Monday, September 12, 2011
Canning, a "Family" Tradition
What's a busy mom to do? As the master of all multi-taskers, moms are always looking for ways to stay healthy and to create lasting memories for their families. One of the best ways to accomplish both of these goals is to preserve your own food at home.
Preserving foods is both easy and rewarding. When you're just beginning, try gathering a few supplies each year. Start by purchasing a pressure cooker for canning, a basic canning kit, and the Blue Ball Canning Book, which includes directions for every step of the home canning process. The beauty with canning is everything you buy lasts a lifetime, except for the lids and food, of course. The canning kit includes a jar lifter, a lid organizer and a few other gems to make home preservation easier and more organized. In your second season, expand your supplies to include a food dehydrator, canning recipe books, and even more gadgets to preserve the bounties of the garden. In an extremely short time, you will have gathered all you need to build a lifetime of adventure and memories for you and your family.
For myself, I remember working alongside my family every year. Now, as a mother of five, I have made sure to pass the tradition of home canning onto my own children. Every year, we gather to work together, and to laugh together. As the jars fill up and are processed, I know I've provided quality bonding opportunities and fresh, wholesome food without preservatives. I also take a little time each year to appreciate my own mom and the love and care she provided for me.
Visit: http://www.yourcanningsupplies.com\ for all your canning supplies.
Homemade Canning - Know What Foods You're Preserving - Because Knowing Is Half The Battle!
Food preservation is an art that allows you to store food without any loss to its quality, edibility and nutritional value. There are a number of food preservation methods, which prevent the growth of any bacteria, yeasts or fungi on the foods. Other than maintaining nutritional value, food preservation keeps the texture and flavor of the item being preserved intact. In history there have been some old methods of food preservation, which drastically altered the character of items being preserved. Common ways for preserving food at home are dehydrating, canning, freezing and pickling.
Home canning is a way of preserving food in an easy and cheap way. With prices of canned food increasing, many people are considering canning food at home. By following a home canning recipe you can enjoy so many things from canned apple butter to zucchini. There are different home canning methods that you can adopt like pressure, water bath and open kettle methods. Without having to invest on any expensive equipment, you can easily do the canning at home. There are many home canning cookbooks as well to help you prepare a mouth-watering dish that everybody in the family is going to enjoy.
Preserve vegetables that you can get either from your garden or market at a normal price. This will allow you to use the preserved food items even when they are not available at their standard price or are very expensive fresh produce. By home canning you can cut down on cost and be sure off that you are serving your family a healthy meal. The local farming market near you will offer you lot of option in terms of locally grown organic food. All the seasonal grown food items are generally cheaper compared to the off-season prices. There are some sites which tell you what fruits and vegetables are in the season and available at lower rates in your area. Buying from the local farmer's markets you will also be supporting the local vendors at the farmers markets and local economy of your area.
Local foods in season are the best to use for home canning. By buying local food in-season, you can stay away from any shipped processed food items that come from thousands of miles away. Eating fresh, non-processed fruits and vegetables is a step towards healthy eating.
Home canning is the best way to preserve your garden gains. If you have your own garden or buy seasonal products in bulk, you can make the harvest lasts for months by learning the easy ways and recipes for homemade canning In today's world with so much of food adulteration, it becomes necessary that we stay away from any such food items to stay healthy.
Homemade Canning - Understand The Nutritional Value of Canning Your Own Food!
Food can be preserved for a long time if done correctly. Otherwise the food spoiling bacteria like yeast and molds can completely ruin your efforts. There are certain basic checklists that you need to carry out before you start preserving your food such as, when foods are dried, no moisture is present for the bacterial growth, frozen foods to be stored at temperatures too low for microorganisms to grow etc.
Home canning is the most popular way of preserving and enjoying the homegrown fruits and vegetables. If you are using fresh vegetables and fruits from your own kitchen garden, then you can be sure that there are no chemicals and pesticides used unlike the commercial market. Home canned foods are better as most of the commercial canned foods have an extra amount of sugar, salts and preservatives added, which are not good if you are suffering from any health problems.
