Saturday Morning (Home And) Garden Blogging Vol. 3.23: Canning Edition

Every day, I go down to the garden to look at my tomato jungle. The plants are taller than I am; on picking days, I go into one end of the row with a small machete and emerge at the other end with a basket of Romas. When I’m finished, I look at my baskets and think, "Oh. My. God. What am I going to do with all these damn tomatoes?

Answer: Can them.

Canning sounds difficult, like some traditional skill lost with our grandmothers, but it is more relevant than ever. When you grow and can your own, you know where your food comes from, how it was tended and harvested, and how safely it was prepared; also, the transportation cost and impact are minimal (depending how far and how often you need to drive to buy supplies). The waste can be composted; the end-products can be given as gifts. What’s not to like?

(Ed. Note: Parts of this diary are taken fromlast year’s version; please also read kfred’s canning diary from 2005.)

Canning is relatively straightforward though labor-intensive process that may sound a lot more intimidating than it is. Molds... yeasts... bacteria... all working together to make good food go bad.

Then there's the fear of botulism, a form of food poisoning that can cause paralysis or death, and that's at home in spoiled canned foods.

Don't give up, though. What canning does is to "interrupt the normal spoilage and decaying cycle of food by heating the food contained in a home canning jar that has been closed with a two-piece vacuum sealing cap," says the Ball Blue Book of Preserving (the skinny bible of canning).

That's why the most important rule of canning is: Work Clean. That means choosing fruit that's ripe and unbruised; cleaning all of your equipment thoroughly; and following canning recipes to the letter. Modifying your recipe may cause you stray into the land of low-acid canning (see below) while you're using water bath technique...this can be disastrous!

A word from the food safety experts at Penn State about older canning recipes: "Many older recipes for canning do not have the proper safeguards to assure a safe product. Always use the latest instructions and recipes that have been scientifically tested for safety. Current canning information is available from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning." Your local or regional extension service is a good source for more information and recipes.

What can be canned
Canning classifies foods into two groups: low-acid (poultry, meat, seafood, and all vegetables except tomatoes) and high-acid (lemons, pickles, gooseberries, apricots, plums, apples, blackberries, sour cherries, peaches, sauerkraut, pears, and tomatoes, according to the BBBP). Even "low-acid" tomatoes can be water bath canned if acid is added (lemon juice, citric acid, or 5-percent vinegar).

Low-acid foods with a pH of 4.7 or more can be canned, but require more heat and a different technique, pressure canning. (They're also great hosts for clostridium botulinum, the bug that causes botulism.)
High-acid foods have a pH of 4.6 or less, either naturally or with the addition of lemon juice, citric acid, or 5-percent vinegar. If you want to test the acidity, test strips are available, says kate petersen. Today, we're talking high-acid.

Canning Gear

This is the official list from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving:

• Canning jars, quart and/or pint; make sure there are no cracks or chips
• Lids and bands, B and A in this diagram. Lids are for one-time use, and should be bought during the current canning season to ensure that the rubber hasn't cracked. Rings are reusable as long as they're not rusty or bent.
• Boiling-water canner; this is a non-reactive, enameled pot that will hold up to seven quart jars. It comes with a canning rack for them to sit in.

It's also helpful to have these things (list from America's All-Time Favorite Canning & Preserving Recipes):

• Kitchen scale
• Cutting board, sharp knife, vegetable peeler
• A food mill makes processing tomatoes much easier
• Colander
• Wide-mouth funnel and ladle or large spoon
• Rubber spatula, plastic knife, or wooden spoon
• Paper towels, clean dishcloths
• Jar-lifter, magnetic-tip lid wand, ruler
• Kitchen timer, hot pads, wire rack
• Blanching basket (though I often use my pasta pot insert)

If you live in an area where canning is common, check out local thrift shops and garage sales for bargains on canning gear. Also, check your library for the "Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for Today" (the fat bible of canning).

Let’s Get Cooking: Barbecue Sauce

Mr. Monkeybiz and I recently made 11 pints of this sour-sweet-spicy barbecue sauce, and plan to make more. It’s excellent. My comments are marked with "M.:".

The spice list is a bit daunting; we happened to have everything, but if you don’t, consider having a spice exchange party. This idea came from someone on DK (OC115?); the idea is that you bring spices that you don’t use and trade them for spices you need. Everybody wins!

Barbecue Sauce (from Ball Complete)

(Makes about three pints.)

