For me, it all started when I moved into a house with apple trees. You see, I simply could not let all those apples go to waste, even though I couldn’t possibly eat them all, either. In the end, I learned how to can applesauce, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mom made jelly and chokecherry syrup when I was young, but I did not really grow up on home-canned food. I taught myself from books and the internet, with occasional advice from folks I knew. I still quite clearly recall the trepidation I felt, the very first time I ate a jar of applesauce I had made myself. Had I done it right? Was I going to die? Luckily, Hubby grew up on home-canned food, and had no reservations at all – he just dug right in, and I drew courage from his example.
Now, I’m no canning guru. I make a few dozen jars of jam every year, some pickles, some salsa, a few dozen quarts of peaches and pears…just a little of this and that. I certainly don’t feed the family exclusively on home-canned goods, but I do have to say, we don’t buy canned fruit, either. I recently started to learn about canning more exotic goods, like meat and beans, which are going on the to-do list, though we’ll see how soon they actually get done.
I hang out on a number of homesteading forums, and I see a lot of questions posted about canning. It’s clear that more and more people are getting into it, whether it’s the bad economy or the do-it-yourself attitude that’s been catching on, and I think that’s a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, though, there are a lot of people spreading dangerous misinformation, and I am afraid that, sooner or later, there is going to be a tragedy (or several) as a result.
You see, back in my grandmother’s day, everything was canned in what is called a water-bath canner. Basically, jars were filled, water or sugar syrup added, the lids put on, and the jars were boiled in a big pot for varying lengths of time, in the hopes of killing off the fungi, yeasts, and bacteria that would spoil the food. That works fine for high-acid foods, like applesauce and peaches, but it is not sufficient for low-acid foods, like meat or beans. However, there are still lots of people who can that way – they boil the meat for two hours, or three hours, and call it safe. And these people are posting their recipes on the internet, and commenting that they have been ‘doing it this way for years’ (and they have), and ‘nobody has ever gotten sick from my canned chicken’ (also probably true). The thing is, even if nobody has ever gotten sick from Auntie’s canned chicken recipe, does not mean that nobody ever will.
The problem is botulism. Botulism comes from a spore that can survive boiling temperatures (100 degrees Celsius) for basically an indefinite amount of time, which means it does not matter if you boil something for twenty minutes or three hours, you won’t kill it. Now, in acidic foods, that does not matter much, since the spores won’t hatch in an acidic environment (a pH of less than 4.6), so even if the spores exist, they are effectively neutralized. The spores themselves don’t cause any problems; it is when they hatch and start to produce toxins that they become an issue. Botulin, the toxin produced by clostridium botulism (the botulism bacteria) is extremely potent, and it does not take much to make someone very, very sick, or even kill them. You can’t see it or smell it, and the food won’t appear spoiled. Luckily, botulism is rare, and only hatches under pretty specific conditions – it is an anaerobic bacteria, which means it can’t survive contact with the air, and it does not tolerate acidity. So, really, you only have to worry about it in low-acid, anaerobic conditions. Like canned chicken.
In order to safely can low-acid foods, you need to use a pressure canner. A pressure canner has a lid that locks on, and uses steam and pressure to reach much higher temperatures that you can get from just a pot on a stove – they can get over 121 degrees Celsius, which is the temperature required to kill the botulism spores. Unfortunately, pressure canners are expensive, and I suspect a lot of people (especially people who are taking up canning in order to save money) will be tempted to use Granny’s recipe for canning beef by boiling the jars for three hours, since nobody’s ever died from Granny’s canned food. Yet. Remember, botulism is rare, but then again, so are house fires. That does not stop most people from taking basic safety precautions, and maybe getting some insurance, right?
So please, if you are new to canning, do your research, and take the time to understand why things are supposed to be done one way or another. Only use recipes from a reliable source, like the Ball Blue Book of Canning, or the USDA Guide for Canning, which can be downloaded for free. Don’t just take someone’s word for it that their Auntie / Mother / Grandmother canned this way for years – it’s a risk that’s simply not worth taking.
jj
I tried to keep an open mind when looking at this last year. My mother always did her pickles and jam “open kettle” and I’ve met plenty of Mennonites who do that, or who boil meat for 3 hours.
