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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