Posted on 08/09/2009 6:58:26 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
During the first World War, the U.S. government asked its citizens to contribute to the war effort by growing gardens. Americans rose to the challenge. The millions of quarts of provender produced by this astonishing effort not only fed American families, but helped feed starving people all across Europe. Humankind caring for humankind in a time of need an example the world could heed today.
Similar food shortages have occurred throughout the centuries. When Napoleon was faced with the problem of feeding his rapidly growing military, the French government offered 12,000 francs to anyone who could figure a solution. A man named Nicolas Appert, though not completely understanding why, discovered that by putting food into a bottle or jar, sealing the jar up tight and cooking it for a few hours, the food could be preserved for consumption later. Napoleons army didnt go hungry.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, flocks of free-thinkers sailed the ocean blue in search of a place where they could live free and govern their own lives. Once settled in their respective colonies, they too found daunting the challenge of having enough to eat. Through much trial and error, they discovered how to provide their daily needs and to preserve the precious leftovers for leaner times. Waste not, want not. The colonists learned how to take care of one another.
Preservation progress came at a cost, however. For example, it wasnt until the late 19th century that anyone knew about Clostridium botulinum, the soil-borne bacterium whose lethal toxin, sometimes found in improperly canned food, claimed countless lives. Likewise, pickled provender frequently went bad when cork stoppers or pigs bladders were used to cover the crocks and jars. Jams and jellies, sealed with brandy-soaked paper, often sprouted mold. But help was on the way in the form of a rubber-sealed glass jar.
Tinsmith John L. Mason couldnt possibly have known how his 1858 patent would permanently revolutionize family nutrition. His machine mass-produced threaded metal jar lids that, in combination with threaded-neck jars and rubber sealing rings, made it easy for virtually anyone to achieve a safe seal when canning. Masons canning jar and lid concept caught on immediately and opened the door for several improvements and modifications with familiar names like Ball, Atlas E-Z Seal and Kerr. Through time, the rubber seal has improved, as has the science behind the processing, but home canning is every bit as accessible today as it was in 1858.
You, too, can can
Before starting a canning project of your own, you should keep a few things in mind. It is best to gather only the produce you can work up in a few hours. This ensures optimum nutrition and quality. If possible, harvest early in the day.
Get your supplies out and check them over. Always use jars made especially for canning rather than old mayonnaise or pickle jars, and never use jars that are cracked or chipped around the rim. Use only the two-piece screw lids, never re-using the flat piece, as its protective ability is compromised once lifted off a jar.
Lids and jars should be sterilized before use by boiling for at least 10 minutes, leaving them in the hot water until they are needed.
The two canning methods in general use today make use of either a boiling-water bath or pressure canner for processing. The boiling-water system requires longer processing times and is suitable for foods with higher acid contents, while the pressure canner reaches higher temperatures faster and is suitable for virtually all food types. Once you have decided which fruit, vegetable or meat you want to can, be sure to educate yourself on the current recommendations for method, processing time and sterilization precautions for that produce. Your county extension office provides a wealth of information for your area, or you can go online to such sites as the USDAs National Center for Home Preservation
www.UGA.edu/nchfp
Continues at link...
Or does the two-year thing mean “lying around unused in a box” for two years, like the little rubber piece dry-rotting? I bought up a bunch of extra lids last year at the end of the season, just because they were marked down to practically-almost-free. Dry rot never even crossed my mind UNTIL NOW. Thanks, I think.
Yes, they can crack and dry out. You have to inspect older lids, or lids you intend to reuse very carefully. When I reuse lids I throw away more than I reuse. Drying out of the lids can easily occur in dry winter conditions. If in any doubt or if one is leary of reusing lids, then new ones each year is the way to go. However, even new lids can have defects (dents, cuts, etc.) so always inspect them, too.
Thanks for posting this! We just got back from a road trip, and one of our stops was in Albuquerque where some elderly friend showed us around their garden. They showed us their canning equipment and everything they’ve, “put up”. I’m excited about canning things like marinara sauce, chili and salsa, since we don’t have much of a garden right now.
