J-VWf ,U vu'l. .yrtiu-’cS quintal ir.kemsi 84-Lanca»tef Fanning, Saturday, June 14, 1997 Family Living II IlMjf. Focus | WSte* Annette Goodling I •vT 188 Northampton Co. // ' / |BT Extension Agent /fH Canning Updates It’s that time of year again to consider what are going to do with your garden excess. You can eat it now, give the extra to every one you know or process it for use this winter. Canning is one of three options for processing, the others are freezing and dehydrat ing. In today’s column we will look at the latest information using the canning option. Grand mother’s method of heating the food and placing it into sterilized jars (open kettle canning) is not an acceptable method even for jams and jellies. All canned foods need to be processed after the food is placed in jars. The two safe methods for home canning preservation are the boil ing water bath and the pressure canner method. The method is determined by the food you are preserving. All low-acid foods (vegetables and meats) must be processed in a pressure canner. High acid foods (fruits and toma toes), high sugar foods (jams and jellies) and pickled foods can be canned using the hot water bath. What you need when canning: •Start with top quality food; canning doesn’t improve the qual ity of the food. •Use only standard, modem canning jars. • Check the rim of the jars for any nicks, even a very minor imperfection can cause seal failure. •Use the two piece lid consist ing of a metal screw band and lid with sealing compound around the circumerfence. Purchase new lids each year as the sealing compound may be damaged during storage. The metal bands are reusable as long as they are in good condition. •Use the correct method and canner for the type of food you are processing. y / CLOSED SUNDAYS, NEW YEAR, ragdL A EASTER MONDAY,ASCENSION DAY, WHIT MONDAY, OCT. 11, THANKSGIVING, fIIIMIII CHRISTMAS I DECEMBER 26TH FISHER’S FURNITURE, INC. NEW AND USED FURNITURE USED COAL A WOOD HEATERS COUNTRY FURNITURE A ANTIQUES BUS. HRS. BOX 57 MON.-THURS. 1-5 1129 GEORGETOWN RD. FRI, 8-8, SAT. M 2 BART, PA 17503 QPAFT-BILJ CONSTRUCTION, INC. (717) 653-4023 Post Frame Buildings e% Cluster^ Storage Pre-Engineered Commerical Buildings There are two methods for pre paring food for the jars raw (cold) pack and hot pack. Raw pack is the fastest method as you pack the raw food into the jar and cover with boiling liquid (water or sugar syrup). An advantage of the hot pack method is that you can get more food in the jars. Use the liquid that you cook the food in as the liquid in the jar. The hot pack also reduces the air in the food and keeps the foods from “floating.” Using a plastic or wooden spoon, run along the inside of the jar to remove trapped air. Don’t use a metal knife as it might make scratches rat the jar which will weaken the jar and could cause breakage during the canning pro cess. Be sure to allow the recom mended “head space” (space allowed at the top of the jar with out liquid) listed in the recipe. The head space will vary depending on the method pressure canning using the raw pack requires the largest amount of head space. Fai lure to follow recipe recommenda tions can result in broken jars and failed seals if liquid or food is forced out of the jar during the processing. Clean the rim of the jar with a damp paper towel to remove liquid or food particles before placing a hot lid on the top of the jar. Turn on the screw band till tight; don’t over tighten or leave too loose. Steps for boiling water bath used for high acid foods, jams and jellies and pickled foods. •Fill canner half-full of water We watch over every step in the manufacture, assembly and construction of your building. Morton operates five manufacturing facilities, strategically located to serve you efficiently. Our high-volume buying power enables us to purchase the finest raw materials at the lowest possible price. Components for your structure are manufactured, fabricated and assembled under the watchful eyes of quality control experts. We maintain a fleet of company-owned and operated trucks, enabling our drivers to unload your building materials quickly and safely. From that point, a crew of company-trained, company-employed, and company-insured construction professionals takes over. They are trained to follow the most efficient and safe construction methods possible, and are supplied with state-of-the-art equipment and quality materials to make your facility something to be proud of for years to come. and heat to warm for raw packed food or hot packed foods. •Place jars in canner in a rack that allows water to circulate around the jars. •Add boiling water if needed so jars are covered with at least one inch of water over the jars. •Turn heat to high and bring water to a boil. Start counting the processing time when the water starts to boil. Hie heat can be reduced but be sure it continues to boil all the time; dropping below the boiling point interrups the processing. •When the jars have been pro cessed the required time, turn off the boat and remove the jars to a cooling rack. