A Beginner’s Guide to Home Canning Basics
Do you have a ton of fresh produce from your garden sitting around? Preserving your harvest is a great way to enjoy it year-round (as well as prevent food waste). I have been canning and preserving food for ten years now. My first thought is, how am I this old already?
My second thought is, I am so grateful to have this skill. Once upon a time, I was brand new to canning, so I thought I’d share some great resources and information on canning for beginners.
Even with my decade of experience, I wanted to make my knowledge in this area official. I recently completed the coursework to be certified as a Food Preservation Consultant through the University of Minnesota Master Gardener Program.
This course covered a general overview of food preservation, including: hot water bath and steam canning, pressure canning, jams/jellies/preserves, drying of fruits/vegetables/herbs, pickling, fermentation, and freezing fruits/vegetables/herbs.
One of the great things about this course is it links to dozens of excellent canning resources that are readily available on the internet and—good news—FREE!
I could re-invent the wheel here and teach you from scratch, but instead I thought I’d use this opportunity to share all these food preservation resources in one very clickable place.
With these links, you should be able to find everything you need about safe methods for canning, ways to preserve your favorite foods, and how to make your own canned goods without needing grocery stores! Sources include multiple university extension services as well as the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Canning for Beginners
This title is something of a misnomer, as food preservation covers much more than what we consider “canning”. Below I’ll share resources on freezing, pickling, dehydrating, fermenting, and canning.
Remember, food preservation is not an area where you can play with recipes. Always follow a tested and approved recipe when preserving your food!
You can adjust spices but that is about it.
When using a canning recipe or taking canning advice you find online, ask yourself a few questions: Is this information backed by science and research? Where is this person getting their information? Are they qualified to be sharing this advice or recipe? How old is this recipe? It is not advised to use canning recipes published before 1994.
Canning and preserving food can be perfectly safe when you use research-backed sources, follow proper procedures, and use safe canning practices.
Home Canning Principles
Here are some resources that cover the basics of home-canned food and safe preservation in general.
- USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning
- Preserving and Preparing Food Safely
- Youth Canning Lessons
- University of Minnesota Answerline (Not from Minnesota? I doubt they’ll ask or really care. Otherwise, you can check with your own Land Grant University to see if they might have a similar service.)
- Ingredients for Food Preservation
- Safe Substitutions When Canning
- Food Preservation Reference Chart
- Handling Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Safely
Botulism & Safety
The threat of botulism (clostridium botulinum) and botulism poisoning is the big, scary baddie when it comes to food preservation. It is something to take seriously, but it shouldn’t scare you away from preserving your own food. Once you know how it works and what it needs to survive, the risk of it being a problem is minimal.
Hot Water Bath Canning
This method of canning is used for foods that have a high enough acidity that they can safely be preserved using the temperatures reached by putting the jars in boiling water for a certain amount of time.
Water bath canning is great for high-acid foods like pickles, salsa, tomatoes, vegetarian spaghetti sauce, jams/jellies, fruit, etc.
- About Processing Times
- Equipment Used for Home Canning
- Canning in Electric Multi-Cookers
- Smooth Top Cook Stoves and Alternatives
- Resources for Buying Food Preservation Supplies and Equipment (Though for basic stuff like canning jars/Mason jars, a canning pot/water-bath canner, or other essential supplies, Wal-Mart or a local fleet supply store will have what you need.)
Pressure Canning
Pressure canning is used to bring the temperature up on low-acid foods to a point where any botulism will be eliminated. It involves using hot steam in an enclosed pressure canner.
Pressure CANNERS and pressure COOKERS are not the same thing. Pressure canners reach a much higher temperature than water bath canning, which is necessary for killing off bad bacteria in those low-acid foods.
You’d use the pressure-canning method for meats, green beans, potatoes, soups, carrots, etc.
- How to Use a Weighted Gauge Pressure Canner (video)
- How to Use a Dial Gauge Pressure Canner (video)
- Testing the Dial Gauge
- Using Pressure Canners
Canning Questions
Here are a few commonly asked canning questions and links to their answers.
