Homemade Canning - The Home Canning Essential Equipment Checklist

Before beginning to can at home, it is important to have the right equipment on hand. There are two types of homemade canning: boiling water canning and high pressure canning. However, aside from the style of pans used for canning, the rest of the supplies are identical.
Essential Supplies Needed for Canning
The following are the supplies and equipment you will need to successfully can meats and produce at home:
Canning jars Boiling canner Pressure canner Or Dutch oven Large kettle to pre-boil equipment in Jar tongs Proper canning jars Canning lids Lid rims Wide mouth funnel Food mill Food sieve Colander Spoons Heat proof rubber spatulas Measuring cups Different sized bowls Towels Bakers cooling rack Knives Cutting board Filtered water (preferably also distilled) Food to can Waterproof labels and label marker
Use the Right Kind of Canner
A boiling canner is used for high-acid foods such as fruits, jams, tomatoes, pickles, relishes, preserves, and tomato based salsas and sauces. High-acid foods only need to be brought up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of boiling water, for the specific time specified in the recipe.
A high-pressure canner is used for low-acid foods such as vegetables, meats, grains, noodles, and low acid sauces. These low-acid foods need to be brought to a temperature of 240 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit for the time specified in the recipe.
With either type of canning, it is important to carefully follow the directions for the type of food being canned to ensure quality and food safety.
The Importance of the Right Jars and Lids
It is important to only use jars purchased for canning. Standard canning jars are tempered, and the mouth is specially threaded for canning at home. Do not reuse jars which originally housed store bought foods, these are not tempered for the canning process and may crack or explode when boiled or pressure canned or even while being handled.
Use flat lids with screw bands made specifically for the brand of canning jars purchased. Do not reuse the flat lid part or reused jar lids from store bought foods as these may not seal properly and will allow bacteria and spoilage of the food canned.
Carefully inspect the jars for chips or cracks, especially around the rim of the mouth and discard any cracked or chipped jars. Also, carefully inspect the lids for rust or damage and discard any lids with cracks in the rubber seal, a non-existent rubber seal, rust, dings or bends. These lids may not seal correctly and allow for food spoilage.
Other Canning Equipment Needed
When purchasing other canning equipment, use products that are made for home canning, especially when it comes to the pan inserts used to keep the jars upright and the tongs used to remove hot jars from the pans. Not having essential equipment can cause the jars to fall over during the canning process and get water in them. Not having the proper jar tongs can lead to burns or dropped and broken jars.
Other than purchasing replacement jars for broken or chipped jars and purchasing new flat-lids, the rest of the equipment is a one-time purchase and is really an investment. Once purchased, it can be reused multiple times.
Getting the proper equipment before beginning the homemade canning process is indeed a must to save time and money.

Ball Enamel Home Canning Kit Review

Are you looking for a home canning kit? We've studied a myriad of kits and highly recommend the Ball enamel water bath canning set. In this overview, you will learn about product features, pros and cons, care and cleaning, and warranty information for Ball canning supplies.

For more than 100 years, American homemakers have been utilizing Ball canning supplies to can and preserve heirloom fruits and vegetables for their families. Constructed to last, these inexpensive water bath canning sets endure heavy use decade after decade. This Ball enamel home canning set is a intelligent choice for anybody interested in canning, regardless of experience.

With its spacious 21-quart capacity, the enamel waterbath holds up to seven quart jars. The chrome plated rack with its sturdy handles and safety sides ensures safe transfer of hot, filled jars from boiling pot to counter. The jar lifter utensil grips jars tightly giving you peace of mind in managing your precious harvest.

Complete with a funnel, bubble-releasing spatula, and magnetic lid lifter, this all-inclusive home canning kit helps you can effectively. Use the funnel to reduce spilling and the bubble-releasing spatula to maximize jar volume. The useful magnetic lid lifter allows you to lift lids out of hot water easily. You will see why so many rely on Ball canning supplies for useful, economical home canning.

Kit Includes:
21-Quart canner: 16.4" x 14.2" x 9.4", blue enamel-coated steel construction
Matching lid
Chrome plated rack with handles and sides
Jar lifter
Magnetic lid lifter
Funnel
Spatula

Product Features and Highlights
This water bath canning set is ideal for preserving the flavors and vitamins of pickles, red beets, peaches, pears, jams, jellies, relishes, and more.
Through this kit, Ball Canning supplies you with everything you will need for home canning and preserving; simply add ingredients!
It is inexpensively priced and provides the very same durability and cooking efficiency as higher priced brands.
The canner's steel core produces quick and even heat distribution.
The chrome-plated rack features sides that prevent jars from slipping and a handle for effortless lifting. Not all jar racks include these handle and side features.
The jar lifter and lid lifter enable you to lift hot jars and lids easily.
The funnel helps you fill jars without spilling.
This high-capacity canner holds up to seven quart jars for water bath canning.