It allows you to preserve fruits and vegetables when they are at their peak of ripeness. You can enjoy backyard harvest, which will give you flavorful spreads and sauces all year long. Food products canned at their peak of ripeness hold a better nutritional value. Another advantage of canning your food is that you enjoy the off-season food all the time even when they are not available or are expensive in the market. It also adds a benefit of self-reliance when things like bad weather or short supply make the products unavailable or too expensive.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Homemade Canning - Best Kinds of Soup for Home Canning
Canned soup is delicious and easy for lunches, dinners, and even snacks. Store-bought soup often contains large amounts of sodium and even hidden ingredients such as monosodium glutamate, yeast, and unknown spices and added artificial flavorings.
Soup done by homemade canning is not only healthier, it is less expensive than the store-bought versions and you can control what goes into it. Which soups are best for canning at home?
Canned Cream Soup
Tomato, mushroom, celery, pumpkin, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and other vegetables and blends make delicious creamed soup. Creamed foods are often cooked vegetables run through a blender and then made into a delicious and creamy soup with fresh milk or cream and a variety of spices. These may take a few extra steps to prepare, but are well worth the effort.
To make them a condensed soup, simply leave off the addition of cream and extra water in the recipe you follow and note on the label how much to add for that particular recipe. When opening a jar of creamed soup, simply add the amount of milk or water just like the condensed soup you would purchase at the store, but at a fraction of the cost.
Canned Vegetable Soup
Depending on the recipe, you may or may not need to precook the vegetables. One delicious method of making homemade canned vegetable soup is to save the vegetable refuse from processing other vegetables in a bin in the freezer. These can range from clean potato skin and apple skins and cores to onion peels and lettuce cores. When you have enough to boil for stock, boil them up until soft and then cool the stock. Blend them in a blender and run through a food sieve or mesh strainer to remove the larger particles.
Take the resulting stock and use it as a base for any vegetable or meat soup base. Simply chop up the desired vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, onions, par-cooked potatoes or root vegetables, zucchini, peas, cooked beans, green beans, or raw dark leafy greens and place them in a bowl. Then add your favorite dried or fresh herbs or spice blends and mix it thoroughly.
Finally, add this mixture to the jar, leaving half to one-third head space. Add the broth, stir, and pressure can the blend for about 20 minutes, or as directed in the vegetable soup recipe you are using.
Canned Noodle Soup
Noodle soups are not that hard to can. The easiest part is that the noodles go in dry. You will need:
A vegetable or chicken stock that has just been boiled and is still hot. Chopped cooked meat such as chicken or beef. A favorite spice blend or fresh herbs; Italian seasoning works best. Fresh, raw or par-cooked vegetables. Dried noodles such as egg noodles, stars, alphabets, ditalini, macaroni, gemelli, or mostaccioli.Measure one-fourth of the jar for each ingredient plus the spices. Again, leave roughly a half-inch head space air pocket for a good seal. Then, layer the ingredients as you add them: noodles, half the hot broth, spices, meat, vegetables, and half the hot broth again. Make sure that the rim and lid are clean and dry when you add the lid. Pressure can for the time specified in the pressure canning directions.
Canned Bean, Chili, or Split Pea Soup
Unlike the other soups, bean soup must be cooked and completely ready to eat before canning to ensure that the finished product is actually edible. When you are done cooking the bean soup, simply jar it up while still hot, leaving roughly a half-inch to an inch of head space and then pressure can it according to the manufacturer's directions.
Detecting Spoilage in Home-canned foods
Unlike high-acid canned foods such as tomato sauces and fruits, low-acid foods like soup are more prone to spoilage due to improper canning or not achieving a good seal. Before serving up your delicious creation, inspect the jar lid for leaks, a swollen lid, rust, strange coloring, or a foamy or murky appearance.
If all looks well, open the jar and smell the food€it should smell pleasant and delicious. If you detect any of the above, discard the food immediately. Before eating, bring the food to a boil for at least 10 minutes just in case any dangerous microbes are in the food. If the food still smells pleasant, it's probably safe to eat.
Home-canned soups are not only tailored to your dietary needs, they contain less sodium, fat, and artificial ingredients. Healthy, hearty, and cheap, soup made by homemade canning cost a fraction off store-bought varieties and definitely have better flavor.
