Online courses in home canning

There are now many online opportunities to learn about safe home canning.

Some are free, some have a nominal fee.

To the best of our knowledge, all these courses are available to anyone, no matter where they reside in the world.

Our philosophy at Healthy Canning is, if you’re going to go to the trouble of learning how to do something, you might as well learn how to do it right!

Resources and links last verified January 2019. If you know of additional please let us know.

National Course

National Center for Home Food Preservation online course. Free. NOTE: THIS COURSE IS UNAVAILABLE AS OF FALL 2015 OWING TO INSUFFICIENT FUNDING TO KEEP IT RUNNING AT THIS PRESENT TIME. (Feel free to let your elected representatives know if you think it’s important the government try to find a few shekels somewhere in its $3.5 trillion budget to get this course back up.)

A definitive online self-study course on preserving food at home. Training modules include: “Introduction to Food Preservation”, “General Canning”, “Canning Acid Foods” and “Canning Low-Acid Foods”.

University Extension Courses

• University of Alaska (Free set of Youtube tutorials, as of 2019. See bottom of this page for additional Alaska links)
• University of Idaho: Preserve at home course
• University of Illinois Extension ($30.00 as of 2019)
• University of Iowa ($35.00 as of 2019)
• Kansas State University and the University of Missouri Extension Services: Series of 17 short canning video tutorials (Valid as of 2019)
• Michigan State University Extension  ($10.00 as of 2019)
• University of Minnesota learning modules (Online tutorial videos)
• University of Minnesota (to arrange a canning course hosted by your org)
•  Washington State ($25.00 as of 2019)

Alaska Additional Links

Dinstel, Roxie Rodgers. Food Preservation. University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service. Revised March 2013. [Links updated Jan. 2019]

1. Back to Basics
2. Canning Overview/Equipment
3. Canning Acidic Foods – Fruits and Tomatoes
4. Canning Low Acid Foods – Vegetables and Meat
5. Jams and Jellies
6. Pickles and Relishes
7. Freezing
8. Drying Fruits and Vegetables

Steve Buissinne / Pixabay.com / 2015 / CC0 1.0

Instructional home canning videos from reputable sources

Instructional videos produced by the Ball Canning company are available on Ball’s Youtube page.

Instructional videos produced by Bernardin are available (in both English and French) on Bernardin’s Youtube page.

The Kansas State Extension’s Youtube page offers many home canning instructional videos.

The Minnesota State Extension’s Youtube Page offers a series of home canning instructional videos.

So Easy to Preserve Video Tutorials

Not online, but So Easy to Preserve has two instructional DVDs that can be ordered if you live in the continental US.

Spanish language resources

Guía Práctica para Envasar a Presión (Pressure canning. Kansas State)

Guía Práctica para Envasar con Baño de Agua y Envasar al Vapor (Water bath and steam canning. Kansas State)

10 Consejos para Enlatados Caseros Seguros (Safety tips. Kansas State)

Atrevida Salsa Casera Segura (Safe home-canned salsa. Kansas State)

¿Cuál es su altitud? (Altitude. Kansas State)

Secando Carne en Casa en Forma Segura (Drying meat at home. Kansas State)

Other educational resources for canning

Put it up! Food Preservation for Youth: Free lesson plans for teaching youth how to preserve at home

Webinar about the National Center for Home Food Preservation

Healthy Canning’s collection of resources about home canning