- Can I Can in Electric Multi-Cookers?
- Are Home Dairy Products Safe to Can?
- Can I Can on Portable Burners?
- How Do I Can Green Beans?
Jams, Jellies, and Preserves
I don’t make a lot of jams and jellies since my dad makes a TON of jam every year. Still, this information was all very helpful, especially the troubleshooting topics.
- Basics of Jams, Jellies, and Preserves
- Making Jams, Marmalades, Preserves, and Conserves
- Canning Fruit Recipes
- Tips for Making Homemade Jams and Jellies
- Liquid vs. Powdered Pectin (video with a quintessential grandma, Martha)
- Pectin Calculator
- Jams Made with Low Acid Fruits (video with Martha again)
- Processing Jams and Jellies
- Freezer Jams and Jellies (video, not Martha, but still good)
- Uncooked Jams and Jellies
- Jellies and Jams with NO added Sugar
- Why Didn’t My Jelly Set? (video, with Martha!!!)
- Jams and Jellies Problems and Solutions
Drying/Dehydrating
This is the process of removing enough moisture from food that it will stay preserved for several months. A dehydrator is a great tool, but you can use the air, sun, an oven, or even a microwave in some cases to dehydrate. I typically dehydrate herbs, apples, and zucchini each year.
- How to Dry Fruits (video)
- Drying Food at Home
- Drying Vegetables (video)
- Preserving Herbs by Freezing or Drying
- Drying Herbs
Pickling
Pickling is the process of adding vinegar, sugar, and spices to a vegetable. The acidity is increased by this process, so you can make quick pickles that you store in your refrigerator, or you can process them in a hot water bath canner. I typically make pickled beans (dilly beans, so darn good) and beets.
- Pickling Basics
- Basics of Pickling (video)
- Pickles for Special Diets
- Troubleshooting Pickles
- Problems with Pickles
Freezing
This one is pretty straightforward, but there are some tips and good information on ways to keep food from losing nutritional value and keeping a nice appearance. I usually freeze strawberries, bananas, and other fruits. This preservation method is a great idea if you want to save the fruits of your harvest (literally) without needing to use one of the other canning methods.
- The Science of Freezing Foods
- Containers for Freezing Foods
- Equipment for Freezing Foods and Basics (Video)
- Freezing Fruit
- Freezing Foods – Master List
- How to Freeze Vegetables
- Vegetable Blanching and Freezing
- Preserving Herbs by Freezing or Drying
- Freezing Herbs
Fermenting
Fermenting
Fermentation is the process of creating an oxygen-less (anaerobic) environment that allows healthy microorganisms to break down foods which then creates either acid or alcohol. With either alcohol or acidity, bad bacteria doesn’t stand a chance and your food is preserved. Think sauerkraut and tangy, fermented pickles. Or booze!
Vacuum Sealing
They now have nifty devices on the market that allow you to vacuum seal canned goods! While this airtight seal will keep your foods fresh and crispy,(these things are supe slick for long term storage of dried goods) it isn’t safe for actual food preservation.
There are other vacuum sealers that are basically shrink wrapping meat or whatever else you want in a tightly wrapped, freezer-safe package.
These again do not preserve items to make them shelf stable. If you vacuum seal cheese for example, it still needs to be kept in the fridge. If you vacuum seal tomatoes, you can’t just stick them on the shelf. They would need to be frozen to stay fresh and food safe.
Let’s Wrap It Up!
My goodness. That is A LOT of information, right? Don’t let that intimidate you. Home food preservation doesn’t have to be complicated. Pick one or two things you want to try this year and give it a shot. Once you have the general method down for each type of preservation, you really can preserve just about anything. The biggest things that will vary is the recipe and processing time.
Remember, always use tested recipes and follow the instructions.
There are some great books and other publications you can pick up if you really want to dive deeper into fun recipes. I highly recommend the Ball Blue Book Canning Guide. It will cost you less than eight bucks and has a recipe for just about everything.
I’m happy to answer your home preservation questions if you have them. Feel free to reach out.
