I do some canning at home: pasta sauce, salsa, bread and butter pickles and apple butter.

What do you can? What are your tips for the best ways to can different foods? What sort of safety measures can you take to be sure that the can seals and you don't get botulism/food poisoning? What are your favorite canned foods? What are some of your recipes for canned goods?

What about links?

Help!

http://www.amitymama.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1115367#post1115367

I am selling a Sunset canning cookbook. See above link. ;)

I love to can. With all my allergies it is the only way I can have some kind of convience food. One thing I would recommend is that you find a pot that holds as much food as you need to fill the jars for the canner. I hate to have any left over (after preparing and looking at it for hours there is no way I want to eat it right away and it's no fun to have to do another jbatch to fill your pressure canner). I also recommend the all-american brand of pressure canners because there are no gaskets to break or lose. I use the recipes out of the ball blue book or my own making sure to can for the ingridient(sp) that needs the longest time under pressure. I've done meat, turkey soup. split pea and beef/vegetable and it is sooo worth it. One prep and one mess for food that you can use for over a year. Sorry this is so long but I am enthusiastic. Sarah

I am glad you started this.
I have been canning the past week.
I have made apple butter, pepper jelly, and salsa.
Last year i canned greenbeans.(according the directions in the book that came w my pressure canner.)
For my apple butter and pepper jelly i use a boiling bath method.

When my food is ready to can i boil the jars and lids for 10min. Then i fill the jars w what ever i am canning. Then i wipe the tops off and place on the lids and the rings. Then i place in a boiling bath for another 10min. Then i remove from water and let sit. Awhile later i always here that *pop* sound of the seal setting.

I am nervous about the salsa i did last night.I have never canned salsa and am not sure if a boiling bath is enough. I have gotten mixed replies. But i made 1 mason jar full and 5 8oz jars full. My dh & kids already ate 1 of the 8oz jars (we had mexican for dinner last night)


I am going to go pick blueberries soon and try my hand at jam so anyone got a good recipe for that?:D

I have never canned. I should look into it~ :)

Originally posted by momof2boys1girl
I am nervous about the salsa i did last night.I have never canned salsa and am not sure if a boiling bath is enough. I have gotten mixed replies. But i made 1 mason jar full and 5 8oz jars full. My dh & kids already ate 1 of the 8oz jars (we had mexican for dinner last night)

Kelly, your burp cloths went out today, sorry for the delay!

As for the salsa, I felt more assured that it was safe when I used my canner. But the year before (2002) I used a boiling water bath (I left them in for, I swear, like 30 minutes to GUARANTEE they'd seal! LOL) and they were all fine.

I make apple butter, bread and butter pickles, salsa and pasta sauce. Going to try to make some jam this year....just not sure what kind I wanna make. I'm pretty much a grape jam gal, but dh loves strawberry. Ds is only grape, too. Though I'd use orange marmalade, peach and apricot jam, too!

I got the Ball BLUE BOOK of preserving today at WalMart for under $6- where all the rest of the canning stuff is. :)

Will look through it and see if there are any recipes that I'd use, and of course I NEVER use recipes as is, I tweak them to my familys' own tastes and likes, and will post my revised recipes. LOL

TTYL!

I love to can meats. They make for quick meals!
I've done sliced ham, and chicken.

My sister used to live in a cabin w/ lots of animals. I bought a hog from them and BIL butchered it for me. We took the meat and made our own sausage and canned it. It was fun and lots of work! Made me want to raise my own animals but we live in the city. Not to mention that I am way to lazy to do that much work every day :) It was good to know that the meat off that hog was organic and I slopped it with my own leftovers!

;)

How do you can w/o a pressure canner and how safe is it? My MIL & SIL have never used pressure canners and say they are a waste of $$. :rolleyes: But then, they were raised canning so they can do it all blindfolded. I want to learn but don't have the $$ for a pressure canner.

I have some coupons for canning jars and those metal things from this Sunday's paper.

E-mail if you want them.

kathma25@psouth.net

Originally posted by schnookies
How do you can w/o a pressure canner and how safe is it? My MIL & SIL have never used pressure canners and say they are a waste of $$. :rolleyes: But then, they were raised canning so they can do it all blindfolded. I want to learn but don't have the $$ for a pressure canner.

From what I've learned, only SOME foods can be canned using a water bath. It's not just the temperature, but the pressure that makes the food safe (aka inhibits bacteria/mold growth) and *seals* the jars.

???

I only use a waterbath canner... but then I just can tomatoes/sauce and applebutter.

The rest I freeze... I'm chicken to try the pressure canner... but I might take the plunge with it next summer.

Unfortunately with the move, we didn't get a garden in this year:rolleyes:

Nelle

I'm remembering this off my non-working mommy brain :D

Jelly, jam, tomatoes can be done with a boiling bath

ALL MEATS, veggies, fruits, soups need to be done with pressure cooker.

the jam and jelly is ok because of the sugar you add( I think that is why), the tomatoes have lots of acid so they are ok also.

If you're going to do a lot of canning you should get a good book for a reference. I've noticed that there are various times given for each food depending on the book you read.

I'd hate to have a bunch of bad food or my food not seal just because I didn't follow the right procedure. :(