Canning: The Solution to Preserving Your Fruits and Veggies!
Following the planting process and tending to your garden all spring and summer long, it is finally harvesting time! While much of your produce is used in your favorite recipes or baked into treats, there often is an excess of fruits and vegetables. Instead of limiting your diet to just the fresh produce you grow or purchase from the farmers market or letting the items spoil, consider preserving it through canning!
Canning allows you to store fruits and vegetables to ensure maximum freshness and limit food waste. This process is popular amongst cucumbers, peaches, berries, and tomatoes! Canning, whether through water baths or pressure cooking, heats the food to kill any microorganisms and creates a vacuum seal within the jar. The seal prevents air from contacting the preserved food, which would otherwise promote spoilage. There are many benefits as to why canning is the perfect solution to preserving produce – this process is eco-friendly, cuts down on waste, saves you money, and is BPA and additive-free.
To get started you will need:
Canning Jars and Seals
Large Pot
Tongs of Jar Lifters
The Process of Preserving –
First, wash your lids and jars in hot, soapy water. Then, sterilize them by placing them in a boiling water bath for ten minutes. Remove the jars from the water bath, but keep the lids in the hot water until you’re ready to use them to ensure they stay sterile before sealing your jars.
Slice and dice your produce and pickle vegetables before placing in the jars. Be sure to not fill your jars completely. Produce expands during the boiling process, leave adequate space at the top to prevent the jar from leaking!
After filling the jar, pour boiling water or pickling solution to cover up to the top of your produce.
Next, you will want to preheat your water. For hot produce, water should be preheated to 180 degrees and for cold produce preheat to 140 degrees. Water should be an inch or two above the top of the canning jar when they are placed in the pot for the water boiling process. Use the tongs or jar lifter to put the jar into the pot and then place the lid on top. With water bath canning, bring the water to a slow boil and then start your timer to process for the length of time dictated by which vegetable you’re canning and the altitude at which you live.
Lastly, remove your jars and let them sit for a day to make sure they are completely cooled. While cooling, your jars will start to pop, creating the vacuum seal. After they have cooled, press on the center of the jar to ensure they have sealed completely – and enjoy!