The canner's nonporous enamel surface washes easily. The manufacturer recommends handwashing for the canner, magnetic lid lifter, jar lifter, and rack. The funnel is dishwasher safe.

There is no warranty on this canning kit. For prompt service, customers should direct questions to the Jarden Home Brands Customer Affairs Help Line at 800-240-3340.

Pros: set contains all equipment necessary for home canning, inexpensively priced, durable, substantial 21.5-quart capacity, heats quickly and evenly, rack has handles and sides, jar lifter has molded grip for secure fit, traditional blue speckled appearance

Cons: nearly all pieces should be hand washed, no warranty

We are sure you will agree that the Ball enamel water bath canning kit is a tremendous value and perfect for home canning.Ball canning suppliesmake canning and preservingyour garden's bounty easy.

Old Fashion Relish Recipes: Hot Relish and Carrot & Sweet Onion Relish

Add a little touch of something extra to your meals with homemade relishes. There is something very satisfying in putting a dish of relish on your table that you made yourself. Relishes are also perfect in gift baskets, as hostess gifts, etc. These old fashion recipes for Hot Relish and Carrot & Sweet Onion Relish are easy to make and offer two very different options.


HOT RELISH
Another old Southern Indiana recipe.

12 hot peppers
12 green tomatoes
12 cups red and/or green bell peppers
12 onions
3 cups sugar
3 tsp salt 2 cups cider vinegar

Grind vegetables. (In today's modern kitchen this can be done with a food processor.) Place in a large colander and run water over the mixture for 5 minutes.

Bring the sugar, vinegar, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Place the vegetable mixture in a large saucepan or a stockpot. Pour the boiling sugar mixture over the vegetable mixture. Cook over medium heat until very hot but not to a hard boil, stirring occasionally. Place in pint jars, attach canning lids and seals tightly. Be sure jars seal (they should make a popping sounds and/or the center of the lid will indent slightly.)

Makes 6 pints.


CARROT AND SWEET ONION RELISH

2 sweet onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup water

In a medium-size bowl with a lid, combine all the ingredients and stir well. Place cover on the bowl. Refrigerate the relish at least overnight. Before serving, remove the bay leaf and drain the liquid.

This is a good relish to serve with poultry, fish, and pork.

Enjoy!

Old Fashion Recipes for Preserving Your Garden's Bounty: Carrot Relish and Sweet-Sour Pickles

One of the things I miss most about my life in these latter years is giving up vegetable gardening and canning and freezing the bounty gardening produces. As far back as I can remember, I did everything from washing canning jars, to breaking beans, shucking corn, picking produce and helping to preserve such. My sister and I have such wonderful memories of sitting under the big trees in our grandparent's front yard breaking beans while our mother and grandmother picked more. My grandpa was disabled with leg problems so he couldn't do the picking. He would tell us wonderful stories of his youth while we worked. We didn't realize at the time, the wonderful history lessons we were getting! And it was so much fun, we never thought of it as work. The following recipes are some of the old family recipes from my youth for some good crisp pickles and a delicious carrot relish.

CARROT RELISH
4 cups (approx 10 med) carrots
3 cups (about 7 med) finely ground onions
1/2 cup finely ground green bell peppers
1/2 cup finely ground red bell peppers
1 1/2 cups finely ground cucumbers
1/4 cup coarse pickling salt
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed

Combine vegetables in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt. Let stand 30 minutes. Combine the remaining ingredients and let stand, stirring often, while vegetables are soaking in salt. Pour vegetables into a large sieve; drain well, pressing vegetables lightly with a back of a spoon to remove all excess liquid. Stir vegetables into vinegar mixture and ladle into hot, sterilized jars. Top with hot lids to seal.

I love this pickle recipe. Like so many of the old recipes in my collection, it is a recipe for an experienced cook. The quantity instructions are vague so this is a recipe only an experienced canner would know how to make.
SWEET-SOUR PICKLES
This recipe is so old I don't remember anything except is was always around. I never made these pickles myself. My family was small and did not use as many pickles as my mother and grandmother did.

cucumbers, small or sliced
2 cups vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
few mixed pickling spices tied in a bag

Put cucumbers in a large bowl or a crock; sprinkle with the salt. Cover with boiling water and let set overnight. Next day, drain the water off. Boil the vinegar, water, sugar, and pickling spices. Drop the cucumbers into the hot mixture and bring back to a boil. Fill jars and seal.

Enjoy!

