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Hundreds of Jars filled with seasonal fruits, vegetables, venison, recipes. This year’s collection includes nine varieties of pickles, water
chicken, beef, turkey, and baby food line the basement shelves of the melon rind, zucchini and tomato combo, carrots in a glaze, and numerous
Steagers’ East Petersburg home. Lynette is always searching for new varieties of Jams and Jellies.
Canning Is This Young
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
EAST PETERSBURG (Lan
caster Co.) Anyone who thinks
canning food is a dying skill
should meet Lynette Steager.
Wife of Todd Steager and
mother of Jarrod, 2, and Meg
han, 1, Lynette finds time for her
favorite hobby canning food.
“I’d rather can than bake or
cook,” Lynette said.
Her basement shelves are
proof of her labors. Hundreds of
jars filled with seasonal fruits,
vegetables, hunting bounty, and
meats line the shelves.
Lynette even cans baby food.
“The food comes right out of
my garden so I can control
what’s in it (baby food),” Lynette
said of the incentive to process
her own baby food.
Jars filled with turkey, chick
en, beef, and venison enable her
to prepare quick, nutritious
meals for her family.
“Canned meat is so tender and
one of the easiest things to can,”
Lynette said, which makes can
ning a particular advantage for
processing venison and other
game.
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Lynette shrugs off any admira
tion that canning is a demanding
process.
“Anyone can do it if they have
proper equipment,” she said.
“It’s so easy to do.”
One of the most essential items
is a pressure canner. People un
familiar with pressure canners
often voice concerns that it might
blow up their house or cause
some other havoc.
According to Lynette, such
fears are completely groundless.
Pressure canners are completely
safe and easy to use when in
structions are followed.
She has attended several can
ning classes conducted at the
Lancaster Extension office.
Nancy Wiker, family living
agent, teaches the classes. Ly
nette credits the classes with giv
ing her lots of information in
helping overcome canning fail
ures. Lynette confesses that in a
middle of a canning session she
often calls the extension office
for some SOS help.
For example, she recently
canned tomato juice in some
half-gallon jars she bought at a
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public sale. To her dismay, the
jar lids did not seal. Wiker ex
plained that half-gallon jars are
no longer made because food
usually spoils in that size jar. It is
difficult to cook food to the prop
er temperature in that size jar,
Wiker explained. According to
food safety guidelines, the half
gallon size jars are recom
mended only for canning grape
juice.
Although people have
canned food with boiling water
bath methods in pass
generations, Wiker said that
the risk of botulism is more
prevalent today. Produce is
often purchased elsewhere
rather than homegrown. In
years past, people often got
sick with food-borne illnesses
but it was passed off as the flu.
“I say that pressure canners
are like a car seat belt. Most of
the time you don’t need it, but
you use it as a precaution in
case you do,” Wiker said.
Food that appears question
able should not be even tasted.
“Botulism is deadly. When in
doubt, throw it out,” Wiker
said.
A common mistake for be
ginner canners results in
screwing bands on too tightly.
This causes the lids to buckle.
Have pressure canner dials
checked yearly. Lynette was
surprised that her pressure
canner dial was so off balance
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that she had been over-process
ing many foods.
Wiker recommends a “dry
run” before each canning episode
with a pressure canner. This en
tails filling the canner with
water, covering it with a lid but
without the pressure weight in
place. Bring the water to a boil
Nancy Wiker, family living and consumer science agent,
directs Lynette in proper canning procedures that prevent
food-borne illnesses. Pressure canner gauges, Wfker said,
need to be tested annually to assure temperature control.
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and exhaust the air 10 minutes.
Place the weight on the canner
and bring it to the pressure de
sired.
“This removes the air form the
canner and prevents liquid from
leaking out of the jars,” Wiker
(Turn to Page B 12)
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