Food preservation is a skill that will pay for itself many times over.
When planning dinner, instead of arguing over which take-out to order, you can head to your pantry to ‘shop’. No delivery charges. No tips needed. No worry over prices going up or empty shelves.
Supply chain problems don’t affect you. No blowing your budget on overpriced restaurant meals.
YOU own the grocery store:
· You shopped in season and bought in bulk.
· You preserved the food and know exactly what is inside those jars or freezer bags.
· You preserved the food at the peak of flavor, having shopped locally and knowing exactly when the food was harvested. The berries, corn, green beans, tomatoes were processed within hours of being picked for peak nutrition and flavor.
· You can make adjustments to meet your family’s needs. Eliminate allergens from your food.
· You can put a delicious meal on the table no matter the economy.
Like most skills, food preservation has a learning curve to ensure your food lasts as long as possible at peak nutrition and flavor. Being successful at food preservation requires you to plan ahead, invest some money and time, follow written instructions, put the work in, protect your investment, and finally, use what you created.
Now (late June/early July) is the start of the harvesting and preservation season. You will be busy with something through September and even beyond if you have a root cellar and plan to store your root-vegetables or will be butchering an animal for your family's use.
It’s important to know what is ripe at different times throughout the growing year. Most folks think food preservation – especially canning – is something you do in August when tomatoes and green beans are coming on strong, but for a well-balanced pantry you should start now.
Green beans are actually one of the later season foods I preserve.
My canning season is winding down when the beans are ready.
Here are some of the soft fruits and other products I am preserving right now:
Black Raspberries: Pick those black raspberries. (Yes, I realize they have thorns.) Make jam, jelly, pie, freeze them, can them. (Water bath) Strawberries:
Pick-Your-Own strawberries or buy them at a farm's market or fruit stand. You need a lot - 20 quarts is not unreasonable. Rinse them, take the tops off, throw them into a freezer bag. Make jam/jelly. They will go farther if you add rhubarb to them. (Water bath. My experience with whole canned strawberries has been less than satisfactory. They become pale and mushy. I prefer making jelly/jam or freezing them whole) Peaches:
Peaches are coming on. Buy a 1/2 bushel of FREE-STONE (you will thank me later) and start canning. Peaches are super easy, just very messy. Everything will be sticky. That's OK. When you open a jar of home canned peaches in February........ 🤯. (Water bath) Sour Cherries:
Cherries will be available soon. Many of the local orchards have Michigan cherries available in Ohio. They are usually sold in 10 – 20 pound buckets, kept cold in a slurry of ice water and already pitted. These are great because you only need to drain them and then prep for whatever method you choose to preserve. If you buy a bunch of fresh cherries, pick up a cherry pitter. Cherries are great for canning jam, pie filling, freezing. They keep well in the freezer for throwing into a fruit salad later. (Water bath) Rhubarb:
Rhubarb is great to stretch strawberries and on its own. A friend is making strawberry/rhubarb syrup to put over ice cream, cakes, and pies. I use it with other soft berries for jam and jelly. (Waterbath) Dandelion:
I haven’t used dandelion but I have friends who make wine. Garlic:
Garlic is harvested now. Pull it. Put it in a cool dry place to harden off and store. Eggs: The chickens are going crazy, laying eggs. Don't let those eggs go to waste! Learn how to store them, including pickling recipes which will keep for a very long time. Make homemade egg noodles, dry them and store in freezer. If thoroughly dried in a dehydrator, you can store them in tightly sealed jars. Eggs can also be processed into a powder using your dehydrator or freeze drier.
Pickled Mustard Eggs will keep for a very long time in the refrigerator.
They aren't processed in a water bath or pressure canner -
the vinegar and cool temps keep them preserved.
There are many different pickled egg recipes out there.
Milk Products:
Your dairy cow or goat is probably producing very well, too. Making cheese is how the old-timers stored milk when the cow wasn’t producing. There are some good books about cheese making. One of the best books I know is Mary Jane’s Milk Cow Kitchen. She walks you through the Whys and Hows of processing milk with lots of great pictures. Fermented dairy products keep longer than fresh and can be used as starter for a new batch….the ultimate reusable resource. (Dairy products are generally NOT canned, though there are some recipes for canning milk – it is used for baking after canning as it has that scalded milk flavor.) (Pressure canning)
Even soft cheeses can be frozen for use later. I shred and freeze homemade mozzarella.
Hard cheeses have varying needs for storage but it has been done for thousands of years.
