B.J. Knights - CAN IT! How To Can, Preserve, And Store Your Food In Jars

Anytime youre learning something new or expanding the knowledge of a certain skillset its important to take the time and understand the roots of where that skill came from. Why did people start doing it in the first place? How has it progressed throughout the years? What improvements have we put into place since its creation?

Learning and understanding where canning came from can help give you a better appreciation of why so many people in our advanced industrious country still can their own food.

Most people know who Napoleon Bonaparte is and his famous conquests of Europe. What a lot of people dont know about him was his role in the discovery of early food preservation. Napoleon knew that he wouldnt be able to apply his successful military strategies unless his soldiers were healthy enough to fight, and in order for his men to be healthy they needed to stay well fed.

Now, as brilliant a military strategist Napoleon thought he was, he had no idea how to preserve food to carry with his troops on his military campaigns, so he put out a reward to the first person that could find a way to do it for him. A man by the name of Nicholas Appert, who was a French brewer and confectioner, discovered that if food is heated to a certain temperature and then sealed the food wont spoil.

This was the beginning of the early days of canning, which actually started with wine bottles and then wrought iron cans. These cans were bulky and also filled with lead, which caused cases of lead poisoning for those that ate them.

It wasnt until Englishman Peter Durand created unbreakable tin containers to seal the food in did canning take its next evolutionary steps. Then, two men by the name of Bryan Dorkin and John Hall perfected the canning method and opened the first canning factory in England in 1813.

A year earlier, a man by the name of Thomas Kensett immigrated to the United States and opened Americas first canning factory in 1812. With the expansion of travel and a growing middle class, the demand for canned goods sky rocketed. However, it wasnt until 50 years later when Louis Pasteur discovered that heating food to a certain temperature in a sealed jar destroyed the harmful microorganisms that caused spoilage.

The next step in home canning came when John Mason created a glass canning jar with a threaded lip that could be used with a metal lid. This invention allowed for poorer, rural families to can their own food and revolutionized the canning industry one more time. Home canning was very prevalent in the early 1900s, especially during WWI, WWII, and the Great Depression. Then in the 1960s and 70s canning started to disappear as cheaper, readily available grocery goods replaced many home canning enthusiasts.

Today home canning is making a comeback. A lot of people are asking why this is and a part of it does have to do with the downturn in the economy, but there are a lot of people that just want to know exactly where their food is coming from. The ability to control whats going into your canned food and where the ingredients are coming from has rejuvenated the canning industry.

What is Canning?

So, what exactly is canning? Youve heard about it, maybe had some friends or family members do it, and now youre interested in learning about canning yourself. What canning simply boils down to is an affordable and effective way for you to preserve your fresh foods to be enjoyed all year long.

Well go over exactly what you need to get started, explain the benefits of canning as well as the different methods and types of foods that you would use for each. This book is great for beginners, veterans trying to learn some new tricks, or simply someone just looking to get a refresher after not having canned in a while. Lets dive in.