1 Make sure that your food preparation area and canning equipment are clean before you start.
2
Use only research-based methods of food preservation and make sure that you use the right method for the product you are preserving. For example, salsa, jams and pickles can be safely canned in a water bath but vegetables that are not pickled as well as meat, poultry, and seafood products must be processed in a pressure canner using the right amount of pressure and for the appropriate length of time. Open kettle method, inversion, oven and solar canning are not recommended canning practices.
Use only test recipes. I recommend recipes from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (nchfp.uga.edu) because we know they have been tested for both quality and safety. The USDA Guide to Home Canning is another great resource.
3 4 Do not adjust recipes unless the instructions specifically state otherwise.
5
Get your canning information from reliable sources. Again, the National Center for Home Food Preservation, your County Extension Office and the USDA Guide to Home Canning are great resources.
Use quality ingredients. This includes the fruit you use to make jam, the cucumbers that eventually, become pickles and any other produce or meat you want to preserve. Poor-quality ingredients will lead to a poor-quality product, and you don’t want to spend time and money on something you don’t like.
6 7 Make sure that you or your family will eat what you preserve (can).
Anding emphasizes the critical role of safety in canning to prevent foodborne illnesses, highlighting the necessity of using the correct canning method and adhering to precise processing times, including the appropriate pressure when utilizing a pressure canner
“Foods that are high in acid (pH <4.6) are usually processed in a water bath canner. This includes jams, jellies, salsa, pickles and many tomato products. Vegetables, meats, and other types of tomato products have a pH of >4.6 so they need to be processed in a pressure canner,” — Jenna Anding
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