Summer Canning

People have been preserving food since our very first days. Early techniques included drying, smoking, fermentation and packing in fat (a method we know these days as confit). Later came vinegar pickles, jams (often sealed with wax or more fat) and suspension in alcohol. Still, none of these approaches led to reliably preserved foods. There was always some risk of spoilage.

In the late 1700s, Napoleon Bonaparte was looking for a way to dependably preserve food for his troops and so offered a cash prize to anyone who could produce a better method. After much experimentation, a French cook named Nicolas Appert discovered the packing, heating and sealing technique that essentially what we use today.

Home canning has been popular in the U.S. since the late 1850s, when John L. Mason invented the first reusable jar with a screw-on lid. Canning technology gradually improved and in 1915, Alexander H. Kerr developed the two-part canning lid that we still use today.

Vessels

A large, wide, non-reactive pot like an enameled Dutch oven is a good vessel for cooking preserves. A deep stockpot makes an excellent canning pot. Just pop a round rack or kitchen rag into the bottom of the pot so that the water can circulate fully around the jars.

Lids, Jars and Rings

Remove lids and rings from jars. Place the number of jars you’ll need on top of the rack in your stock pot. Fill pot (and jars) with water to cover, place a lid on the pot and bring it to a boil. Put your lids in a small saucepan and bring them to the barest simmer on the back of the stove.

Time to Can!

While the canning pot comes to a boil, prepare your product. When your recipe is complete, remove the jars from the canning pot (pouring the water back into the pot as you remove the jars) and lay them out on a clean towel on your counter.

Carefully fill your jars with your product. Depending on the recipe, you’ll need to leave between ¼ and ½ an inch of headspace (that’s the room between the surface of the product and the top of the jar).

My grandma always took a butter knife and very slowly and gently ran it around jar to release any air bubbles.

Wipe the rims of the jar with a clean, damp paper towel or the edge of a kitchen towel. Apply lids and screw the bands on the jars to hold the lids down during processing.

Carefully lower the filled jars into the canning pot. You may need to remove some water as you put the jars in the pot. A heat-proof Pyrex measuring cup is the best tool for this job.

Once the pot has returned to a boil, start your timer. The length of the processing time will vary from recipe to recipe. When your timer goes off, remove the jars from the water bath promptly. Place them back on the towel-lined counter top and let them cool.

The jar lids should begin to ping soon after they’ve been removed from the pot. The pinging is the sound of the seals being formed and the center of the lids will become concave as the vacuum seal takes hold.

After the jars have cooled to room temperature, remove the bands and check the seals. You do this by grasping the jar by the edge of the lid and gently lifting it an inch or two off the counter top. The lid should hold fast.

Once you’ve determined that your seals are good, remove the rings and wash the jars well to remove any sticky residue. Store your jars in a cool, dark place (with the rings off, please) for up to a year. Jars that don’t seal can be refrigerated and used first.

Just a few of our favorite summer recipes!

Old Fashioned Salt Pickels

Old Fashioned Apple Butter

Garden Fresh Tomato Juice

Arkansas Pepper Jelly