Canning Made Easy

Grit Magazine ^ | October, 2007 | S. Schade-Brewer

[DelaWhere]

>>>I find it highly doubtful that in World War I, individual victory gardens in the US could have done much at all to feed Europe. Just common sense.<<<

The Victory Gardens both during WW I & II were not to feed Europe - they fed your own family & friends - this freed up 40%+ of commercialy grown crops to be diverted to Europe and our troops overseas instead of domestic consumption.

Don’t underestimate the absolute need for acquiring and using the skills of gardening and preserving today. Already passed by the house and if the Senate passes H.R.2749, the FDA will gear up to enforce newly passed asinine provisions. I won’t get on my soapbox here, but I will say that genetically modified, pesticide use, herbicide use become ‘best practice’ which is mandated under this bill. Our new Food Czar was a Monsanto Attorney. If you are not familiar with them, I suggest you google it and decide for yourself.

[DelaWhere]

>>>My wife, after checking with the local farm extension agent, said that new, stored lids shouldn’t be used if they are over two years old. Something about the seals dry out?

Is this correct or just BS?<<<

Actually, I think it is somewhere in between. (Remember they have to be to the ‘official’ exact letter with anything they say.) The boiling water treatment before use serves to ‘rejuvenate’ them pretty much.

The seal material does not dry up and crack like it once did. I typically keep at least a year ahead of my needs (about 60-80 cases annually depending on needs)

As far as re-using - What really happens is that it takes a ‘set’ from the indentation from the jar, making the seal thinner where it contacts the jar. While not ‘officially’ condoned, I have done it for years with no more failures than from new lids.

[DelaWhere]

>>>I observed this at work in a “home water conservation” scheme many years ago.<<<

Hey, but it was FUN to shower with a friend of your choice. ;^)

[MagnoliaB]

I wouldn’t worry about them if they are a few years old. If the rubber looks cracked, dry and is falling off the lids then I wouldn’t use them but they would have to pretty much be antiques for that to happen.

[MagnoliaB]

Have you ever made zucchini pickles? They are really good. Yummy on sandwiches.

[MagnoliaB]

I just bought a steam canner this year which does the same thing as a boiling water bath canner. I LOVE IT! It has cut the time down and doesn't heat up the house with all that boiling water.

[metmom]

I never heard of that before.

Is that a pressure canner or something new?

[MagnoliaB]

Apparently it's new. I got mine at a local Ace Hardware store. It only uses 3 pints of water, holds seven quarts and approximately nine pints depending on whether they are wide or reg. mouth. The box has a website: (bottom left hand picture)

http://www.focuselectrics.com/catalog.cfm?dest=dir&linkon=subsection&linkid=119&secid=53

[metmom]

That’s interesting. In the Ball Blue Book, they recommend not trying to hot water bath can with steam, but my books are pretty old.

It looks like someone developed the technology to do it after all.

[DelaWhere]

The links below will lead you to general canning guidance and safe canning methods from the 1994 (latest version) USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
General Information Using Boiling Water Canners Using Pressure Canners Canning Fruits and Fruit Products Canning Tomatoes and Tomato Products Canning Salsa Canning Nuts and Nut Products Canning Vegetables and Vegetable Products Preparing and Canning Poultry, Red Meats and Seafoods  Pickled Fruits and Vegetables Jams and Jellies

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yes. They’re in the ‘recipe rotation’ because I have so much of the stuff. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thank you! BUMP! :)

[tubebender]

The seal material does not dry up and crack like it once did. I typically keep at least a year ahead of my needs

I seem to remember a real shortage of lids many years ago and we were going to out of the way places to find them. That taught us to keep at least a one year supply ahead. As far as shelf life of new lids go we have no way of knowing how long those lids sat in a warehouse before being purchased. ..

[tubebender]

Ping to post #150 for some canning information...

[Petronski]

Could I have that recipe?

I'm the soup chef and I must admit I have no fixed recipe, but here's the basics.

Prepare a bag of your favorite beans: navy, great northern, pinto, mixed-bag, whatever. About a pound soaked and boiled until ready to eat but firm. DO NOT DRAIN. Set aside.

