Pressure Canning

[emordnilap]

True or false:

Water:

1. I have two weeks of stored water, including my water heater and rainbarrels (if rainbarrels, you need a filter as well). Stored water should be a minimum 1 gallon per person per day (2 is much better), plus 1 quart for each pet.

2. I have a plan for getting water (if you have a well) if the power is out for an extended period. This could be a well bucket, a manual pump, or another water reliable water source. I have tested and used this source, and know that it works and is reliable.

3. I have a way of filtering or treating contaminated water, should my city or well water become unsafe to drink.

4. I have some familiarity with my local water infrastructure – I know where it comes from, and my community has a plan to handle water emergencies, including extended power outages.

5. If I don’t have a reliable water source and am relying on stored water, I have a supply of alcohol-based hand-sanitizer for cleaning and hygeine.

6. I know how to set up a composting toilet and handle hygeine issues. If I live in a densely populated area, I’m prepared to talk to my neighbors about this stuff to prevent the spread of disease

Food Storage:

1. I have several familiar recipes that my family likes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks that I can make several times each from my food storage without any other ingredients.

2. I have food storage to last *at least* 3 weeks? 3 months? Six months or more? My family could eat wholly from our pantry for this period, and, even if they didn’t love it, would enjoy the foods generally.

3. I have special foods for those who have special dietary needs in my family and among the people most likely to come to us in an emergency. If these foods are different than our normal ones, I have used them, and know that everyone will and can eat them.

4. I have fresh foods in cool/cold storage or in the garden year ’round that allow for a diet including fresh vegetables and fruits to supplement dry, canned or other preserved foods.

5. My food storage includes a variety of staple grains and legumes, not just wheat. I know how to cook and use these grains, and my family likes them and eats them regularly.

6. If I rely on a freezer, I either use it only for supplementation, or have a backup plan for how to prevent food waste (throwing a big party, canning or preserving it) if the power is out.

7. I have the tools to preserve and store foods that I grow, forage or purchase in bulk.

8. I have stored food for my pets and livestock.

9. If my family regularly consumes meat, dairy or eggs, I have the animals to reproduce this, stored equivalents or a family that is comfortable with doing without and a store of recipes to make sure they don’t miss it.

10. I have a store of vitamins and understand the basics of nutrition so that we can eat well from our pantry.

11. I take advantage of bulk purchasing, seasonal abundance and sales to expand my storage as much as I can. I also take advantage (or direct those more in need to it) of free food, through foraging, gleaning, dumpster diving, etc…

12. I have a budget for food storage and preparedness, and I add a little to my storage every week (or whatever period you use) by preserving, purchasing or foraging.

Evacuation Plans:

1. My family has “grab and go” bags that include basic necessities to allow us to manage up to a few days in transit or a shelter if we must leave our home rapidly. These include copies of important documents and photos, portable, easy to cook foods, medication, matches, water, hygeine items, a change of clothes, children’s needs.

2. My family has an evacuation plan including a meet up spot, a plan for picking up children or elders from various sites, a family member who can take messages and coordinate communications if people are out of touch, and transportation security – ie, bicycles, or stabilized gas for the car, directions to likely locales, etc….

3. Everyone in the family knows what to do if we get separated. Friends/family that we might evacuate to know we might arrive and are willing to help.

4. We have plans for pets and livestock should we need to evacuate.

Health:

1. We have multiple first-aid kits (Independence Days includes a comprehensive discussion of this) and know how to use them. All adults and older children are competent to provide first aid, evaluate whether something needs more medical attention, and handle an emergency if medical attention isn’t immediately available. Not only do I own the books, but I’ve actually read them .

2. I have a three week supply of any needed medication or a viable substitute that I have tried and that works. I also have copies of all my prescriptions, including glasses.

3. If we are quarantined, I have basic nursing skills and know how to care for a sick person, and to reduce risk of infection.

4. I have the capacity to boil water and heat food, to prevent fires while using new tools, to keep warm or cool and handle basic hygeine issues even during an extended power outage.

Tribal issues:

1. I know which of my family/friends might come to us in a crisis. I have made basic preparations to meet their needs in an emergency, at least for a short time. I have enough food and clothing, and at least a sleeping bag or two to offer.

2. If I am anticipating children, parents or extended family to rely on me in the long term, I have made preparations for this in my food storage, medical storage and supply of other basic needs. This includes covering special needs like diapers for infants, medications for elderly parents, etc…

3. I have sent people I love a letter saying “if you ever need to come here I would welcome you.” The letter includes back-road directions and is designed to get them thinking about such an eventuality.

Community:

1. I am familiar with my local foodshed and watershed, and am working with others to expand it.

2. I am encouraging others to build up a reserve of food and medicine, and to find ways to meet other needs, at either the individual or communal level.

