Hot answers tagged canning
24
Here is why it's stupid:
Sous-vide doesn't get hot enough to kill botulism spores. Low acid foods will be very dangerous.
Boiling is required for a strong seal on canning jars.
All pectin jellies I have seen require boiling to set.
High acid recipes often call for processing in a water bath for a mere 10 minutes to seal the lids. Recipes that don't call ...
16
These various boilings serve different purposes.
The jam mixture is boiled to reduce the liquid and bring the pectin to its gelling temperature.
The bottles and lids are boiled to sterilize them as you said.
The final water bath kills any bugs that were introduced while filling the jars. Additionally this boiling ensures a good seal on the bottles. In the ...
15
Sure you can use the jars over and over, but the lids should never be reused. That rubber seal is damaged the first time you use it. They are designed to soften during the canning process in order to form an air-tight seal. They may not form that seal upon reuse. You should always use new lids when canning.
14
If you are seeing this effect after the jars have been in storage for a long period, do not eat the contents! This is a sign of botulism due to improper canning; the bacteria often (but not always) produce gas as they grow spores.
If this is happening immediately after the canning process, it is probably because you are not creating a proper vacuum seal. ...
13
Absolutely not. You need to boil them if you're even THINKING about canning. Chances are you'd be fine, nice acidic relish to keep the bacteria down...But do you want to take the chance?
Even if you have one of those dishwashers with a nuclear "sterilize baby bottles" cycle, don't trust it. For canning, you need them as close to medically sterile as is ...
12
When tomatoes are cooked (which I assume you plan on doing for canning or after freezing) the skins become tough and usually detach from the tomato. Since you usually don't mind this, you shouldn't mind it with canned tomatoes either, but many people do - even when pureed the texture is different.
When freezing you can freeze whole and the skin should come ...
11
Obviously, every manufacturer is going to have their own proprietary methods.
However, canned goods are often made by combining ingredients (possibly partially cooked) directly into the cans, and then pressure cooking them in the can as part of the canning process.
So, for example, the broth, some celery, and some carrots might be added to the open can in ...
9
Before filling the jars, you should do the following:
Place the jars (right-side-up) on a rack inside a boiling-water canner
Fill the canner and jars with water to one inch above the jars
Boil for 10 min (or more for higher elevations)
Remove and drain the jars, one at a time
I toss the lids and rings in there as well, since the lids seal best ...
9
Washing them in hot water is most certainly not enough. Sterilization via boiling under pressure is guaranteed to kill every harmful pathogen, particularly Clostridium botulinum, the beastie responsible for botulism. The "hot" water from your tap is not enough to kill the spores. C botulinum spores must be heated to 250 F for at least three minutes to ...
9
If the jars are properly sealed the vacuum in the jar and the waxed edge will hold the lid safely sealed. Undisturbed those jars will remain sealed until they are opened. The ring will reduce the risk of "unintentional" opening and that is really all the ring does. There are two real advantages to removing the ring once the seal is set.
If something ...
8
You cannot preserve just any salsa recipe (unless you're just freezing it).
Tomatoes are on the border between acidic and non-acidic foods. What this means is that they can be water-bath canned if they are sufficiently high in acid; but, if they are low in acid, they need to be pressure canned.
If you want to be sure to avoid trouble, follow a tested ...
7
My opinion- I haven't done rigorous testing:
Canning softens the interior of the peach but when I have (in my laziness) left the skins on they stay tough and quite unpleasant tasting.
I doubt it has any effect on the longevity of the product but it would make it a little less pleasant and versatile.
7
Without a canner you are limited to canning high-acid foods.
Botulism spores don't die at 212F, the boiling point of water. A pressure canner boiling water at 15PSI raises the boiling point to 250F or so which will kill the spores.
The bacterium cannot grow in a high acid environment and so high-acid foods such as fruit and pickles do not need to be ...
7
"Pickling salt" is sold, the main difference being the absence of iodine and anti-caking agents. The anti-caking agents can cloud the pickling liquid, but shouldn't effect the flavor. Iodine can impart a bit of a bitter aftertaste, and some sources say can "react adversely with some foods".
I've never noticed a difference between the taste of table salt and ...
7
Yup, its perfectly fine. The seal protects the food, not the ring. At worst it makes them a little more susceptible to bumps that could break the seal (but it'd have to be a significant 'bump').
If the seal were to break and the ring were in place, the food still wouldn't be properly protected.
