Yummm….do you enjoy fresh peaches, juicy tomatoes, salsa and chips, sweet corn, or delicious green beans? As we are entering the winter season, these things are sometimes hard to find. Luckily, there is food preservation. Preserving food has been around for centuries. Before there was a Wal-Mart in almost every city, people had to carefully preserve and plan for the winter. Food preservation is a lost art. But it can be rediscovered by you and your family. There are three major ways of preserving food-canning, freezing, and drying. All sorts of food can be preserved; everything from cucumbers to berries. In this article, I will be sharing how my family uses the hot water bath canning method to can tomatoes and peaches.
The most important rule in this type of canning is to keep everything hot and clean!
Preparing the Food:
- Fill a large pot about three-fourth full of water and bring the water to boil.
- Drop the peaches or tomatoes into the boiling water.
- Remove them after five minutes, when the skins begin to separate from the food, or when they begin to float to the top and place them in cool water.
- As soon as you can tolerate the heat, peal and remove the bad spots from the food.
- You can choose to cut the food into chunks or to mash them up. At this point you can choose to can the tomatoes or make salsa to can.
Jar Preparation:
- Make sure that the hot water bather is clean and fill it about three-fourth full with water.
- Bring water to boil.
- While you are waiting for the water to boil, wash the jars, lids, and bands. Jars can either be purchased or reused. Lids will need to be new each time but the bands can be reused. When you are washing the jars you will want to make sure that there are no cracks or chips in the jars or around the tops. If there are, you cannot use these jars because it will interfere with the sealing process.
- After you have washed your jars and you have brought the water to boil, place your jars into the water to sterilize them. You can place your bands and lids in a smaller pot of boiling water.
- After five minutes you can remove your jars. When you remove them it is best if you place them bottom up on a clean towel so that they will not be exposed to air. You can turn the heat to the smaller pot with the bands and lids off, but keep them in the pot until you are ready to use them.
Canning:
- Pour your substance into the jar.
- Clean the area around where the lid and band are going to be placed.
- Place and center the lid. Then tightly seal the jar with the band.
- Place filled jars on the rack inside the bather and place the lid on top.
- Heat to a rolling boil. Your boiling time will vary depending on the food you are canning and the size of the jars you have. For tomatoes it is approximately forty-five minutes. For peaches it is approximately twenty-five minutes.
- When the time is up, remove the jars and set them out to cool.
- As they cool, you will hear a popping sound-that is the sound of the lids sealing.
- After about twelve hours you can remove the bands and clean the area again. DO NOT remove the lids, as that will break the seal underneath the lid.
- Store in a cool dry place until ready to serve.
By preserving food in this way you will be able to have tasty, ‘fresh’ food in the winter. These jars also make great gifts. Maybe your family can start a new Fall tradition. It is a great activity that all families of all ages can do together. My family enjoys canning because we get to spend time together, do something that will benefit us later, and also have something that we can share with others. We have canned 90 quart jars this Fall. Gather the family and friends. Go visit the farmers markets this weekend and start canning!
Hanna Sims, Teen Blogger