HealthyCanning.com aims to direct people towards information on canning that is safe and healthy in all aspects, both short-term and long-term.
We have partnered with Facebook Group Canning for beginners, safely by the book. With over 20 years of experience with safely home canning. The group is dedicated to home food preservers looking for safe answers using USA research tested recipes and techniques.
We are not scientific researchers or credentialled canning experts; we are communicators about the work of those who are, working to reinforce the dissemination of the science and principles behind safe, quality home food preservation more broadly in the public realm and to combat misinformation.
Healthy Canning is operated as a sub-site of the food encyclopaedia, CooksInfo. The body of knowledge for home canning is so specialized that it was deemed best to hive it off into its own web site.
See also: FAQ
Healthy Canning’s Goals
The site has a few specific goals.
GOAL ONE: Provide no original answers or advice
We do not give any original advice; we are constantly surveying the literature from reputable experts in the field to assemble their advice for you to make it easy for you to find and follow.
When the experts disagree on minor things (should lids be pre-warmed or not), we’ll present the viewpoints of both.
If you have additional deeper questions, all advice is always fully sourced so that you can contact the source of the advice for further elaboration.
If someone has done something that deviates from the canning recommendations and is seeking advice as to whether their canning can be safely salvaged, we will direct them to resources such as Master Food Preserver groups who are trained to give such advice.
It’s the job of the reputable experts to do the scientific research, develop the recommendations and recipes, and do the knowledge transfer on that. Our aim is just to further promote that knowledge transfer to help it compete more successfully against misinformation out there on the Internet.
GOAL TWO: Provide transparency and clarity
We aim to provide transparency and clarity for the canning recommendations that come from reputable sources.
We’ll do this by exploring the evolving history of recommendations, who made them, who changed them, why, what the current recommendations are from various reputable sources, and if the reputable sources disagree on some matters, how they disagree and what different advice they offer.
We’ll also dig into background context and rationale.
The hope is that this will help curious and open-minded home preservers of all ages from anywhere in the world be more willing to accept modern canning recommendations.
GOAL THREE: Tested recipes
We will only work with tested recipes from reputable sources.
In addition to that, we will provide background discussion information around those recipes, when appropriate.
While most reputable authorities have a policy to say a flat NO to any discussion of any variation, in truth, amongst themselves they often do vary. For instance, for applesauce Ball / Bernardin Complete requires bottled lemon juice to be added, Ball Blue Book says it is optional and you could use fresh if desired, and the USDA does not mention it at all.
We’ll point out when they contradict each other: though that won’t win us any popularity contests, we think informed canners want to know.
We’ll also point out safe options (e.g. bottled lime juice instead of vinegar? leave sugar out of water when canning grapes?) if and as provided by the experts.
We’ll also point out how the recipes evolved, when that knowledge is available.
GOAL FOUR: Healthy recipes
Many home canning recipes date from the first half of the 1900s, when the nutritional focus of diets in North America was on people having a diet that provided adequate calories. This was particularly true during the depression, when food was not always affordable, and during WWI and WW2, when governments wanted to make sure home-front workers had enough energy to keep the factories going! In this regard, sugar was a miracle ingredient: calorie-laden, increasingly cheap, and people naturally loved it.
Since then, both the U.S. and Canada are gone from calorie-deficit mode to obesity-crisis mode, with excess hidden sugar in foods almost certainly being one of the culprits. Home canning recipes for the most part have not kept up with the changing nutritional needs of the times, because government departments have largely stopped regarding home canning recipe development as any kind of priority for programme funding. So, we have ended up with a corpus of home canning recipes for which the majority of preserve-type recipes (jams, jellies, relishes, pickles, etc.) are still addressing the nutritional needs for an era gone by with an exuberant use of sugar.
To help address this, Healthy Canning will focus on tested recipes that can be made with reduced sugar, or no sugar. There actually are many. Those looking for full-sugar recipes will have no difficulty finding them, as they compose the majority of recipes on other canning sites.
GOAL FIVE: Science over gut-feeling or tradition
We will always let current science based on current research, as provided by reputable experts in the home canning field, rule over opinion and habit.
We will not treat all opinions as “equal”. We make no apologies for believing that opinions coming from certified, credentialled people who are have dedicated their careers to working in a field are worth far more than those from people who are not.
That being said, we will not set aside critical thinking about the recommendations, either. The research consensus is always evolving, the current understanding of the science is not infallible, and sometimes opinions are conflated with actual findings in ways that just don’t pass a logic test. When this happens, the logic and consistency is fair game for challenge.
