Home canning is is the process of storing food (ie fruits, vegetables, and meats) in sterile glass jars with seals and heating the contents of the jars to kill the organisms that would otherwise create spoilage.

Materials

  • 1 metal pot with lid (sometimes refered to by canners as a "boiling-water canner") and stove (preferably hot plate); (only usable when home canning fruits)[1]

Alternatively, we can also use a pressure cooker; (this is even vital when home canning vegetables, meat, ...)

  • 1 metal spoon (about as large as the opening in the jars)
  • many glass jars (with jar lids and bands)

Procedure

For home canning fruit

  • Add water to the large metal pot, bringing it to a boil.
  • Put the glass jars in the metal pot and boil it for for 10 minutes[2]
  • Take out the jars, picking it up only on the outside of the jars (not on the screwthread)
  • Add the contents (after you heated them) to the jar (this ensures the contents are sterile as well). Fill them up quite well, leaving only a very small amount of space at the top (called "head space", about 3mm to 25 mm). Filling them up quite well is needed to get out as much as possible air from the jar.
  • Clean any spills on the screwthread making sure you don't touch it with your hands directly (use a wipe).
  • Close the lids with the bands
  • Preferably store in a dry, cool place

It should be noted that bottling is different from regular canning as it uses a bottle as the container, and the container is not heated once it has been sealed (to kill off microorganisms in the sealed container).

References

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External links

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