Canning Confidence: My Journey from Curious Beginner to Preserving Pro

Social media seems to be abuzz lately with stock pilers, preppers, and “trad-wives”. Freshly manicured images of pantry and root cellar shelves lined with mason jars filled with various types of food seem to fill my feed, regardless of the platform I’m on. Today, seeing these images and posts from users with similar hobbies and interests fills me with joy, and inspires me to continue learning. As early as 5 years ago, I would’ve felt very differently…

I moved to Pennsylvania in 2010 and became very curious about food very quickly: how were my friends pulling jars of corn off their shelves in December that somehow tasted fresh off the cob? Why did my neighbor have more than a dozen tomato plants for just her and her husband? What was the woman in front of me at the produce stand going to do with the almost a dozen quarts of strawberries she was asking for? After a successful tomato harvest finally followed many years of disaster, I had my answer: food preservation, specifically canning. I slowly became a voracious student, learning the different methods of canning, food preservation and storage, and learning how to grow what we eat. Despite not having a singular source of knowledge to refer back to while I was learning, I’m happy to share what I did learn, so it may be a point of reference for you! Here’s a basic breakdown on canning:

Water bath canning

Perhaps the most common form of canning food, with the simplest equipment, water bath canning is done on your stove top in a big pot that has some type of rack on the bottom to prevent the jars from sitting directly on the pot. Highly acid foods can be water bath canned: fruits, fruit juices, fruit spreads (jams, jellies, etc.), salsas, most tomatoes, pickles, relishes, chutneys, sauces, vinegars, and condiments. You can use half-pint, pint, quart, and sometimes even larger jars when canning. You want the jars and its contents to be about the same temperature, and be mindful not to put cold jars into hot water. There are a variety of different recipes, depending on what you are making, but I’ve found the Ball Recipe Magazine to be most helpful. Ensure each jar seals, and you can keep your goods on the shelf for upwards of 12 months, sometimes even 18 months.  I love having strawberry jams, diced peaches, salsa, and pasta sauce on my shelves year-round!

Pressure Canning

Pressure canning seems to be the method that intimidates most people. Admittedly, I was one of them when I first started.  Now, I actually prefer it! The equipment is a bit more complicated: in addition to a pot, there can be gauges, weights, seals. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Please don’t let the fear of “blowing up your house” hold you back! Low-acid foods must be pressure canned: red meats, seafood, poultry, and low acid vegetables (carrots, green beans, and asparagus, to name a few). Pressure canners simply get the temperature high enough to kill any potential growth of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria. With pressure canning, you also want the contents of the jar and the jar itself to be about the same temperature. You will need to spend some time “babysitting” the canner to ensure you maintain the correct pressure, but going into my third year of pressure canning, I am happy to report I have not once broken a glass or blown a lid.  My pressure canner came with a guide I refer to multiple times. “The Complete Guide to Pressure Canning” has also been an invaluable resource! Pressure canning corn eliminates the risk of spoilage from a prolonged power outage,which is why pressure canning is my favorite method! It allows me to save my freezer space for beef, pork, and poultry, which we don’t love to can, but we will if we need to. I love being able to pull jars of homemade bone broth, canned corn, and meal bases off my shelves when life gets busy.

While I am by no means an expert in canning (ask me about what I accidentally did to some corn kernels in 2023…), I do feel confident in my abilities now to share what got me to this point! Learning new skills can be overwhelming at first, but it is also so easy to find joy in doing so. To take my skills a step further, I’d love to master canning some “meal in a jar” recipes… I’ll be sure to report back when I do.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

The Bougie Farmer