Canning Instructions to Preserve Food

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Preserve meat, fish, fruits and vegetables with these detailed canning instructions.
Preserve meat, fish, fruits and vegetables with these detailed canning instructions.
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Preserved rhubarb brightens up winter in B.C.
Preserved rhubarb brightens up winter in B.C.
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1. Deanna skimming cooked rhubarb.
1. Deanna skimming cooked rhubarb.
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2. Deanna cleaning the jar rim before filling.
2. Deanna cleaning the jar rim before filling.
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3. To avoid breakage, jars must be hot before they are filled.
3. To avoid breakage, jars must be hot before they are filled.
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4. Take care to leave the appropriate
4. Take care to leave the appropriate "head room" in the jar.
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5. Clean the jar rim again before sealing.
5. Clean the jar rim again before sealing.
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6. Deanna secures snap lids with screwbands.
6. Deanna secures snap lids with screwbands.
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7. Deanna uses a jar lifter to place jars of rhubarb in hot water.
7. Deanna uses a jar lifter to place jars of rhubarb in hot water.

Late season harvest canning instructions to preserve food such as meat, fish, and the fruit and vegetable harvest.

Canning Instructions to Preserve Food

I was never more secure in our wilderness home than when I lifted the latch and opened our pine cupboards to see double rows of variously shaped bottles traveling all the way to the far log wall. The ruby of pickled beets, the purple hue of huckleberries, rows of peas, pickles, and velvet raspberries in scarlet syrup were waiting for the long winter. Throughout our years in the bush, we ate only wild meat and the rabbits, chickens, and geese we raised ourselves. The store of moose and bear rose and fell with the seasons but we preserved everything from hindquarter roasts to heart and tongue to soup stock from boiling down the bones. I confess that for me the beginning of each canning season still initiates an energetic fumble through cupboards and drawers, while I mumble, “Where’s my favorite funnel?” “Where in tarnation are the tongs?” or “Where’s the confounded colander?” The wise canner assembles all tools in advance, and one advantage of this method of preservation is that once the equipment is acquired, none of it needs to be purchased again. Well…almost none.

Why do I bother with this time-consuming and inevitably messy seasonal chore? How about the spiritual zing of opening a jar of ruby cherries or apricots for dessert in the depths of February? Now how about saving all the money you would have dumped into fresh produce for the entire winter? Getting warmer? Not only is preserving economical, in the long run it also saves time.

The simple theory behind canning is that heat and an airtight seal preserve fruit and vegetables safely for months. The food, packed in jars, is heated to very high temperatures to destroy enzymes, bacteria, and other food-spoiling microorganisms. As the sealers heat, the air is driven from them, and as they cool a vacuum seal forms. This vacuum seal prevents the air from re-entering the jars and spoiling the contents. And unlike frozen produce, canned foods are not dependent on electricity to keep them sound. In our grandparents’ time, refrigeration wasn’t available and canning was the most practical method for storing perishables.

  • Published on Aug 1, 1996
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