In the main soup pot, get a bottom cover of canola oil heated and add a tablespoon or so of olive oil for flavor. When hot, toss in four or five minced cloves of garlic and let it sizzle for a few minutes, rendering the flavor, then add two or three yellow onions, the strong kind, thinly chopped.

That will sizzle away for several minutes until the water renders out, and as it does, about a half cup of finely chopped celery goes in.

When you have a slurry of oil and onion/celery at the bottom, dump in about a quart (a 22oz can or better yet four fresh cups) of diced tomatoes. This is when I add bouillon, use a quality powdered bouillon, I prefer beef bouillon to stand up to the other bold flavors. Let that mix simmer until it tastes balanced but way-too-strong. This is also when you add salt and pepper to taste. Make it too strong, because you will be adding in a large volume of vegetable matter.

When it seems well-combined add back the beans INCLUDING the water used to boil them. Here's where two to four cups of coarsely-diced zucchini would go in, as well as three or four coarsely-diced potatoes and three or four sliced carrots. A can of chana (garbanzos), frozen corn niblets, okra, whatever you like to top it off.

I hope you used a very big pot because you're getting enough soup to last a few days. Add more seasoning (bouillon, salt, pepper, etc.) to taste. The result does not have a lot of broth, it's almost a brothy stew. It's done when the potatoes and carrots are cooked through. If need be, you can add water to get the pot back in balance (the potatoes might absorb a lot of the liquid).

If you want pasta with it, use bow-ties but keep them separate and only add them in the serving bowl.

I hope this makes sense, and I hope you'll let me know if you give it a try. We just LOVE this soup/stew and eat it a lot, which is why I don't use a set recipe. Change it up and it never gets boring! Use red kidney beans one time, or chicken bouillon, or a pound of frozen ground turkey, or use all chickpeas; add in green beans or green peas or limas or whatever. The essence of minestrone as I understand it is a soup filled with whatever is on hand.

[Petronski]

I forgot to say: leave the skin on the potatoes, a lot of the vitamins and fiber are in the skin, and in the soup, you won’t notice them except for the visual appeal.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I would check around to see if this is still a problem. The bill has been amended as follows (Of course, this is just the House bill. The Senate bill could be different, and the two resolved in conference committee, which could rewrite the bill before an up or down vote in both chambers, always an opportunity for mischief):

(1) DEFINITION OF FACILITY- Paragraph (1) of section 415(b) (21 U.S.C. 350d(b)) is amended to read as follows:

‘(1)(A) The term ‘facility’ means any factory, warehouse, or establishment (including a factory, warehouse, or establishment of an importer) that manufactures, processes, packs, or holds food.

‘(B) Such term does not include farms; private residences of individuals; restaurants; other retail food establishments; nonprofit food establishments in which food is prepared for or served directly to the consumer; or fishing vessels (except such vessels engaged in processing as defined in section 123.3(k) of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulations).

[tubebender]

My First Wife just informed me that Ball had recalled their lids due to sealing problems but Kerr were available and they were failing also. It must have been when they were changing from rubber to plastisol? My brother in Santa Cruz had extra Ball lids and he sent them to us to save us from disaster and FW will not buy Kerr lids to this day...

[DelaWhere]

>>>I seem to remember a real shortage of lids many years ago and we were going to out of the way places to find them.<<<

About 35 years ago, I remember them being in short supply - one company made high temp plastic ones with silicone seals - you could reuse them over and over. One of the jar companies (there was more than one then - now they are all owned by Jarden) bought them out and then discontinued them.

I have about a dozen 6 year old spaghetti sauce jars and one-piece lids with silicone seals that pop down when sealed - have used them every year (sometimes twice in same year) and they perform flawlessly - over and over. The technology is there, but the financing to get approval, the ability to survive the legal wrangling results in the will to produce such a product being unachievable. Reminds me that ‘Government isn’t the solution - Government is the problem!’

[DelaWhere]

I know they imply farms are excluded - that is a gross misdirection -

“(d) Farms- A farm is exempt from the requirements of this Act to the extent such farm raises animals from which food is derived that is regulated under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, or the Egg Products Inspection Act.”

