Thursday, April 19, 2012

Canning How-to's and **SPECIAL GUEST STAR**

Good morning, everyone!  Today we have some wonderful canning information from my friend, Joyce.  She's sharing some great tips and how-to's so stay tuned...

Joyce is one of my Farm Girl Sisters from Mary Janes Farm.  I am so pleased and honored to have her visit us today.  She's brought a TON of really great info and some delicious recipes with her today, so I'll let her get right to it!

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I’m so excited to be a “guest blogger” for you today. I’ll start with introducing myself - My name is Joyce, and I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada.  I moved here 2 ½ years ago from British Columbia, Canada.  I’m a mother to three wonderful children (6,4, 17 months) and a wife of 7 years, and I’m a music teacher (you can check out my website at www.joyfulmelodies.ca).  I’m homeschooling my children and love it! I love being able to work from home, and stay home with my children. So...today I’m going to share a little on canning with you all.  I’m by no means an expert, but it is one of my passions, so I’ll share some interesting tidbits and two of my basic recipes with you.

I grew up with canning, so it only made sense when we moved to PEI and bought 132 acres that I would start canning myself. I prefer to can from only the fruit and vegetables we grow in our orchard and garden. But, I didn’t realize that things had changed since I was little and helped my mom can her beans in a water bath.  With the danger of botulism in water baths, I realized that a pressure canner was the way to go for me when dealing with low-acid foods.  Botulism is a food poisoning caused by bacterium Colostridium botulinum.  Some say this bacterium can be destroyed by long-term boiling (ie 3 hours!) but I say the best, and safest, way is to heat the food in your jars to 240˚F. You can use a water bath canner for high-acid foods such as lemons, pickles, plums and other fruit.  These should be processed at 212˚F. Low-acid foods need to be processed in a Pressure Canner.  These include carrots, beans, turnips, beets and other vegetables. Here’s your basic canning steps.

High-Acid Foods:
1.    Wash jars and lids, place jars on a rack in boiling water canner. Cover with water and heat to a summer (about 180˚F)
2.    Set screw bands aside and heat snap lids in hot water.  Make sure it’s not boiling! Keep jars and lids hot until ready to use.
3.    Prepare Recipe.  Ladle hot food into hot jar leaving the appropriate amount of headspace (which will vary from recipe to recipe – but generally it should be ¼ inch for jams & jellies and ½ inch for fruit, pickles, relish etc.)
4.    Using non-metallic utensil, remove air bubbles.  Wipe jar rim with a wet cloth removing any stickiness.
5.    Center snap lid on the jar and screw on the screw band until fingertip tight.  It’s important to not over tighten.
6.    Place jar in canner.  When all jars are filled, adjust hot water in canner so that jars are covered by at least 1 inch of water.
7.    Bring your covered canner to a rolling boil. Process (which means boil filled jars) for the time your recipes indicates.
8.    When processing time is completed, turn heat off and remove canner lid.  When boil subsides and water is still, in approximately 5 minutes, remove jars without tilting.  Cool jars, upright and undisturbed for 24 hours.
9.    After cooling, check each jar for sealed lids (curve should be downward and do not move when pressed). Remove the screw bands and store jars in a dark cool place.


Low Acid Foods
1.    Wash jars and lids and place on rack in pressure canner.  Add 2-3 inches of water and heat (180˚F)
2.    Set screw bands aside and heat snap lids in hot water.  Make sure it’s not boiling! Keep jars and lids hot until ready to use.
3.    Prepare Recipe.  Ladle hot food into hot jar leaving 1 inch headspace.
4.    Using non-metallic utensil, remove air bubbles.  Wipe jar rim with a wet cloth removing any stickiness.
5.    Center snap lid on the jar and screw on the screw band until fingertip tight.  It’s important to not over tighten.
6.    Place jars on the rack in the pressure canner.  Adjust the water level as directed by the manufacturer of your canner.  Lock canner lid in place and place over high heat.
7.    Vent the canner following manufacturer’s directions.
8.    When pressure reaches required level, begin counting processing time. Make sure to regulate your heat to you maintain the required pressure level.
9.    When processing time is complete, turn the heat off and let the canner stand undisturbed until the pressure reads zero.  Wait two minutes longer then remove cover, tilting cover away from face – you don’t want to be burned by the steam!
- -  Remove jars without tilting.  Cool jars, upright and undisturbed for 24 hours.
11. After cooling, check each jar for sealed lids (curve should be downward and do not move when pressed). Remove the screw bands and store jars in a dark cool place.

The first recipe I’ll share with you today is Blueberry Jam.  This jam won Best of Show Award last year in our local festival.  It was very exciting to receive $30 from Bernardin as a gift! And the ribbon is beautiful J I hope it wins an award for you as well.

Joyce’s Best of Show Blueberry Jam (Water Bath Canner)
Ingredients:
·        4 ½ cups blueberries
·        ¼ cup lemon juice
·        7 cups sugar
·        2 pouches Bernardin Liquid Pectin


Directions:
  1. Prepare 8 half-pint (250ml) jars
  2. Wash and crush blueberries in blender.
  3. Stir sugar into fruit mixture in a large, deep stainless steel pan. Over high heat bring mixture to a boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.
  4. Stir in pectin.  Mix well.
  5. Ladle jam into jar (1/4 inch head space).
  6. Process for 10 minutes.

There are so many delicious recipes out there that are long boil if you prefer to not have sugar in your jam.  You should also try pie fillings! These always get great raves.  I just quickly make a pie shell crust, pour in my filling, top with a crumb topping or more pastry and voila! My pie is done.

The next recipe is a basic green bean recipe.  There are so many other ideas for canning vegetables – soups, stews and so much more! You can even can meat!

Green Beans (Pressure Canned Vegetables)

  1. Choose young, tender and crisp beans.  Wash, removing string and trimming ends.  Break beans into 2 inch pieces.
  2. Place beans in a saucepan and cover with water.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Pack hot beans into hot jars.  You can season beans if desired (so many options here – get creative!) and add the water you used to boil them in.
  3. Boil for 20 minutes in pint (500ml jars) or 25 minutes in quart (1L) jars. Pressure canners should be at 10 lb (69 kPa).

If you’re a novice at canning I would highly suggest “Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving”.  If your experienced at canning, I would suggest “250 Home Preserving favorites” by Yvonne Tremblay. There are so many options – pair your favourite herb with your favourite fruit or vegetable.  I love to pair my lavender with my strawberries in jams.  Add some fresh parsley from your garden to your carrots. Prepare your own spaghetti sauce using your own tomatoes and fresh basil from your garden. The possibilities are truly endless, and the best part is that after all your hard work, all winter long you can relax knowing you have food stored in your pantry, ready to eat – from breakfast to dinner!
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Thank you so much, Joyce!  I'll definitely be checking out those books - how 'bout you?

Enjoy!

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