3. I can teach others the skills I’ve gained, and am willing to do so.

Ok, scoring: If you see a “false” that’s an indication that that’s a place to begin working. How did you score? Remember, if you have work to do (me too, trust me!), don’t panic – just do a little at a time. It doesn’t take a lot of time to fill a bottle with water or pick up an extra package of bandaids and one of dried beans. It all adds up over time.

[Keela]

If the jars hiss when you open them they're OK - if they don't, don't even give it to your dogs, pigs or even put it on the compost. I put it on the fire.

I've almost finished bottling summer veg. I'll do a few more pickles and we've got a nice stash for the coming year. This is some of it.

Beautiful......

[hardworkinghippy]

Yes it is quite beautiful and very satisfying.

We haven't started doing the meat yet, we'll do that when it gets a bit colder and we light the woodburner.

I hope you had a good year for your food stash too this year Keela !

[pixelwitch]

Looks like it may have become a bit easier to get hold of an All-American pressure canner. There's a whole range of these non gasket canners on eBay, all the time now.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/All-American-Pres ... 870ac21df3

I notice they say -
Import Duties: I distribute these items in Europe and beyond, and to keep the costs as low as possible we ship the items direct to the customer from the USA. Therefore, in theory they may attract import duty, although the manufacturer tells us this is not the case.

I think if I was ever to pop for one it'd be the smallest one, the 10.5 quart, as they do all sound intimidatingly heavy, and also my kitchen is tiny. Although, this conversation that I found, seems to imply that there are safety issues with going for too small a volume.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load ... 27952.html

I probably need to read up more on all this. Anyone know if getting the smallest one really would be problematic? I think I'd quite like to be able to do nice tomato sauces and things like that. I gather that once you start adding other ingredients to tomato, you risk changing the acid ph, and so a canner is safer than a water bath. And I guess if my veg garden gets a bit more successful than its been so far (sigh), I'd probably want to have a go at preserving some other veggies eventually too. So I think I'd probably like one, although they're so expensive, I daresay I'll have to dither about it for quite a while first.

Anyway, just thought I'd point this shop out, in case anyone was still interested in one themselves..

[emordnilap]

Is aluminium the wisest material for cooking utensils? I don't think so, particularly if you're cooking with tomatoes.

However, presumably food does not come into contact with the aluminium. Would that be right? It shows how much I know about pressure canning!

[adam2]

Aluminium cooking pots and pans might be best avoided for regular use, especialy for acid foods including tomatoes.
Acidic foods dissolve the aluminium which is then eaten, some authorites have linked aluminium in the diet with alzheimers and other disorders.

This does not however apply to aluminium pressure canners, the food which is to be preserved and eventualy eaten is contained in glass jars, and does not come into direct contact with the boiling water in the aluminium canner.

As regards aluminium cookware in general, I would not worry about ocaisional use of aluminium pans in an emergency or whilst camping, but would avoid frequent use.
Any danger from aluminium is cumalative, not sudden, and not every one agrees that the risk even exists.

[JonB]

I am extremely concerned by this thread.

So you know where I'm coming from, I am a food microbiologist with a lot of years in the industry. Food safety is my job.
There is a world of difference between traditional jams, pickling etc. and pressure canning / bottling foods where this is the main method of controlling microbial spoilage and shelf life.

Production canning for sale in this country requires a licence. The reason is if you get it wrong you can kill people with botulinum. If you do it for your own consumption, it is on your head. If you make someone seriously ill or kill someone else, including family members, especially if you give or sell it to someone, expect to go to prison. Those outside the UK should consult their own legal codes.

The US has widespread home canning, and regularly get deaths. The UK does not, and any deaths in the last decades have largely been due to industry failures which are usually disastrous to the company and individuals concerned. And dealt with.

From some of the posts on here, it is obvious that at least some of you do not understand the requirements for the safe control of botulinum in food production, which is what you are doing. The processes described I would not consider sufficient or safe without proper technical evaluation.

I will not detail these here, as I want to strongly discourage you from using this process. It is also evident that some of you are not scared of botulinum, which is a good indication that someone does not understand it.

If you must do this, I strongly suggest that you gain a strong, technical understanding of the process and its risks. This doesn't mean just buying a couple of books.

And before there are a number of posts, a common statement at inquests is "I've been doing it for years, and we never had a problem before".

Please do not take this as personal criticism of your abilities.

[biffvernon]

Yes, I take what JonB says seriously. Never done any pressure canning for that reason. Bottling in Kilner jars is simpler and less risky.

With aluminium cookware, don't scratch it shiny clean with wire scourers. The aluminium soon coats itself with an oxide layer that is insoluble in water and so doesn't get into the food with cooking unless the acidity is pretty low. Clean the oxide layer off though and you reveal the more soluble and hence dangerous metal.

[Keela]

Hmmmmm....