Recipes For Summertime Canning: Sweet Lime Pickles, Watermelon Pickles, and Zucchini Relish

"Putting Up" your own pickles and relishes is a favorite summertime ritual for many of us. This was on of my favorite things as a child, teenager, mother and wife. All except for washing and scrubbing hundreds of canning jars as a child, that is!! It is also one of the things I miss most now that I am a senior citizen living in the city. But I do still enjoy sharing my canning recipes. If you want to try some "new" recipes for canning, let me introduce you to some "old-fashion" ones. Today's article includes recipes for canning your own Sweet Lime Pickles, Watermelon Pickles, and Zucchini Relish. These will make great additions to your pantry!

HOMEMADE SWEET LIME PICKLES
Slice 7 pounds of cucumbers and soak in 2 gallons of water. Add 2 cups of lime. leave in this for 24 hours. Wash well and soak in water for 3 more hours.

Cover with this solution:
2 qt. vinegar
9 c. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. whole cloves
2 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. mixed spices

Let stand overnight in this solution. Bring to a boil and can.

Notes to beginners. The Lime is Pickling Lime found in the canning section of grocery stores, Walmart, etc. To can, put the hot cucumber solution in hot clean canning jars and seal with lids that have been brought to a boil. Listen for the jars to seal. You will hear popping noises as jars seal plus the center of the lid will slightly indent. If you have any jars that do not seal, store in the refrigerator.

WATERMELON PICKLES
This recipe was from an old homemakers magazine my mom received monthly in the mail when I was a kid. She subscribed to the magazine for the crocheting patterns but we often got good recipes, too.

rind of one large watermelon
1 tbsp powdered alum
7 cups sugar
2 cups white vinegar
1/4 tsp oil of cloves
1/2 tsp oil of cinnamon

Using a potato peeler, peel the watermelon rind leaving a trace of pink on the inside for color. Cut the rind into pieces; let stand overnight in cold water with the alum. Drain well the next morning.

Bring the sugar, vinegar, oil of cloves and oil of cinnamon to a boil. Add the watermelon rind and bring to a boil again. Set aside until the next morning.

Next morning bring the mixture to a boil again; set aside.

Third morning, bring the mixture to a boil; seal in hot sterilized jars. Makes about 7 pints of pickles.

HOMEMADE ZUCCHINI RELISH
When I lived in Indiana during the 70s, I grew lots of zucchini in my garden. This is one of the recipes for preserving them.

10 cups peeled, ground zucchini
4 cups ground onions
5 tablespoons salt
2 1/4 cups vinegar
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon each of nutmeg, dry mustard and turmeric
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 red pepper*, chopped fine
1 green pepper*, chopped fine

Combine the zucchini, onions, and salt together and let stand overnight. Next morning, drain and rinse with cold water. Combine the mixture with the remaining ingredients and cook for 30 minutes; mixture must be hot. Pour into hot clean jars and seal with hot lids. Makes 7 pints.

*These are bell peppers.

Enjoy!

Canning - How To Can Homemade Basil Tomato Sauce

Every year we plant a large garden which always includes a few rows of tomatoes. We enjoy canning our own homemade tomato sauce to use throughout the winter and spring season when tomatoes are no longer in-season here in Pennsylvania.

Canning your own sauce is not difficult and you will need your basic home canning supplies such as: a water bath canner, quart-sized canning jars with rings and seals, funnel, ladle and a jar lifter. If you don't own these supplies, you can purchase them in a complete kit at your local kitchen shop or via a reputable online kitchen store that carries home canning supplies.

In the following recipe, I used fresh basil and parsley that I grew in my garden, however...you can certainly use dried herbs if that is what you have on hand. You will want to start out with ripe to very ripe (but not blemished) red tomatoes.
To Blanch Tomatoes: Bring a large stock pot with water to a full boil. Place a few tomatoes into the water for 60 seconds. Using a pair of tongs or your ladle, remove tomatoes and place in cold water for 5 minutes. You should now be able to easily peel off the skins.

Basil Tomato Sauce Recipe

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 onions, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
25 large fresh tomatoes
2 teaspoons table salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon beef bouillon

Measure out and add your olive oil to a large nonstick stock pot. Over medium heat, stir in the minced onions and garlic and saute them in the oil for 1 minute. Stir in the chopped basil and chopped parsley. Turn heat down to low.

Blanch and remove the skins from your tomatoes and process them in a juicer or food processor to make tomato juice. Add this juice to your stock pot and then add in the rest of the ingredients, stirring after each addition with a nonstick silicone spatula.

Turn the heat up to medium and cover your pot. Simmer the mixture for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes.

Once sauce is done cooking, ladle it into clean and hot jars, being careful to leave a 1/2" head space from the top of the jar. Using a clean cotton towel, wipe the rim clean and add your seal and ring to the jar. Process your jars all at one time in your water bath canner for 45 minutes. Remove jars from the canner and let cool to room temperature. This sauce will keep for up to 1 year if your jars sealed properly.

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 foodit 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.