Home canning concepts

When you first start out in home canning, all you need are tested recipes and directions from reputable sources in order to produce high-quality, delicious preserves at home.

That can be all you ever need, with the proviso that you check once in a while that the directions you are following have not been updated.

That being said, there are several concepts or “principles” behind home canning that many people like to know, or understand, as time goes on. They feel that it helps to make them a better home canner.

Articles

Acidifying tomatoes for safe home canning

Tomatoes cannot be relied on to be acidic enough on their own to be safely canned. Adding a bit of acidity solves this issue.

Acidity / low pH is what makes water bath canning safe

High acid levels in home canning products makes them safe for water-bath canning by preventing botulism spores from germinating and giving off their deadly toxin as a by-product.

Acidity of water and vinegar combinations in home canning

A look at how water / vinegar ratios in some home canning recipes make them safe.

Adjusting batch size in home canning

A discussion of when, and how, to do batch adjustment size for home canning recipes.

Altitude and home canning

As you increase altitude at which you are doing your canning, you need to take that altitude into account because it impacts the temperature at which water boils, and this in turn affects the processing of your canning.

Bacterial Load

An important part of canning prep is reducing the bacterial load — getting rid of as much bacteria as you can easily by good preparation practices before you seal food in jars.

Canning on Glass and Induction Stove Tops

A look at the concerns behind canning on glass stove tops, and how to address them.

Canning on hot plates or portable burners

Some issues to look at when considering trying to do home canning on a stand-alone hot plate or burner.

Creative home canning

Raring to get creative in canning? Let's look at how we can channel that enthusiasm into making safe, quality products that you are proud to show off.

Crisping Pickles

Crisp pickles are a holy grail for home canners.  While there are many techniques for helping to ensure a crisp pickle, it appears that modern techniques are proving easier, and better, than older ones.

Crushing (aka mashing) fruit

Some preserves such as jams call for crushed fruits. For best results, it's recommended that we do this by hand and not with an electrical appliance.

Debubbling jars in home canning

It's important to de-bubble jars after filling them and before you put the lids on, to make sure there is no trapped air in the jar. Here's how.

Don't tilt your canning jars

As you are lifting your jars out of the canner after processing, there is often water trapped on top of the lids of the jars. Don't tilt the jars to drain that water off.

Fat and oil in home canning

In general, you want your home canning to be as fat free as possible for technical and quality reasons.

Flat Sour

Flat sour is an unappealing off-flavour that canned goods, home or commercial, can develop. It's caused by keeping jars of just-processed food warm too long after processing.

Heating patterns inside jars

When processing times are given for tested recipes of a particular food product, they are based on studying and documenting how heat moves inside jars with that particular food product inside.

Heirloom tomatoes: were they really more acidic?

It's a myth that today's varieties of tomatoes are less acidic than yesterday's heirlooms. Many educators aren't aware of research disproving this.

Home Canning Fruit

Fruit typically is a high-acid food that can be easily home-canned using the water-bath method. The results are a safe, high-quality product, and you're in control of the amount of added sugar.

Approximate Yields for Canned Fruits

How much fruit do you need to fill a jar? Here's a handy chart from the Georgia State Department of Agriculture that helps answer that question.

Canning liquids for fruit

Home-canned fruit must be accompanied in the jar by a canning liquid. The liquid may be pure water, a juice, or a sugar syrup. Whatever liquid you use, it must be heated.

Home canning fruit sugar-free

Fruits may be home canned with no added sugar at all. Sugar can be a preservative in terms of texture and colour, but it is not in terms of food safety. Omitting the sugar can reduce calories by 200 to 400 per pint (½ litre) jar.

Home-canning low-acid fruits

A handful of fruits are lower in acidity and thus require special handling in home canning to keep them safe.

Home-canned Jelly

Jelly was always the pièce de résistance in a home canner's bag of tricks.  A canner would be judged on quality of their jellies. Here's a discussion of what makes jellies work.

How to jazz up your pressure-canned vegetables

There are easy ways to safely jazz up your pressure canned vegetables and still remain within the vital safety guidelines set by the USDA.

Just how nutritious are home canned foods?

Just how nutritious are home-canned goods anyway? Let's compare them to fresh, frozen and dried alternatives.

Labelling home-canned goods

It's important to label each jar with the food product inside it, and the month and year it was canned. Some people enjoy this task, others don't. Here are some considerations.

Loss of liquid during home canning

Jars will often lose or appear to lose some liquid during processing, especially during pressure canning. It seems to rarely happen during water-bathing. This is not a safety concern, but it will shorten the shelf-life of those canned goods.