We also believe that there are some areas in which things are not black and white.
Healthycanning.com’s principles
- Safe canning following science-based guidelines published by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Center for Home Food Preservation, and Newell companies such as Ball and Bernardin;
- Present and promote science-based information;
- Understanding the whys of the above guidelines so that home canning can be done with confidence;
- Source all information so that readers can trace it back to the canning authorities where it originated;
- Be intellectually honest — if bad advice has a history, present that history and address why it’s considered bad now;
- Bring the informational tools needed for safe home canning to other countries beyond North America;
- Look for opportunities for safe canning with less added salt and sugar.
Gerd Altmann / Pixabay.com / 2014 / CC0 1.0
What’s unique about the HealthCanning.com site?
The HealthyCanning.com site has several unique aspects.
- The “curious canner” part. Today’s modern home canners want to know the why behind the various recommendations. So in sections of the site such as Home Canning Concepts, we explore what the experts say about the why;
- The site only works with current lab-tested home canning recipes from reputable sources;
- The site gives weight equivalents, something that today’s generation of home canners has long been asking for, as well as measurements in metric, US and UK, so that everyone everywhere from Australia to Germany to Ohio can work with the recipes in ways they are comfortable with;
- The site addresses home canners from all over the world;
- Working with tested recipes and guidance from reputable sources, we make suggestions on how to safely reduce or eliminate the extremely high levels of sugar and salt in many of those recipes, while still maintaining both safety, quality and deliciousness.
- The site gives full nutritional information on the home canning recipes so that canners can make informed decisions about whether a particular home canning recipe is actually “healthy” or not.
Who sponsors this site?
HealthCanning.com is a sub-project of CooksInfo, the largest food encyclopaedia on the Internet. CooksInfo specializes in bringing people factual, documented, food information. The topic of home canning is so specialized that it merited a separate site.
There are no trained micro-biologists, scientists or Master Food Preservers on staff. Instead, as “food researchers” rigorously dedicated to research-based information about food, we rely on such people — from the USDA, from the Cooperative Extension Service, and from their reputable private sector partners — to provide such information. Lynn Tanner, a university certified Master Food Preserver for 24- years and originator of the Facebook group, Canning For Beginners, Safely By The Book, serves as a consultant to assist HealthyCanning.com in updating this site on current scientific evidence based recommendations.
This site has no affiliation with any of the above, remunerated or unremunerated.
Though the site runs advertisements in order to pay for its overhead, it does not run any sponsored posts.
We see it as our duty to make sure we report on their work as faithfully as possible, citing their own words and findings as often as possible, in order to help promote the applied knowledge tools they have created.
MikeD
Hello, I am trying to find a way to report a typo in one of your recipes. Your contact page encourages me to visit a facebook group, but I don’t have a facebook account.
Your hot sauce recipe (https://www.healthycanning.com/easy-hot-sauce) calls for 1 and 1/12 cups of peppers. I’m pretty sure it means one and a half, but since we’re here for safety and accurate recipes, that should probably be corrected.
Thanks for the great content!
Healthy Canning
Hi there, I am not seeing that on the page, could you let me know where you see it. Below is how it shows when I view the page.
Ingredients
200 g peppers (hot. chopped, stemmed and seeded. 1 ½ cups / 7 oz. Measured after prep.)
Many thanks
MikeD
I think it only shows when you click on “US Customary” to switch from metric.
Healthy Canning
Many thanks should be fixed.
H Hoefert
Where is the recipe for using the Bread & Butter Pickle Mix with the Pickle Crisp granules? My container didn’t come with any instructions. And, I can’t find any recipes that use your bread & butter pickle mix. PLEASE HELP!
Kika
Your web site is the best source of information, i feel very happy to find a site well explained, tested and over all wonderful, thank you very much.
Carla Becker
Just found your site and really am enjoying myself. As I was browsing your site I spotted your pop-up of videos on the side of your page. I was trying to catch your Pancake Pizza recipe and couldn’t. I couldn’t even find it on your recipe search. Can you tell me where I can get the recipe or even the video presentation? Much appreciated. God bless.
mke smith
I would like to compliment your site.
Very good ..responsible info and references and very usable.
Thank you.
Loren
Your style is so unique compared to other people I’ve read stuff from.
I appreciate you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this site.
Carrie Nadeau
Can you verify, I have read your page but wanted to be sure I understand. You recipes here are based on “safe” canning recipes from professional sources like Ball, USDA etc. Is that correct? This isn’t some “rebel” or “home canning person” putting out a website right? I appreciate it, I’m pretty new to canning and nervous so I need to verify you are a safe source for my family.