20 cups chopped, cored, peeled tomatoes We used Romas and simply sliced them in half, lengthwise)
2 cups finely chopped onions
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon hot pepper flakes
1 tablespoon celery seeds
1 and ½ cups lightly packed brown sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons salt
1 and ½ tablespoons ground mace
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine tomatoes, onions, garlic, hot pepper flakes, and celery seeds. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. (M.: You might want to add a little bit of water to the bottom of the pan to help reduce potential burning.) Reduce heat, cover and boil gently until vegetables soften, about 30 minutes.

2. Working in batches, transfer mixture to a sieve placed over a glass or stainless steel bowl and press with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid and the pulp. You can also do this with a food mill (M.: which I highly, highly recommend. You’ll end up with a pile of seeds and skins – which, believe it or not, can be re-used. If you put it through the mill again, you can squeeze a surprising amount of additional pulp and juice out. Here’s the waste from 80 lbs. of tomatoes that have gone through the salsa screen. Discard waste. (M.: We usually set aside a pot for all of our green waste and ferry it out to the tumbling composter periodically.)

3. Return liquid and pulp to saucepan. Add brown sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, mace, mustard, ginger, and cinnamon. Return to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until mixture is thickened to the consistency of a thin commercial barbecue sauce, about 30 minutes. (M.: Remember, you are not using thickening agents. You’re shooting for something like a marinade consistency – thin, but solid.)

4. Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars, and lids.

(M.: That means: Check jars for cracks or nicks; run them through the dishwasher, or wash them by hand in hot, soapy water. Fill the canner about halfway full with water. Heat your canner to simmering, about 180 degrees. Set your canner rack so that its handles rest on the side of the canner and set empty jars in the rack so they can heat. (I let my jars rest in a 200-degree oven until the canner water is ready.) Wash rings and lids in hot, soapy water; put lids in a small saucepan full of gently simmering water, and rings in a handy spot (I put mine in a clean casserole pan).)

5. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. (M.: That’s the air pocket between the top of the food and the top of the jar. Always use the headspace measurement that your recipe calls for! This air pocket is what contracts when heated, and allows a seal to form with the rubber gasket under the lid.)

Remove air bubbles.(M.: With the tip of the spatula touching the bottom of the jar, run the spatula all the way around the jar to free any air bubbles that may be trapped along the sides. You want all of the air at the top.) Wipe rim. Pick up lid with magnetic wand and center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. (M.: This is an art, not a science: too loose, and you’ll suck water into the jars; too tight, and there’s a chance that too much pressure will build up inside. But fingertip tight is about right. I use paper towels to do my jar wiping, and the ladle and funnel sit on paper towels between uses. This helps things stay clean.)

6. Place jars in canner, without tilting them, ensuring that they are completely covered with water (at least 1"). Bring to a boil, put lid on, and process for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait five minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

(M.: When the processing is done, and your timer goes off, turn off the heat, raise the rack out of the canner, and take the lid off. Set your timer for an additional five minutes. Clear off a countertop where the jars can sit undisturbed for a long time, and line it with a towel. Try to make sure that it's not a cold surface and that there's no draft. When five minutes have passed, grab your jar lifter and carefully remove the jars. Again, don't tilt them. Place them at least 1" apart on the towel and don't touch them for 12-24 hours.

At some point in the cooling process, you'll hear the sound of success: Plink. That's the sound of a jar lid being sucked down on to the cooling jar. When the jars have cooled completely, spin the ring bands off and press down on the center of the lid. The lid shouldn't flex or slide; if it does, put the jar in the fridge and use it soon. Label, date, and put up in a cool, dry place, out of the sun.)

A more advanced form of preservation is pressure canning (if there is interest, I will do a separate diary on that). We bought a pressure canner last year, but this is the first time we’ve really used it. We made pickled garlic, which looks lovely; I can’t speak to the taste, as we haven’t opened any yet.

So far this year, we have canned: 23 quarts of dill pickles; 9 pints pickled garlic; 12 pts. green beans; 13 pts. pizza sauce; 11 pts. barbecue sauce; 34 pts. ketchup; 47 pts. and 18 qts. salsa; and 13 pts. dill relish. I have picked 162 lbs. of tomatoes – and there are more on the way.

Please, folks, send me your canning recipes for tomatoes! I am desperate!

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How is your canning going this summer? What have you put up, and what’s in store for the next few months? Please share your successes (and disasters!), recipes, tips, memories, and questions in the comments. Thanks for reading, and happy canning.

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A special note to Frankenoid: Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to host SMHGB, and enjoy Yearly Kos!

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UPDATE: Thanks, everybody! This is a great crew. I have to run, but will check in again tonight. Enjoy your afternoon!