Canning Vegetables - Easy to Do

You will need:

Tested recipes found in Ball Blue Book guide to Preserving or Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving,

Pressure canner
Glass preserving jars with lids and bands. Always start with new lids.
Kitchen utensils like a wooden spoon, ladle, rubber spatula, and wide mouth funnel.
Fresh vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, and other quality ingredients.

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Step 1

Read recipe and instructions.
Assemble equipment and ingredients.
Follow guidelines for preparation, jar size, method, and process time.

Step 2

Check jars, lids, and bands for propr functioning. (no cracks or chips in jars, sealing compound completely around lid edge.)
Wash jars, lids, and bands in hot soapy water. Rinse well. Dry bands and set aside.

Step 3

Fill clean jars with water and place in canner.
Heat jars in hot water (not boiling) until ready for use. This will keep jars from breaking when hot food is added to them.
Place lids in small saucepan with enough water to cover and bring to simmer. Keep hot until ready for use. DO NOT BOIL LIDS.
Keep bands at room temperature for easy handling.

Step 4

Prepare pressure canner by filling with 2-3 inches of water. Place rack in bottom of canner.
Over med heat, bring to simmer.
Keep at simmer until jars are filled and placed in canner.

Step 5

Prepare tested recipe using fresh vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, and other quality ingredients.

Step 6

Remove a hot jar from hot water using a Jar Lifter, emptying the water from inside the jar. Fill one jar at a time using a Jar Funnel leaving headspace recommended in recipe, usually 1 inch for low-acid foods.
Remove air bubbles using a rubber spatula. Repeat 2-3 times around jar.

Step 7

Clean rim and threads of jar using a clean, damp cloth to remove food residue.
Remove lid from hot water using a Magnetic Lid Lifter.
Center lid on jar allowing sealing compound to contact with jar rim.
Apply band and tighten to fingertip tight.
Place filled jars in canner until recipe is used or canner is full.

Step 8

Lock canner lid in place leaving vent open.
Adjust heat to med-high.
Allow steam to escape through vent pipe for 10 minutes to ensure there is no air left in canner, only steam.
Close vent using weight or method for our canner.
Gradually increase heat to achieve and maintain recommended pounds of pressure.

Step 9

Process at recommended pounds of pressure for processing time in tested recipe.
When processing time is complete, cool canner by removing from heat. Do NOT remove weighted guage.
Let canner stand undisturbed until pressure returns to zero naturally. Follow manufacturers' instructions.
Wait 2 minutes.
Remove weight and unlock lid, tilting away from you.

Step 10

Remove jars from canner and sit upright on a towel to prevent jar breakage.
Leave jars undisturbed for 12-24 hours.
Do not retighten lids as this may interfere with the sealing process.
Follow manufacturer's instructions.

Step 11

Check lids for seals. Lids should not flex up and down when pressed in the center.
Remove bands and try to lift lid off with fingertips. If lid cannot be lifted off, seal is good.
If lid doesn't seal in 24 hours, the product can be reprocessed or refrigerated and used.
Clean jars and lids.
Label and store in cool, dry, dark place up to 1 year.

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Now that you've harvested your vegetables, what do you do with them? Home canning is one way of preserving them. Nothing tastes better on a cold winter's day than fresh vegetables from your summer garden.

Preserving and canning vegetables, meat, poultry, and seafood ensures an economical and well-balanced diet throughout the year. Low-acid foods are easy to preserve but require special handling to eliminate spoilage. Low-acid foods must be heat processed at 240 degrees F and the only way to achieve this is in a pressure canner to kill clostridium botulinum and its spores. Recipes that combine high-acid foods with low-acid foods, like tomato and meat recipes, are considered low-acid foods.

Now that you've canned all your vegetables and have lots of jars on your shelves, it's time to decide whether you can consume it all in a year. If not, what a great gift they make. I give many quarts of vegetables as gifts as well as other items I put up.

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