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes for the water in a canner of jars to come to a boil. You then have to allow the correct time for the food you are processing. You can remove the jars immediately when the time is completed. Steps for using the pressure canner for low acid foods veg etables and meats. There are two types of pressure canners the dial gauge or the weighted gauge. The dials needs to be checked for accuracy each year. Call your loc al Cooperative Extension office to arrange to have our gauge checked. If the gauge reads too low you will be overprocessing your food but if the gauge reads too high you will be underprocess ing the food and your product will not be safe to use. •Place two to three inches of hot water in the canner and place filled jars in the jar rack. Fasten the canner lid securely. •Leave the weight off or the petcock open until steam escapes fra: 10 minutes. This is a very important step. Air that is not forced out of the canner during this process lowers the tempera; ture reached at 5,10 or IS pound? of pressure resulting in underprocessing. •After steam has escaped for 10 minutes close the petcock or place the weigh on the canner. Watch the gauge and bring the pressure to the recipe recommendation. •Start timing the process when the pressure reading on the dial the recipes exactly. Etch reaches the recommendation or approved recipe is tested using the the weighted gauge begins to specific ingredient and the speci jiggle. fied amount of the ingredient. •Regulate the heat to maintain a steady pressure. Quick and/or large pressure variations during processing may cause unneces sary liquid losses from jars. •When processing time is com pleted, turn off the heat and remove canner from heat Do not force-cool the canner. Cooling the canner with cold running water or opening the vent before the canner is fully depressurized will cause loss of liquid from jars, seal fai lures and may cause jars to break. •When the vent lock drops to the normal position you can open the lid and remove the jars to a cooling rack. The pressure canner method requires 12 to IS minutes of heat ing before it begins to vent; another 10 minutes to vent the canner and about 5 minutes to pressurize the canner. The pro cessing time is started at this point The cooling period varies from 20 to 60 minues depending on jar size, jar numbers and the product being processed. Remem ber to cool jars from either process in a draft free area and separate jars from each other so air can cir culate around them. Canning is an exact science and it’s essential that you use up-to date recommendations and follow ONCE A DAY DOES PAY More than 30 million Americans consume milk just once a day (mainly at breakfast or dinner), but they drive nearly | A 20% of total fluid “ £ milk volume, or ji 4 1.2 billion gallons. Source Dairy Management, Inc Changing the ingredients or adjusting the amount of an ingre dient in a recipe will alter the «y of the recipe making the cessing time invalid. Canning is a time consuming process and there really aren’t any shortcuts. Each season, methods surface claiming there are faster ways to preserve your food, none of these are safe. Do not use your oven, microwave or dishwasher as a canner. The steam canner method that is not pressurized is also unsafe. Adding aspirin to food is sometimes recommended as a substitute for processing, this is an unsafe practice since there isn’t any heat to force the air out of the jar to achieve a vacuum seal. Be sure to follow cannifl recipes and recommendations exactly to ensure a safe food-pro duct You can purchase the USDA canning book from your Coopera tive Extension office for S6.SO. You can also have your pressure canner gauge checked, just make an appointment with your local office. If you have questions about recipes you have used fra years, call the extension office to check if it follows the latest recommendations. ' # MORTON BUILDINGS 717/624-3331 3369 York Rd. Gattyaburg, PA 17325 800-447-7436 908/454-7900 P.O. Box 126, Phllllpsburg, NJ 08865 Illinois only, call 1-800-426-6686
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