Home Preserving, or "Canning"

This is some of my "Home Preserved" pasta sauce, no preservatives, lot's of flavour, and cheap too.

There is nothing more satisfying that standing back and seeing the results of your own labour, and when it comes to preserving food, it can also be deliciously rewarding. There are many reasons for making your own preserves. If you are growing your own fruits and vegetables, the best way of using up that abundant harvest is by making your own delicious preserves. If you do not grow your own produce, it is still an advantage to be able to purchase produce in season, in larger quantities, at a cheaper price, and then preserve it for future use. Last but not least is the taste of your own preserves. There is no doubt that home preserves simply taste better.

Processing Your Preserves, Safely

After cooking the sauce, pickles, jam, or other foods for preserving, your filled, and closed jars of food need processing. This is done to kill the pathogens such as yeasts, bacteria, and mould, that are abundndant in nature, and are bound to be all over, and even inside the foods you have prepared.

High and Low Acid Preserving

There are two types of processing for safe home preserving, or canning, that are considered "world's best practice": the boiling water bath method and the pressure canning method. The method of processing you use will be determined by the type of produce you are going to preserve.

High acid foods should be processed using the

• boiling water bath method,

while low acid foods must be processed with the

• pressure canning method.

Examples of High and Low acid foods.

Low Acid	High Acid
Green Beans Sweet Corn Peas Carrots	(Some) Tomatoes Strawberrys Apple Plums Peaches Citrus Fruits Most Berries

Preperation of the food can also change the acid content, such as in pickles. Cucumbers, for example, are low acid, but once you pickle them in vinegar, they become a high acid preserve. This is true with all chutneys and acid based relishes that can be made with a variety of low acid and high acid foods.

If your new to "home preserving" it would probably be best to start with high acid, boiling water bath preserving that requires only basic home cooking equipment, and basic cooking skills.

 

Enjoy the bounty of the harvest "All Year Round"

Home preserving is a fascinating, adventure and can be very fulfilling. There is nothing like the taste of home preserves, and they will be a favourite with the whole family. They also make wonderful gift ideas. Get some festive fabric that matches the season of your giving, cut a square big enough to go over the top of the lid, covering it completely, and then use a piece of string to secure it around the top of the jar. Add to this an artistically designed label and you have a fantastic looking gift that will mean the world to the person you give it to just because you made it yourself.