7
Tomatoes aren't high acid, so they need the addition of vinegar or lemon juice in order to safely can with a hot water bath. Honestly, I'm not sure why you would want to make tomato sauce from canned tomatoes because for me, the whole point of canning tomatoes is because the tomatoes will otherwise go bad. But anyhow...
I recommend finding a tomato sauce ...
7
If your jam has at least 1:1 ratio (1 kg of sugar per kg of fruit) or more, you do not have to can it. Then it is so overwhelmingly sweet that bacteria cannot live in it.
If the jam has less sugar (1:2 are popular, 1:3 are found sometimes), then you have to either can it, or keep it in the fridge and consume it within a few days, similar to any other ...
6
I've never seen canned pesto, nor do I know if there is a way to do it safely. I will propose an alternate solution. Have you thought about freezing it? I've had pesto given to me as a gift before, but it was made as normal then frozen in a canning jar. It worked great.
Did some more digging and eventually came across this, from the National Center for Home ...
5
Low heat pasteurisation is common in the food processing industry. They also use many other techniques including batch laboratory testing. Two low temperature techniques are:
Narrow tube pasteurisation. To ensure all food/liquid has been evenly heated and then cooled. Only suitable for food/liquid that can pass through a grid of narrow tubes. Can be as low ...
5
You could put them in the fridge, and hope they stay good, or you can blanch them and freeze.
Blanching:
Prepare the pears just like you would for canning (peel & cut).
Dip the pear in hot water (or water with sugar) for about a minute.
From the hot water, dip into an ice-bath.
Plastic bag/container and into the freezer.
5
Brewer here. Yes, that should work fine.
Material-wise, you want stainless steel so there is no leaching of metal when you start to boil, and no break down if you use chemicals in it later for cleaning (don't ever leave any chemicals in the pot though, follow directions, many chemicals will even eat away stainless steel if left too long). Either stainless ...
5
In general, if jars are improperly processed or don't seal, you reprocess them exactly the same way you did the first time. This doesn't depend on the original recipe; you just have to do the exact same thing over again. In your case, since it sounds like your original process was hot pack, you would have to open the jars, dump out the salsa and reheat it, ...
5
The major protein in cow's milk, casein precipitates at pH 4.6. It matters very little which acid you use to get to 4.6, casein will still precipitate. pH 4.6 is about the same acidity as canned beets, a food not known for its tartness, so you won't achieve a very sour flavor before things start curding up on you.
Adding emulsifiers could help some with the ...
5
While they are almost certainly very conservative (and with good reason), the FDA recommends that you plan on using home canned goods within one year. They do not give shelf-life guidelines other than this.
I could not find truly authoritative sources (FDA, a major university extension center) that provided more detail. Less authoritative sources make ...
4
There are many causes for the jam being grainy, but most commonly, as @hobodave suggested, is due to inadequate dissolution of sugar.
The test is simple. Get some jam into a bowl, add a little bit of water, stir, does it resolve the problem? If yes, then it is a dissolution problem. There, you may want to change the method of making that jam -- if your ...
4
National Center for Home Food Preservation
The National Center for Home Food Preservation is your source for current research-based recommendations for most methods of home food preservation. The Center was established with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CSREES-USDA) to ...
4
The purpose of using a low simmer during stock-making is to avoid agitating the liquid. You want the fat to settle on top, but a rapid boil will simply disperse the fat and other impurities all throughout the stock, resulting in - as you've hinted at - a cloudy texture and possibly an inferior taste.
The other reason to avoid boiling is simply to prevent ...
4
The reason why we "can" things is to prevent spoilage. It allows you to make a number of batches of something (like Jam) and then store it on the shelf, unrefrigerated for extended periods of time until you're ready to open the jar. That said, when you finally do open it, you're assured that the large majority of bacteria was killed at the start of the ...
3
A pressure canner can reach 240 degrees. However, the point of the 180 degree limit is probably to keep the bones from dissolving and the turkey fats & proteins from mixing into the broth and making it cloudy. Once you strain the broth, you won't have to worry about that anymore. Of course, you might then worry about what the 240 degrees does to the ...
3
It can. C. botulinum (botulism is the disease you get from this bacteria) and other bacteria produce gas that will cause a can to bulge, given enough time. The pineapples he showed you either had a severe C. boulinum colony growing inside or some other nasty bacteria.
Regarding your ketchup, if your can is distended in any way, throw it out. However, the ...
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