Canning Questions and Answers

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A novice canner, I am, so in seeking out answers I am aptly qualified to document my findings. Canning is a food preservation method that uses heat and acidity to preserve foods into glass jars. These jars can stay almost indefinitely without refrigeration. In an age of computers and electricity I find this age old food preparation method quite enlightening. Yes, I am so easily amused.

Why Can?
You really do not use a can, as in a metal can. Canning uses glass bottles with a 2 part metal top: a seal and a ring. Interestingly these products are readily available at our local grocery stores and Walmart. it seems that many people still do can.

Canning preserved vegetables indefinitely without refrigeration. In a blackout or a flood these canned products will be still safe to eat.

Two types of Canning
There are two main types of canning: Boiling Water Bath and Pressure Canning. Boiling water bath canning means you completely immerse the can into boiling water and cook the can at 212F/100C for a specific amount of time, thereby killing the bacteria. Pressure canning means you use a temperature higher than boiling water, with a pressure cooker or canner. The pressure canner can reach pressures of 15psi and therefore temperatures of 250F/121C.

Which method you use depends on the acidity of the food you are preserving. Search to see if your food is high acidity or not.
High Acidity: boiling water bath or pressure canning can do, but pressure canning might turn your food into mush
Low Acidity foods: pressure canning only.

Some foods, such as tomatoes, are on the borderline between low and high acidity foods. In this case you can increase the acidity with the addition of an acid such as bottled lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid. Boosted to high acidity, tomatoes can then be canned using either canning method.

Here is the deal with foods that are on the edge between low and high acidity. There is this bacteria called botulism bacteria that is really toxic for humans. While the botulism bacteria is killed by boiling, its spores can survive, grow and seek revenge against you. The botulism bacteria spores need a higher temperature than boiling water to be killed, hence the need for pressure canning. Pressure canning increases the pressure to 15psi, allowing the internal temperature to rise to 250F

Economic savings from Canning
Alas, unless you grow your own food or receive it for free, there may be no economic savings from canning. There might be other benefits of canning such as:

  • commercial metal cans are lined with a white plastic called BPA. This plastic is banned from baby bottles but are approved for metal cans. I wonder if BPA is safe for food use.
  • Food quality and taste from canning yourself might be superior. This is judgmental so you’ll have to try for yourself.
  • Survival requirements: If you are in an area with frequent risks of blackouts, tornadoes and floods, canned food is a very good method to preserve your food for crisis situaions. It is waterproof, needs no power nor refrigeration.

Tools
There are a couple of items we did purchase:

  • bottles: 12 500ml/pint glass jars with 2 part tops. Walmart $8CAD
  • jar lifter: Dollar store, $2.50CAD. These are very useful. Each step in canning requires the use of boiling water and/or pressurized steam, making jar removal hazardous. This specialized jar lifter has a rounded gripper that safely holds the top of the jars
  • Stainless steel widemouth funnel: Dollar store, $4CAD. So much easier to out your content into the jars quickly and without a huge mess.

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