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Home Canning Series: Introduction
Welcome to the Southern States home canning series! For the next
several months, we'll be bringing you articles with instructions
and recipes for making the most of your vegetable and fruit gardens.
What do you do with that bumper crop of tomatoes? Don't just give
them away at the office! Cook up a batch of spaghetti sauce or chili,
can it in Kerr® jars, and enjoy it all winter long. Don't throw
away those watermelon rinds after you've enjoyed the red melon either!
We'll show you how to make an old southern favorite, watermelon
rind pickle. All this and more is coming up in future articles,
so check back often.
So how come food canned in mason jars stays fresh for so long anyway?
It's because of the heat used in the process and the seal of the
container the food is in. Food spoilage is caused by natural enzymes,
yeasts, molds and bacteria that are designed to break it down. This
is great in the compost pile, but not in the pantry. To preserve
food for a long period of time, the decomposition process must be
halted. The microorganisms and enzymes must be killed. That's what
the heat does. The vacuum sealed jar keeps the food from being recontaminated
by microorganisms present in the air.
 There
are 2 methods you can use to can food in jars: the water bath canner
and the pressure canner.
Use the water bath canning method for foods high in acid content
such as most fruits, fruit juices, tomatoes, sauerkraut, pickles
and relishes. The water bath canner is a deep pot with a metal wrack
for holding the jars and a lid to keep the steam from filling the
kitchen. It should be deep enough to leave 1 or 2 inches of water
boiling vigorously over the tops of the jars.
 Use
the pressure canner for most vegetables and all meats and fish.
The pressure canner looks like a huge pressure cooker. It also has
a wrack for jars, but its lid locks down tightly with a gasket.
It has a pressure gauge (usually a weight) and a safety valve. The
pressure canner is needed to maintain 10 pounds of pressure for
a specific period of time depending on recipe and altitude. This
ensures the food is processed at 240° F which kills heat resistant
microorganisms.
To withstand that kind of heat and pressure, John L. Mason invented
mason jars in the nineteenth century.  They
are made of tempered glass to withstand the extreme conditions inside
the pressure canner. They also freeze very well. They come in a
variety of sizes and shapes. Flat metal lids that vacuum seal onto
the jars with the aid of metal bands is the most popular and readily
available way to seal the jars. Once the lids are securely sealed,
the bands can be removed before storage. Decorative lids featuring
various holiday themes are now available and make giving your home
canned foods as gifts very easy.
Never attempt to can food in glass jars purchased from the grocery
store, such as mayonnaise jars. The glass may break during processing.
Since the lids and bands are not made for them, a good vacuum seal
will be impossible to achieve as well.
For more information on home canning, visit Alltrista, the makers
of Ball® and Kerr® brand canning products at homecanning.com.
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