Lieder - Canology: a Modern Guide: How to Eat Healthier & Save Money by Preserving Locally-Grown Natural Foods

A M ODERN G UIDE T O C ANNING & P RESERVING

How to save money and eat healthier by preserving locally-grown, natural foods.

by David Lieder

Published by

Canology Publishing LLC

www.canology.com

Copyright 2013 Canology Company LLC

All rights reserved.

First Edition: January, 2013

All photos are licensed from Shutterstock.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form

or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying,

recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without

the written permission of the copyright owner.

This book is presented to the reader as a record of observations and research into canning, and given as advice. It is not a statement of claims made by the author. It is not a guarantee. For best results, consult with the government website at www.uga.edu/nchfp .

Created in the United States of America

T ABLE O F C ONTENTS

Chapter 1

A BOUT T HIS B OOK

P reserving food is an exciting and useful skill. This book presents the most up-to-date and scientific information for safely preserving your foods in jars, often called canning even though no cans are involved.

Equally as useful is information near the back of the book on home gardening, famers markets, small organic farms, and how to find and harvest fresh, local food.

We will give you all the information you need to get started, including:

• the important safety considerations,
• setting up your worktable,
• filling the jars and sealing them,
• how to store the food,
• how to decorate the jars,
• the possibilities for growing and harvesting your own crops from your own backyard.

With this book, you will be able to step into the fun and healthy world of preserving fresh food.

Chapter 2

W HAT I S C ANNING?

W hat is Canning? Jarring? Preserving? People all over the United States and world are excited about healthy food and having control over their food. Growing our own food and storing it gives us more control and better quality, healthier food than what we can buy in the modern stores, when you consider all the additives that modern grocery-store foods have.

Buying food at farmers markets or local community farms gives us control over our food. And preserving that food for later use is comforting because we know where the food came from.

Canning is the word used by many people to describe the act of preserving food in jars. It is also called jarring in some parts of the world. In Australia they call it bottling.

Whatever you want to call it, preserving food is exciting, and there is a safe way to do it which we will teach in this book. Whatever you want to call it, we are going to be following the strict rules for preserving food in jars. In the United States it is still common to call this canning.

H ISTORY O F C ANNING

A quick history and then we will learn how to preserve our own food: In 1810, the French emporer Napolon had offered a reward for anyone who could help the army find a way to preserve food for their travels. A French chef showed them how to use ceramic jars and heat to seal and store their food for longer periods of time than what they had previously known how to do.

Soon the U.S. had adopted a method using flat tin lids and wax. Then in 1858, John L. Mason created mason jars when he discovered that threads on the top of the jar caused the lid to screw on tightly. It would be over 50 years before another company would add the rubber seal that we now associate with mason jars.

M ASON J ARS

Most of the preserving that is done in the world today uses mason jars which is the approach that has been tested in laboratories and scientifically verified as safe for the canning process. That is the approach we are going to teach in this book.

W HICH M ASON J AR?

The company names Ball, Kerr and Bernardin all belong to the same company. In this book we will use Ball brand mason jars, which are available new from the www.canology.com website. These mason jars are the safe way to preserve food, using the methods covered in this book.

S IZES O F B ALL M ASON J ARS

Here is a summary of the jars you can use for preserving food according to the methods in this book. The two types you will use most are:

Regular-mouth Ball jars come in the quart, pint and half-pint sizes.

Wide-mouth Ball jars come in half-gallon, quart and pint. Half-gallon jars are great for storing juices and sauces. The large wide-mouth jars are great for whole-food fruits and large items like pickles.

Two other styles from Ball can also be used for decorative purposes and are nice, but a little harder to find. These are safe for canning:

Quilted jars are taller and thinner, and have a crosshatch pattern on them making them a little more decorative. They are popular for jams and come in the 4-ounce, 8-ounce (half-pint) and 12-ounce sizes. In addition, the 12-ounce size is better for tall veggies like asparagus. These small-sized jars are great for sauces, condiments, jellies, salsas and pie fillings.

Collection Elite jars from Ball are short, fat and cute, and come in the pint and half-pint sizes. They have no special use except to be different and nice when giving jams as a gift, especially if you decorate the jar (see the chapter later in this book called ).

F REEZER S TORAGE V ERSUS D RY S TORAGE

T his book teaches how to preserve food using Pressure Canners and Hot Water Canners, and the food can then be put in cool, dry storage for up to one year. If you intend to freeze food in a jar, then the glass jars must have straight sides, which includes Ball wide-mouth pints, Ball regular-mouth jars, and crystal-cut jars.

This book does not cover instructions for freezing food in jars.

The methods in this book are designed to seal and sterilize the foods using completely natural techniques, making it possible to store in a cool, dry place such as a basement, away from heat sources like hot pipes or heating vents.

D O N OT U SE W IRE B AIL OR G LASS C AP J ARS

According to the USDA and U.S. Department Of Agriculture, as well as academic authorities on canning, jars with wire bails and glass caps are not recommended for preserving food as they have a higher rate of seal failure. It is also not possible to test them using the sealing tests in this book.