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Mandated are Safety Standards at the digression of the FDA Administrator -

SEC. 419A. SAFETY STANDARDS FOR PRODUCE AND CERTAIN OTHER RAW AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES.

‘(a) Standards- The Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall establish by regulation scientific and risk-based food safety standards for the growing, harvesting, processing, packing, sorting, transporting, and holding of those types of raw agricultural commodities—

‘(1) that are a fruit, vegetable, nut, or fungus; and

‘(2) for which the Secretary has determined that such standards are reasonably necessary to minimize the risk of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.

‘(b) Contents- The regulations under subsection (a)—

‘(1) may set forth such procedures, processes, and practices as the Secretary determines to be reasonably necessary—

‘(A) to prevent the introduction of known or reasonably foreseeable biological, chemical, and physical hazards, including hazards that occur naturally, may be unintentionally introduced, or may be intentionally introduced, including by acts of terrorism, into raw agricultural commodities that are a fruit, vegetable, nut, or fungus; and

‘(B) to provide reasonable assurances that such commodity is not adulterated under section 402;

‘(2) may include, with respect to growing, harvesting, processing, packing, sorting, transporting, and storage operations, standards for safety as the Secretary determines to be reasonably necessary;

‘(3) may include standards addressing manure use, water quality, employee hygiene, sanitation and animal control, and temperature controls, as the Secretary determines to be reasonably necessary;

‘(4) may include standards for such other elements as the Secretary determines necessary to carry out subsection (a);

‘(5) shall provide a reasonable period of time for compliance, taking into account the needs of small businesses for additional time to comply;

‘(6) may provide for coordination of education and enforcement activities;

‘(7) shall take into consideration, consistent with ensuring enforceable public health protection, the impact on small-scale and diversified farms, and on wildlife habitat, conservation practices, watershed-protection efforts, and organic production methods;

‘(8) may provide for coordination of education and training with other government agencies, universities, private entities, and others with experience working directly with farmers; and

‘(9) may provide for recognition through guidance of other existing publicly available procedures, processes, and practices that the Secretary determines to be equivalent to those established under paragraph (1).

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Additionally, any food not produced by their ‘Standards’ faces the foods being declared adulterated and destroyed.

SEC. 103. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.

(a) Adulterated Food- Section 402 (21 U.S.C. 342), as amended by section 102, is amended by adding at the end the following:

‘(l) If it has been manufactured, processed, packed, transported, or held under conditions that do not meet the standards issued under section 419.’.

(b) Requirements- Chapter IV (21 U.S.C. 341 et seq.), as amended by section 102(b), is further amended by adding at the end the following:

‘SEC. 419. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.

NOTE:(3) may include standards addressing manure use, water quality, employee hygiene, sanitation and animal control, and temperature controls, as the Secretary determines to be reasonably necessary;

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In addition to the bill now before the Senate, we have to look at one other thing - The ‘Food Safety Czar’!

It would appear so considering the history of his latest appointment of Michael Taylor, as “Food Czar”. The former Monsanto Executive worked closely for years with the FDA, passing legislation that restricts organic farming. As an attorney for agriculture giant Monsanto, Taylor helped find legal “loopholes” for manufacturers of DDT, PCB’s, pesticides, aspartame and bovine growth hormone, all of which have been found to be harmful for human consumption. Later, he was appointed Policy Chief for the FDA where he was responsible for writing propaganda declaring the safety of bovine growth hormones. From there he went on to push policies which allowed the FDA to sue small dairy farmers.

In addition to the FDA’s Policy Chief, Taylor’s resume includes positions such as Vice President and Chief Lobbyist for Monsanto. His lobbying efforts have done much to hurt small non-commercial farmers, especially those with organic farms. To say the president’s appointing such as individual as “Food Safety Czar” is questionable, would be a gross understatement.

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Standards such as the ‘Leafy Green Marketing Agreement’ standard are agricultural killers.

This stuff is CRAZY!

Waxman is a leading proponent of the LGMA.

Check out their checklist and see if you would waste the time trying to produce a crop under it. What price would you expect to pay for meeting those standards?

Checklist:
http://www.caleafygreens.ca.gov/about/documents/LGMAAuditChecklist8-07-08.pdf