Thanks for posting this!
Sounds right on the tomato soup. Tomatoes do contain a lot of acid and a dash of baking soda will help neturlize the acid. I also use just a small amout of baking soda when I make iced tea.
I wouldn’t hesitate to use lids over 2 years old. Might have pause about using lids over 20 years old though.
Just added the link to my “favorites”. Thanks!
Believe me, you will know if it has lost the seal. I have cleaned out storerooms with canned goods that were 20 years old and some of it was still good, not that I ate it but my MIL did!
We always inspect our lids and seals, if they are older. I have never found any with cracks in them, the seal not the lid. It would be pretty obvious if the lid seal was dried out. It would have obvious cracks that would inhibit a good seal, and it would be hard, not soft and pliable.
Caring? The government forced people to do with less so we could export it... caring?
I don't understand why that is in the article. We use old mayonnaise jars all the time. So far, no problem with anything going bad. We don't reuse the old lids though, only new ones. We also use old salsa jars for jelly and jams.
Victory gardens may have reduce demand for commercial crops enough to have a surplus that was shipped overseas.
That 'ping' is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. I love to hear a counterfull of cooling vegetables or fruit start to ping. Kind of like the thrill of popcorn starting to pop only better...much better.
Old mayo jars work well. The sad thing is I can’t find them anymore at the store they are plastic now.
BTTT
thank you for posting this!
I suspect that a lot of that was Wilsonian propaganda. The Wilson administration was adept at lying, trying to create anti-German xenophobia, and otherwise stimulate the public into accepting its war agenda.
Frank Roosevelt’s administration was even more egregious in trying to raise public sentiments with contributions to “the war effort”, like fats and greases (that were quietly discarded), scrap metal drives (whose metal was so heterogeneous that it would have consumed twice as much energy to reprocess than from ore), and consumer goods that were in abundance, but considered “too frivolous” by government bureaucrats.
Even today, be very dubious about civic projects who have as a stated purpose “to raise public awareness”. Socialists long ago learned that scarcity and the need for rationing are essential to their program of control, which is thwarted by abundance. So they are more than willing to pretend that there is shortage, or even create artificial shortages, as means to their ends.
I observed this at work in a “home water conservation” scheme many years ago. I pointed out that residential use of water in my State was less than 2% of consumption, the rest being used by agriculture and industry, especially mining. And that the mining industry had just decided to recycle its water, instantly increasing available clean water in the state by one third.
I was told by the “home water conservation” advocates that actual water savings meant very little, compared to the importance of “raising public awareness” about the “issue” of the need to conserve water. In other words, they were lying scoundrels, trying to create the illusion of shortage to get control over the public.
They were successful in this effort at the national level, eventually getting a legal mandate to require low water use toilets (that do not work well) and shower heads. Today they have considerably broadened their efforts by successfully outlawing incandescent light bulbs, requiring small automobiles, and thousands of other nuisances, all with the idea of increasing government control over the daily life of citizens.
Again, in their minds, the means are unimportant, only their ends. This is why we now have “Cap & Trade & Tax”, for example, even though it will accomplish nothing. It is very serious, and they mean to have their way, no matter who they hurt.
Likewise, and more on topic, the government wants to regulate home gardening as well. Since they are now demanding government agents inspect homes for “energy efficiency”, and demanding compliance to their standards prior to sale or transfer, it is hardly surprising that they want control over backyard gardens as well.
I know one thing, clean Jalapeno jars REALLY, REALLY well before canning anything in them. Unless of course, you want some zip added to your pickles.
Very well said.
I can so I can remain somewhat independent of the stores in an emergency and it is fun.
It is not a public service.
Most of our shortages today are caused by government. I am talking worldwide.
Where people are free, there is sufficient for all. Where there is slavery (coming soon to a theatre near you)there is scarcity.
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