Soft Berries:
Blueberries, blackberries, and other soft fruits. All can be frozen whole, processed as jam, jelly, or syrup, made into pies and frozen before cooking. I also can the berries in a light sugar syrup (they retain flavor and color better) to use in recipes. They can be used just like any canned fruit. Large blackberries and blueberries freeze especially well for use in fruit salads – rinse them, gently dry them off, freeze them on a baking sheet and once individually frozen, put them into freezer bags for long term. Again, great for use in fruit salad, etc. (Water bath canning)
Sweet Corn:
Sweet corn is going on sale now. Talk to the produce manager of your local grocery to find out what day of the week he/she gets shipments of fresh corn. Be there early that day and buy 5 dozen. Bring them home, scald the ears, use a knife to remove the kernels, pack those up in dinner size servings and freeze. When we are able, we order 10 – 20 dozen from local producers. The corn is picked in the morning and we take it home and freeze it within a few hours of being picked. It’s like eating fresh sweet corn every time we cook it. I am not a fan of home-canned corn, but that is just a personal preference. (Pressure canning)
Meat:
Summer holidays bring sales at the grocery and butcher shops. Pork shoulders and roasts as well as ribs are good value. These can be smoked or slow cooked until fork-tender, cooled slightly, shredded and packaged into meal sized portions. Date the bags and then freeze these for quick BBQ pork sandwiches later. (Freezer)
I haven’t personally canned pork, but I’ve done lots of beef and poultry. I’m sure the process is similar. Get a good canning book and follow the instructions. Canned meat is wonderfully tender and delicious. (Pressure canning)
Canned beef roast and chicken breasts are 'fast food' for a busy family. You can also can ground meat for use in spaghetti, chili, etc. These require a pressure canner to process. So worth it.
The other two jars are a condiment - hot pepper mustard - and tomatoes.
Both of these are waterbath canned.
A few random tips about food preservation:
· Canning:
o Stops the enzyme process of food breaking down and rotting.
o Removes oxygen from the product.
o Kills organisms which would contaminate your product.
o Water Bath canning kills organisms at 212°F but also depends upon an acidic environment. (Tomatoes, pickles, relishes, etc.) The extremely concentrated sugar content of jams/jelly/conserves/fruit also controls organism growth.
o Pressure canning kills organisms at nearly 240°F, which is the temperature required to control the bacteria growth when there isn’t an acidic environment or concentrated sugar content. (Meats, vegetables, mixed food products such as stewed tomatoes)
· Buy a basic water bath canner at most hardware and farm stores. There should be Ball Canning Blue Book right beside the canning supplies. Amazon.com or Walmart.com should also have them.
· Garage sales, estates sales, second hand shops, and word of mouth are ways to find a good used canner. They are usually an enameled metal – dark blue with white speckles. Look it over carefully, making sure there are no holes, dents, or rusted spots on the canner. It should also include a canning rack – this keeps jars off the super-heated bottom of the canner.
· Follow the directions for water-bath canning in the Blue Book. They have good pictures and clear directions. It’s best if you can have a friend walk you through the process for the first time.
A group of us got together in early June to learn about waterbath canning.
We had a great time and everyone felt more confident about their skills.
· Once you are ready to can, assemble all your ingredients. Measure the sugar, salt, spices, whatever the recipe calls for, out and set aside. Laying it all out means you aren’t scrambling for 6 cups of sugar as your fruit and pectin are boiling.
· Prep your jars, lids and rings. If you will be processing the filled jars more than 10 minutes you no longer need to sterilize the jars. Wash them in hot soapy water and rinse them well. I place my wet jars upside down on a rack and cover with a towel to keep warm.
Two examples of the rubbery compound that seals the jar.
I place my lids in warm water to soften the compound.
· Lids don’t need to be boiled. (Your mom and grandma probably did that.) I do place them in very warm water to soften the rubbery ring.
· Paper towels are an unsung hero when canning.
· If I have a big canning day planned – a bushel of fruit to process – I will get dinner in the crockpot. This is Step One in my canning day.
· Wash up dishes as you go. I start with a clean sink and drain rack, empty of all dishes. Now I am ready to wash jars, rinse fruit, clean prep tools, etc.
· Once you are done canning your food, use a fine-tip Sharpie and write exactly what’s in the jar and date it with the year. I put this information on the lid. i.e. Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam ‘23
· Choose your jars based upon how you plan to use the finished product.
o Finished jams and jellies are often put into ½ pint or pint jars (1 or 2 cups of product).
o Vegetables processed in pint jars (2 cups).
o Meat processed in pint (2 cups) or quart (4 cups).
o Tomato products processed in pint (2 cups) or quart (4 cups)
· The Blue Book will make recommendations about jar size when they tell you how long to process each size jar.
Stock your shelves with excellent food from your garden, local markets and stands, grocery store sales. If you wait for tomato season to start canning, you have missed 6 weeks of opportunity.
Food preservation IS freedom.
Stay free,
Polly
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