I did lots of pressure canning the first year with my All American canner. However to do meats (which I did) I found the time taken to pressure can it was huge. 1 & half hours at pressure for only 5 litres of meat. I carefully followed the instructions in the book and have always boiled the resulting stew for 10mins after opening. It just seems to take such a long time to do though! The freezer is much more useful! On the other hand it is very easy to open a jar of stew/soup and boil it up... defrosting is slow!

I still bottle tomato sauce in the autumn and usually just water bath it. If I add other things then I follow a recipe from the Ball book, or the US Gov one, and pressure can as instructed - but truth be told I haven't used the canner for months!

Thanks for the warnings Jon.

[Keela]

I am extremely concerned by this thread.........
........If you must do this, I strongly suggest that you gain a strong, technical understanding of the process and its risks. This doesn't mean just buying a couple of books...............

Recommended reading?

[adam2]

I would agree that caution and great care is required in home canning, which despite the name uses glass jars and not metalic cans.

In a previous thread on this subject, I advised caution, though not as forcefully as jonb.

As pointed out, the real risk is botulism which can be fatal.
Whilst only a fool would consume food that looked, smelled, or tasted spoiled, remember that food spoiled by botulism often seems fine.
Food affected by botulism is still dangerous to eat, no matter how thouroughly cooked.
(very thourough cooking kills the botulism spores, BUT the toxins produced by the spores remain, and can kill if eaten)

Pressure canning is less risky than water bath canning because the higher temperature is more likely to kill disease causing organisms.
Still NOT risk free though.

Canning of fruits and vegetables is considered less risky than meat, still NOT risk free though.

My personal preferenc is for freezing, useing at least two ultra high efficiency freezers and an off grid power source.
Deaths in the USA from home canned food have declined in recent decades, allegedly because the REA made electric power for refrigeration affordable and reduced the need for canning.

[Keela]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism

I know I know Wiki is not reliable.... however in this case the above link confirms what I understood about the toxin produced by botulism spores:

"Although the botulinum toxin is destroyed by thorough cooking over the course of a few minutes, the spore itself is not killed by the temperatures reached with normal sea-level-pressure boiling, leaving it free to grow and produce the toxin when conditions are right."

So end point boiling for 10minutes means that if there are small amounts of botulism toxin present in the food it will be destroyed.......

I understood that the spores themselves were not harmful if eaten (afterall they are everywhere) just that if left to breed in anaerobic conditions they produce toxins which are harmful.....

Am I wrong?

OR - Are the spores harmful in larger numbers -so that boiling of a stew (otherwise looking fine) is no better than eating the canned meal without boiling after opening.....

[Keela]

Hmmmm.... my comment above suggests that the spores breed which is not what I meant to imply .... of course it is the bacteria themselves that breed and not their resistant spores.....

So the bacteria can be killed by boiling - but their spores which are more resistant to heat cannot.

Live bacteria are dangerous.... but what about the spores they produce? Can the spores hatch in the human gut and become a danger?

What I'm asking is - if any potential toxins are destroyed by boiling after opening a jar, and the bacteria themselves are killed in the boiling.... can the spores that might have survived in an improperly canned jar do damage themselves??? (Afterall they will not be affected by the cooking after opening of the jar; as boiling is 100'C & not the higher temp needed to destroy spores..... )

Jon?

I was led to believe that boiling for ten minutes before eating was a good "to be sure, to be sure" method of ensuring canned food was safe (along with the obvious proviso that it both looks and smells right and still has an intact seal). Am I wrong?

[tpals]

"Elizabeth Andress, project director at the National Center for Home Food Preservation, noted that there were 160 botulism outbreaks from 1990-2000 in the U.S., affecting 263 people. Most of those cases came from home canning. Alaska, a unique case given the traditions of its native population, accounted for 103 of the 263 cases, the bulk of those coming from foods (such as fish or seal oil) that were fermented at room temperature and eaten without cooking, fairly major no-nos.

That leaves 160 cases over the decade for the other 49 states. Non-commercial food processsing accounted for 91 percent of those cases, and the most common cause (44 percent) was home-canned vegetables."

I wouldn't eat anyone else's home canned foods because I don't know their methods. My family has been canning vegetables for generations and nobody has ever gotten sick from it. The main question to ask yourself before trying is are you capable of following the instructions carefully and precisely? If you like to experiment or take shortcuts...don't.

Keela, as I understand it, the spores are rendered harmless by the acid in the stomach. Which is why infants shouldn't be fed honey before they are a year old because they don't have enough acid to deal with the spores. (Honey processing does not kill the spores.)

[kenneal - lagger]

As I remember from biology lessons at school 45 years ago bacteria form spores as a protection measure against sudden changes in their local environment. If the changes are sufficiently quick they don't have time to change into spores and can be killed off completely. So it is important to change temperatures quickly, fast boiling and quick freezing, fast boiling and then quickly cooling when blanching, to preserve food properly.

Is that right Jon?