Low-Temperature Pasteurization Treatment

The "Low-Temperature Pasteurization Treatment" is a low and slow method for processing home canned jars of pickles. It can be used with certain recipes.

Miscellaneous information about home canned pickles

A collection of tips, tricks and techniques for successful, safe home pickling.

Pack types for home canning

In home canning, pack is a term that describes the method used for preparing and placing food in a jar prior to sealing the jar for processing.

pH's role in home canning

In home canning, the processing method required for the jars of food is determined by the pH of the contents of the jars. Acidic contents, with a pH below 4.6, will be water-bathed; above, they must be pressure-canned.

Pickling versus slicing cucumbers

Broadly speaking, there are two types of cucumbers grown: pickling cucumbers, and slicing cucumbers. Pickling cucumbers have thin skins, are short and blocky, and are grown mostly for canning.

Safety margins in home canning recipes

Lab-tested home canning recipes from reputable sources have huge safety margins built into them. If you are following such recipes, then you have zero worries. You can use them with confidence.

Smarter sweet choices for your home canning

It is possible to do a lot of home canning sugar-free, or with alternative sweeteners. This is helpful for people with special-needs diets and those hoping to reduce added sugar in their diets.

Stacking canning jars in storage

Some folk wisdom floats around occasionally that you shouldn't stack your jars of home canning. In contrast, most home canning authorities say that it's actually fine to do so.

Sterilizing canning lids & jars

Validated research shows that in most circumstances sterilization of jars and lids for home canning is not actually needed, so now you can save yourself some energy money and time!

Store your home canned food without the canning rings

It is considered good, safe, best practice to store Mason jars on shelves holding home canned food with the rings (aka bands, aka screw bands, aka rims) off.

Sugar and salt-free canning

Much home canning can be done without added sugar and salt, leaving only the naturally occurring amounts. But it's important to know the recipes where they are critical for safety of the recipe.

Sugar-free jams and marmalades

Most jams are candy: fruit-flavoured sugar. Today's home canners, though, want to make jams that are as good for you as they taste. This article looks at making sugar-free fruit spreads such as jams, jellies and marmalades.

Sugar's role in home canning

Sugar in home canning plays a role in preserving appearance, taste and texture: but how much of a role does it play in safety, and what is the impact of using alternative sweeteners?

The role of headspace in home canning

Headspace in home canning is the space at the top of the jar between the underside of the lid, and the top of the food or liquid in the jar. Getting headspace right is vital for achieving a strong vacuum seal on your jars.

The role of salt in home canning

In almost all home canning, salt's role is flavouring; it is not present in sufficient quantities to prevent spoilage or act as a preservative in terms of safety. In only a few instances does it play a critical safety role.

Using zucchini instead of cucumbers for pickling

Zucchini (aka courgettes) can be used interchangeably usually for cucumber in sliced pickle recipes such as bread and butter, sweet mix, etc.

Wash your jars of canned goods before storage

It's important to wash your jars of home canning before storing them away. Moulds and pests will find small particles of food on the jars that your eyes miss.

Water Activity

For some home canning recipes, their safety comes from the food being low in free water molecules which means that pathogenic bacteria cannot grow in the food.

What does processing time mean in home canning?

In home canning, the phrase "processing time" refers to the time period that a jar, filled with food and with a lid put on and intended for shelf stable storage, is subjected to heat treatment.

What is the 50 / 50 rule in pickling?

The 50 / 50 vinegar/ water ratio guideline for pickling is a "harm reduction" safety guideline used by some people as one of the factors in evaluating whether a pickling recipe is safe or not.

What is the definition of home canning?

Home canning refers to a defined heat process of preserving food in canisters of various materials, typically glass, and less rarely, metal. Without a heat processing of the containers, no canning process has occurred.

What is the shelf life of home canned goods?

Home canned goods do not have a set expiry date, whatever you may hear. You'll often hear "one year", but according to the top researchers, that is a "best before" date, the same as you have for store canned goods.

What the heck does fingertip tight actually mean?

When you are first starting out in home canning, one of the most maddening phrases that everyone just tosses around can be "fingertip tight." What the heck does it actually mean?

Why do some tomato products need acidification but not others?

Why do you acidify some home-canned tomato products, and not others?

Why would a canning jar lose its seal?

Having a jar on the shelf that loses its seal happens to everyone once in a while. If it happens frequently, there is a problem.

Why you have to peel some vegetables and fruit for home canning

Peeling veg for home canning can be counterintuitive for good cooks, who are aware of the nutrition in the peel. But there's an important safety reason why it's overdone, which overrules the nutrition thinking.