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HOME
CANNING
There's
something deeply satisfying about looking at a
row of jewel-toned jellies, scarlet tomatoes or
golden peaches that you've just "put up"
or canned yourself with produce from your garden
or local farmers' market. Home canning isn't hard,
but you have to be careful to ensure that the
food you preserve is safe from bacterial contamination.
To
destroy spoilage organisms such as molds, yeast
and bacteria, you need to process food for a long
enough time at high enough temperature. But one
organism, clostridium batulinum, can
be destroyed only if you process food correctly
in a pressure canner. If clostridium batulinum
survives and grows in a sealed jar of food, it
can produce a poisonous toxin, which if eaten
- even in small amounts - may be fatal.
The
acidity of the food will determine which canning
method you use:
- The
pressure canner method is recommended by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for nonacid
foods, such as meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables.
- The
water canner method is recommended for all acid
foods, such as fruits, tomatoes with added acid,
jams, jellies and pickled vegetables.
- The
open kettle method a process where boiling-water
or pressure-canning is not used, is not
recommended, ever.
- If
you are unsure about the safety of certain home-canned
foods, boiling the food for 10 minutes at altitudes
below 1,000 feet will destroy these toxins.
Boil 1 additional minute per 1,000 feet of additional
elevation.
MORE
HOME-CANNING HELP
Contact
your local USDA Extension Service office listed
in the phone book under "county government,"
or check out the USDA's Web site, www.usda.gov. Or, call the Ball and Kerr Home Canning
Hot Line at 1-800-240-3340.
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