Senin, 16 Februari 2009

Home Canning - Keep Fruits & Vegetables Fresh Through Winter

By Wendy Addams Platinum Quality Author

Home canning is an old, traditional method of preserving food. You may remember your parents or grandparents canning foods before winter, so that they would have fruits and veggies into the coldest winter months. Almost anything that grows can be canned and preserved.

Canning works by raising the temperature inside the jar of food you are preserving high enough to kill any bacteria that would cause it to spoil, it is then sealed so that no new bacteria can enter the jar. This can be done by several methods, however the easiest and most inexpensive way is by using a boiling water canner.

Boiling water canners work best when preserving fruits, because the highest temperature inside a boiling water canner may not be high enough to kill the bacteria in vegetables.

The process of canning consists of filling jars with whatever fruits you want to preserve, and filling the rest of the jar with liquid. Some people fill the rest of the jar with a canning syrup, which improves the color and taste of the fruit. Once filled, the jars are then placed inside the canner, where the water inside the canner must completely cover the tops of the jars.

The heating process can now begin. Most fruits require that it be kept at a certain temperature for a specific amount of time in order to kill all bacteria inside the jar. Once this time is up, the jars can then be removed and allowed to cool.

Once cooled, the tops of the jars must be pushed in to make sure they sealed properly during the canning process. If the center of the lid can be pushed down, and stays down, then it has properly sealed. However, if it pops back up then it hasn't sealed properly, and bacteria may enter the jar which would spoil the food.

If it hasn't sealed properly you can do one of two things. You can either refrigerate the jar, and eat the contents within a few days, or you can try to can it again. If you go through the canning process with the jar again, be sure to use a different lid, just in case the one used previously is defective.

To find out more information about canning, including recipes, please visit http://www.how-to-can.com

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