First, I found that they take jar failures for granted. When looking at my Mennonite farmer friend’s pantry, I pointed out a few jars that looked bad and she didn’t even blink. “Oh, that didn’t seal. Oh, that one is bad.” Etc. 20% failure rate, I’d estimate – and she has been doing this for years and learned from her mother. Personally, I’d be horrified if ANY of my jars failed. My mom says she “never” had any failures, except I can remember soggy pickles and moldy jam. So these failures are accepted and kind of ignored.
Second, they are fanatical about boiling and sterilizing. Far more meticulous than I have to be, because I know I’m reaching safe temperatures during my canning.
Third, they have root cellars which, at least during the winter, are fridge temperature. When my Mom knew I was canning, her first statement was “You’re in a warm apartment – you can’t do it. Nothing will stay sealed.” So any old-time recipe could probably be treated like refrigerator pickles – as long as it stays very cold, it should be okay. When I put a jar of Mom’s pickles, which last several months in a cellar, in my jar cupboard, it fermented and spoiled in a week!
Fourth, they only can enough to get through the winter. Mom was emphatic that pickles don’t last in the cellar during the summer. My friend is also insistent that jarred food is ONLY for the cold months when fresh is not available.
Now, with all that said, EVEN if I were able to recreate the same conditions, I would never boiling water bath meat or vegetables. No amount of boiling will bring the food to the necessary temperatures. And when people say they’ve always done it, I think about those who smoke from age 13 to age 98 – and yet no one says anymore that smoking is healthy.
I didn’t even want to touch the open kettle method (for anyone unfamiliar with the term, it’s where you put boiling-hot food in heated / supposedly sterile jars, and do not boil them at all after filling – it used to be common for jams and pickles), as I know very little about it, except that it doesn’t work very well. You’ve added a great deal of really good information, here, Canadian Doomer, and I appreciate it
Great information – I teach hot water bath canning classes and I run into the same arguments all the time. Growing up, my dad used any old jars, wax seals and open kettle methods and I’m still here of course but I sure don’t teach those methods.
I guess I’m a little fearless that way, lol. I am careful, but not fearful of trying…. I’ve done lots of jams & preserves the UK way without the water bath at all and had fine results. Not that I would advise anyone to do the same… and now I always add the water bath step. But sometimes the extra cooking does spoil the delicate textures just a bit…
I’m a meet in the middle kind of gal on this one, I grew up in the family that water bathed canned meat, whole chickens (the only pressure canned was fish) and who did most of the jams/jellies with open kettle method, while pickles and veggies were hot water bathed canned.
I didn’t have a pressure canner until I moved to the farm, before that I was still doing all my things with the water bath canning (so for the first 20 plus years of my canning life)
I do have the extra’s that doomer is speaking off, but we always found that most foods would last two years at least (not just the winter) but I have found canning in ontario to be different then canning in alberta, and or the north to be honest, along with the keeping factors..
In no way do I have a 20% failure rate, I would be totally pissed to lose that much of my hard work, Last year I had one bad batch (all eight pints needed to be thrown out) and so far this year, I have had one bad fruit jar to date, it was still sealed but it had a touch of black mold on the inner lid that I tossed.
Now having said the above, I have thought about this long and hard over the past two years, I follow in with you guys, I teach all the new folks all the rules, but when it comes to my own canning, I mix it up, I do certian things that break the rules and its so I can keep that skill up.
There is a skill and rules to follow for how to do those things, I was taught them as a child, and I want to keep them in my skill set, just as I will sometimes field dress a critter just to keep the skill set,
While we have ideal conditions today in terms of being able to prepare our food, I will do so for most of it, but its not a bad thing to keep some of that roughing it skills alive and well for just in case.