Thank you, sure hope you are a safe site 😀
Carrie
Healthy Canning
We only work with recipes from reputable sources. Typically those sources are Ball, Bernardin, USDA, the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and University Extension Services. Other sources would include a pectin provider such as Pomona, or Linda Ziedrich, a former Master Food Preserver who has all her recipes reviewed by Extension agents and food scientists. There are literally thousands and thousands of safe, quality recipes from such reputable sources, so we see no reason to roll the dice with canning safety.
Jutta van der Kuijp
With Ball’s latest canning book, Ball® Blue Book Guide to Preserving 38th, Edition, Recipe Book, and their assertion that we should no longer trust any of their books prior to this new one, are you going to public errata sheets for the recipes in the old versions? We have been in contact with Ball and they state that they will not publish errata sheets and that we should use the new book as the only source. Seems disingenuous of them to have home canners toss all their Ball books…
Stacia
My relatives always say that I am killing my time here at
net, but I know I am getting knowledge all the time by
reading thes good articles.
Kris
I totally agree. If I could have learned as much in school in a day’s time as I do on the Internet, I would have had a 4.0 average and been Valedictorian of my graduating class!! At 72 I still learn something new every day!!
Kim Clark
Your website is amazing. I have been canning for years but learned a lot of things by reading your site! Well put together!
Deborah Peare
Love canning
Roxanne N Eberle
I so appreciate your recipes and that they follow approved canning guidelines. I’m a new canner and I’m quite shocked about the number of rogue canning recipes on the internet and YouTube. Using your recipes makes me feel safe in what I’m doing.
Chaz
Why can’t you put this in English understandable terms, head space hot pack this! You’re an idiot…
Healthy Canning
Hi Chaz ([email protected]) , if you haven’t learned what those terms mean, you’re not ready to start canning yet. We’re going to post your comment, so the general public can decide who is the idiot here.
Andy
RE: Your reply to Chaz:
Best Answer Ever..!!!!! I absolutely love this site – you all are doing a fabulous job getting really helpful information out there. Thank you.!!!
Annette Hunt
You have an excellent site. There’s so much knowledge to be gained and shared. Thank you so much for taking the time to compile and post this information. Stay safe during these turbulent times and God bless you.
Jessie Miccio
This excellent website definitely has all of the info I needed about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
Tomas Agramonte
Some really interesting info, well written and generally user friendly.
Nikole
Great job! Do you outline all of your blog posts? I’ve read a few of them now and they are way higher quality than other blogs I’ve read.
Healthy Canning
Yes. Typically several weeks of reading and research goes into each article, as well as consultations in the backend with recognized canning authorities.
Christina
I made a batch of plum basil jam. I’ve been making this recipe for years, but this time it did not firm up. It’s syrupy and the fruit is floating. I made it about 3 weeks ago. The seals are all good, and I followed the directions exactly. Does this batch need to be destroyed or can it still be used as pancake syrup or something?
Healthy Canning
Check with the Master Food Preservers of El Dorado, see what they advise.
Sbrown
Healthy Canning is easily one of the best sites out there on canning. Thank you!
Healthy Canning
It is a lot of work to keep on top of all the developments but it is a very interesting topic!
Paula Sabey
I love your site. Thank you for all your help. I will return often.
Ray Mokhtare
Hi
I’m looking for a canning machine to be able to can nuts. I was wondering if you supply such an equipment.
Regards
Ray Mokhtare
Healthy Canning
Hi Ray, we don’t sell anything. Canning nuts is a commercial endeavour, so you’ll want to look for someone selling commercial equipment.
Roger Mac Arthur
Hello from Ireland!
I am an American, living for the past 16 years in the Midlands of this tiny country, raising two young boys 8 & 13 with my Irish wife Mary. I am starting a business cal;led “South!” offering healthy, Southern-inspired foods. Saying “Healthy” and “American” in one sentence gets a lot of laughs over here in Europe, which annoys me to no end, but i understand the dis-belief as most people around the World think that all of our (American) food is Burger King and Pizza Hut and so many American tourists are grossly overweight!
I am very happy to have discovered your fact-based web site as I embark on my journey to learn all about canning and fermentation with the hope of including fermented and stored foods into my business. Gut health is an important aspect to healthy eating and safe storage is necessary to provide safe products.
i kook forward to learning all that you have so efficiently shared on this site! Thanks and Happy St. Paddy’s Day, Slantie!
Roger
Zelda
Sláinte