Home Canning Lets You Save Money and Eat Healthier
First a little history lesson. Prior to the 1800s, food preservation was done by drying fruits and the smoking of meats and fish. This worked well up until Napoleon Bonaparte decided to conquer all of Europe. He did not want his armies to be dependent for food while in enemy lands, instead he wanted them to carry their own food. One of his scientists, Nicolas Appert, discovered that by heating food for several hours in loosely corked bottles that were then sealed, that no germs could get to the food and so, it did not spoil. Soon afterward, in the early 1800s, Americans began to can food.
In regard's to today's challenge of saving money, the Burpee Seed Company writes that produce prices have doubled. They estimate that for every $50 that is spent on seed and fertilizer, the gardener can grow $1250 worth of produce. Team that with home canning, and you get the pleasure and the great taste of food from your garden all year long, as well as saving on your grocery bill. In addition, if the power goes out or some mechanical failure happens, none of what you have canned will go bad.
By preserving your own food, you will know every ingredient that is in the jar. According to a 2009 National Gardening Association research, people grow their own food because it tastes better, to save money, for higher quality food and they want to know that they food they are eating is safe.
If, like me right now, you are unable to grow your own, there are farmer's markets almost in every town, with more springing up all the time. So, whether you grow your own food or buy locally-grown produce, the carbon footprint that is created by the transporting of the fruits and vegetables that you eat during the off season is lowered. A 2008 study by Weber and Matthews found that the production and delivery of food accounts for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions.
As shown, home canning, which started out as a way for soldiers to transport and store food safely, gives you and your family a way to save money; eat better and healthier and live more sustainable life styles.
The Right Use of Jars and Lids in Home Canning
Glass jars are no doubt the very best way to proceed in home canning whether it be pressure canning or hot water water boiling canning. I would never use metal containers because of the one-time use and most importantly the requirement and expense of sealing equipment in using metal cans.
THe Mason jar with its regular and wide mouths with the open threaded neck for the ring and lids that Seal are definitely the best for home canning. Your Mason jar requires only lids each time of use in home canning.You must wash the jars before every use in hot water. The use of a mild detergent is necessary with a complete rinse after such a cleaning. This will not sterilize the jars but it does clean the jars for prolonged water boiling or pressure canning.
However if your are thinking about preparing jams,jellies or pickled items,then it requires sterilization of your jars in the home canning procedure. This is a simple procedure and easily accomplished by placing the empty jars into a boiling water canner. You fill both the jars and canner with hot,but not boiling water,to one inch above the jar mouth. This should be boiled for ten minutes at altitudes of less then 1000 feet and add an additional minute for every 1000 foot change in altitude. I will provide a reference at the end where you can locate a chart on this complete procedure.
The jar requires a good lid and sealing gasket. In the processing of foods the lid gasket seals the jar sealing surface but leaves enough space to allow air to escape from the jar allowing the gasket to form a airtight seal on your home canning jar. I would purchase only the number of lids that you will need in your home canning endeavors for one season. In this way you can be assured that you have fresh lids and gaskets.
Now you have your jars filled and in order to release the air bubbles using a flat plastic spatula,no metal please,insert between the food and the edge of the jar. Moving the jar slowly in a circle,push the spatula up and down to encourage the release and escape of air bubbles.You should clean the rim of the jar removing any particles that would prevent an air tight seal.
You are now ready for action! Proceed to place the lid gasket on to the cleaned rim of your jar and fit the flat metal lid into the metal screw ring and turn it slowly down on to the gasket being careful not to over tighten the lid in this procedure. It is time to process your filled jars and when this is done carefully remove home canning jars with a jar grip remover.
It will not be necessary to re-tightened the lids. The cooling of the jars results in the contents of the jar to contract which in turn pulls the self sealing lid firmly to the mouth of the jar resulting in a high vacuum being formed. The jars should be cooled for twelve to twenty four hours at room temperature in an upright position.
Then it is time to remove the screw rings from the jars and begin testing each lid for the proper seal. This is easily done by pressing the center of the lid to see if it is concave. Then lift the jar by its lid to see if it will come off and if you cannot accomplish and the center does not want to flex up or down you have a good seal and your home canning is concluded.
There is more detailed information on altitude charts and much much more at http://www.gardenersgardening.com/boilingwaterbathcanning.html