “Pressure Canning Vegetables” section in this chapter.

Cleaning your vegetables

Properly cleaning your vegetables is important to your finished product (refer to Chapter 3 for more on cleaning vegetables). The method and amount of cleaning required is determined by where the vegetables were grown: above the ground (like beans or squash) or in the ground (like carrots or beets).

Vegetables growing above the ground:
These vegetables usually have a thinner, more tender skin than vegetables grown in the ground. Remove any stems and leaves. Run water over them, gently rub the skin with your fingers and remove any dirt. Shake off the excess water and place your food on clean kitchen or paper towels.

Vegetables growing in the ground:
Root vegetables, such as carrots and beets, may require soaking to loosen any clinging soil. After first rinsing the vegetables, immerse them in a basin of cool water. Using a stiff brush (a new toothbrush works well), scrub the surface of the vegetables, removing any clinging soil. Rinse thoroughly with running water, placing the vegetables on clean kitchen or paper towels to drain.

Raw packing versus hot packing

Raw packing and hot packing foods refers to the way the food is treated before it is placed in the jars. In raw packing, you don’t cook the food prior to processing. In hot packing, you do. The following sections go into more details on which method is preferable when you’re canning vegetables.

Packing food raw or hot doesn’t change your processing time. Reaching the required pressure in your canner, usually 10 pounds, takes the same amount of time, regardless of the temperature of your raw- or hot-packed jars.

Raw (cold packing)

The
raw packing
(also called cold packing) method uses raw, unheated vegetables for filling your prepared jars. Filling the jars with raw vegetables keeps them firm without being crushed during processing. Refer to your recipe instructions to decide whether to remove the skin or cut the vegetables into pieces.

Disadvantages of using raw vegetables include the following:

Floating food:
During the pressure-canning process, air is removed from the vegetable fiber, causing the food to shrink. With more room in the jars, the vegetables have room to float toward the top of the jar (this is called
floating food
). Floating food doesn’t affect the quality of your final product, but it may be unattractive.

Discoloring:
Discoloring
occurs when the food comes in contact with air in the jar, causing a color change in your food after two or three months of storage. The flavor of your product is not affected, but the change in color in a portion of the food may appear odd.

To fill your jars using a raw packing method, follow these instructions:

1. Wash your vegetables.

2. Prepare the hot liquid (refer to your recipe) for filling your jars.

3. Fill the hot, prepared jars with your raw vegetables.

4. Add the hot liquid and canning salt, if required.

5. Release any air bubbles with a nonreactive tool (refer to Chapter 3).

If the headspace in your jar drops, add additional food and liquid to maintain the headspace stated in your recipe.

6. Wipe the jar rims; add the two-piece caps, and process the filled jars in a pressure canner (see Chapter 5).

Hot packing

When you hot pack, you precook or heat your vegetables prior to placing them in your prepared canning jars. It’s the preferred method for the majority of vegetables, particularly firm ones, such as carrots and beets. Using precooked vegetables improves the shelf life of the processed food by increasing the vacuum created in the jar during the pressure-canning period.

Precooking your vegetables in a boiling liquid, usually water, preshrinks the food and makes it more pliable, which allows you to pack more food into your jars. This results in using fewer jars. The method is a simple one:

1. Wash your vegetables.

2. Heat your liquid to a boil in a large pot and add the vegetables, precooking them as directed in your recipe.

3. Immediately fill your prepared jars with the hot vegetables, followed with the hot cooking liquid.

4. Release any air bubbles with a nonreactive tool.

If the headspace in your jar drops, add additional food and liquid to maintain the headspace stated in your recipe.

5. Wipe the jar rims, add the two-piece caps, and process the filled jars in a pressure canner (see Chapter 9).

Processing Tips for Successful Results

Because vegetables are low-acid foods, you must use the pressure-canning method outlined in Chapter 9. In addition to the pressure-canner-processing steps there, use these tips for producing a product of high quality that’s safe for eating.

Get your supplies ready ahead of time.
About one week before you begin pressure canning, assemble and check your equipment (see Chapter 9). Locate your recipe and review the ingredients you need to have on hand. Stopping at any stage of food preparing or processing adversely affects the quality of your final product.

During the canning season (summer), canning supplies may be in short supply and challenging to find. Inventorying your products early and purchasing missing items keeps you ready to can on a moment’s notice. Jars, lids, and screw bands don’t have a shelf life or expiration date.