Home Canning 101

I know what you're thinking. "Canning?" No, it's not just something our great-grandmothers did because they were poor or housewives or didn't have year-round fresh produce delivered to their local mega-groceries. Canning, while much less common now than it was in generations past, is on track to make a comeback. Why? Because you get to decide what is in your food, and that food is going to last a while. If you're tired of picking up a can and being unable to pronounce most of the ingredients, canning is for you. And the list of things that can be canned is practically endless, starting with vegetables, fruits, pickles, jams, jellies, juices, tomato sauces, etc. Besides, home-canned goods make a fantastic gift. Have you ever been given a basket of little cloth-topped jars full of love-filled homemade jams and sauces that you can enjoy long past the occasion that warranted gifts? (I have. Thanks, Grandma!)

I'll be covering hot water bath canning in this post, although there are a few different kinds. This post is only a basic how-to, and I will try to cover as much as I can, but for more precise instructions you can check out Ball's canning website or read the detailed instructions included with just about every Ball canning product. Some aspects of canning are all about precision, and this post is going to add photos and helpful hints to what Ball and Kerr, the two most recongizable home-canning brands, have already specified.

This is the Kerr cookbook that my grandma delicately slides out of a soft paper bag each time she needs a canning recipe that she doesn't already have on a yellowed recipe card. Copyrighted in 1942, it's older than she is, and was her mother's go-to guide for canning. I've gotten lost in reading through it; some of the recipes are very bizarre (Mint Julep Juice made with grape, strawberry, orange and lemon juices?), and some of the comments are so telling of the times they were living in. ("To neglect [nutrition] would be as hazardous as to neglect military preparedness." Maybe we need to get back to that kind of healthy sloganeering.) You'll notice this victory cook has such a fashionable coif that she doesn't need to tie her hair back. If you do as well, brava - I'm still in that I-want-to-grow-my-hair-out-again phase, and I tie mine back.

I've included a large detail photo below for you to read it for yourself.



























1. Disassemble jars and lids; clean and heat them. The jars usually come in packs of 12 and have both lids and rings already on them. The jars need to be washed and heated, and while you could wash them and then put them in a large pot of hot water, we've found it's really easy to run them in a short dishwasher cycle - then they're both clean and stay hot for a while. TIP: You want them hot so when hot food is added, they don't burst.

2. Prepare a cooling place. We use a large cutting board covered with a towel to prevent slipping and sliding, and it's just across the sink, not across the floor. Your hot, wet jars will probably drip.














3. Prepare your work station. You'll need a large pot with a rack of some kind to put the jars on, a small pan for the lids, the lid-lifter, the food that you have cooking nearby, and towels/potholders handy. The large canning pot should have enough water to cover the jars once it's filled with them, and the small pot with lids will need just an inch of water (but that will simmer very quickly so try to keep an eye on it and just turn it off when it gets there; don't let it boil with the lids inside or the seals will be compromised). Turn on the burners for both pots; medium is okay at first. TIP: As for a rack, if you don't have one, Ball suggests you put a layer of lid rings in the bottom of your pot. You want water under the jars so the bottom of them is not cooking while they're processing. Carefully slip the sealing lids into the water, one at a time. Have the magnetic lid-lifter handy (it's blue in my pictures).







4. Prepare your food to be canned. This may be as simple as boiling some water and having grapes standing by, or as complicated as peeling, chopping, and boiling fruit at specifically timed intervals. (This part will require individual recipes, and I will be back with more posts soon that should help ease you into this project.)





5. Fill the jars. Carefully ladle any liquid foods into the jars using a funnel, and hold the jar steady with a towel or oven mitt. Do this over the counter! TIP: We usually have a two-person operation happening, with the Filler-person filling the jars and walking the filled jar to the Sealer-person, but before you leave your filling workstation, carefully move your funnel to a clean empty jar so you don't have to carry it farther.





6. Wipe and cover jars. With a dry rag or towel, wipe the top edge of the jar clean to ensure a good seal. Then using the lid-lifter, carefully remove a lid from the pot, dry it, and place it on the jar. Screw on a ring to keep it in place, but do not put it on too tight, just snug. TIP: Grandma says "fingertip tight" - you shouldn't be using anything more than your fingertips.

7. Process. Place the jars carefully into the canning pot full of hot water, and if using a lowering rack like we have, grab the handles and lower it into the water. If there isn't enough water to cover the jars, carefully add more now; here, our quart jars are so large we didn't fill the pot to the top. Cover and bring to a boil, and boil ("process") for as long as the recipe calls.

8. Remove and cool. When the time is up, turn off the burner and allow the pot to stop bubbling. Carefully remove the jars from the water bath and set on the cooling space. Keep the jars upright. TIP: Ball makes a jar-lifter that is very convenient, but we are still using kitchen tongs. TIP: Have a towel in your other hand to shield against drips if you are traveling over the floor.

As the jars cool, you will hear the lids popping down. This occurs as the contents cool and take up less space, and the lid is the only thing that can give in to the pressure. Just like that classic bottle of ketchup or jar of pickles you get at the store, your food now has a safety "pop." Check after 24 hours to make sure all jars have sealed (all lids are concave = centers down). If one jar isn't sealed, just put it in the fridge and consume it soon. If the entire batch is unsealed, the jars can be reprocessed.

Now you can take your hair down.


Store your jars in a cool dry place, and they'll easily last a year. Or, dress them up a little and give them as gifts. I sent a few goodies to my boyfriend while he's 800 miles away from me, and I dressed them up in girlie prints for him, but you can always use the ever-popular, tried-and-true gingham. (These are in fact not actual canned goods but little pies, but that's another project from another blog.