Can It

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Can

It

Follow these tips to ensure the highest quality canned foods:

• Discard diseased and moldy food. Trim small diseased lesions or spots

from food.

• Can fresh fruits and vegetables within 6 to 12 hours after harvest. If

you must delay canning, keep produce in a shady, cool place.

• Use the hot-pack method, especially with acid foods to be processed in

boiling water.

• While preparing a canner load of jars, keep peeled, halved, quartered,

sliced or diced apples, apricots, nectarines, peaches and pears in a

solution of 3 grams ascorbic acid to 1 gallon of cold water.

• Fill hot foods into jars and adjust headspace as specified in recipes.

• Tighten screw bands securely, but, if you are especially strong, not as

tightly as possible.

• Process and cool jars. To sterilize empty jars, put them right-side-up

on the rack in a boiling-water canner. Fill the canner and jars with hot

(not boiling) water to 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Boil 10 minutes.

• Do not use old, dented or deformed lids, or lids with gaps or other

defects in the sealing gasket.

• After filling jars with food, release air bubbles by inserting a flat

plastic (not metal) spatula between the food and the jar. Slowly turn the

jar and move the spatula up and down to allow air bubbles to escape. Adjust

the headspace and then clean the jar rim (sealing surface) with a dampened

paper towel. Place the lid, gasket down, onto the cleaned jar-sealing

surface.

• Store filled jars in a relatively cool, dark place, preferably between

50 and 70 degrees.

• Can no more food than you will use within a year.

For individual fresh fruit and vegetable processing times and instructions,

see the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Complete Guide to Home Canning,

available online at www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/usda/utah_can_guide_00

pdf.

Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation, www.uga.edu

 

 

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Mardell Moriarty’s Ketchup

Makes about 10 pints.

Mardell Moriarty, late mother of Washington County Arts Council Executive Kevin Moriarty, used to make batch upon batch of this homemade

ketchup to help feed her large family through the year. “Summertime was

like

factory time in our house,” Kevin recalls. “We had a separate

canning room.”

 

 

Main ingredient:

2–3 dozen tomatoes (about 20–25 pounds). Use the absolutely

dead-ripe ones

you can pick up cheaply from roadside stands late in the weekend, and mix it

up with a variety of beefsteak, plum and other seasonal favorites.

Other ingredients:

2 pounds yellow onions

1 pound green peppers

1 pound red bell peppers

9 cups white vinegar

9 cups sugar

1/4 cup canning salt

3 tablespoons dry mustard

1 tablespoon ground red pepper

2 tablespoons allspice (whole)

2 tablespoons whole cloves

4 sticks cinnamon

 

Preparation:

Wash the tomatoes and, using a slotted spoon, dip them in boiling water

until the skins split. Then put them immediately into ice water and slip off

the skins. Cut out and discard the cores. Slice the peppers and throw away

the cores. Peel and roughly chop the onions. Working in small batches,

process the vegetables in a blender until smooth. Pour the blended

vegetables into a large kettle and bring to a low boil for an hour. Stir

often to keep the mixture from scorching. Pour in the vinegar, mustard,

sugar and salt. Tie the rest of the spices in a double thickness of

cheesecloth and add to the pot. Boil until it reduces by half (which can

take a couple hours depending on the level of boil and the width of the pot)

Let cool slightly and can in pint or half-pint jars; process in boiling

water.

 

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Dilly Green Beans

Makes 7 pints.

This Mitchell family recipe finds its way under many Christmas trees —

but

Dilly Green Beans recipients request them all year long!

 

Ingredients:

4 pounds whole green beans

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (per pint jar)

1/2 teaspoon dill seed (per pint jar)

1/2 teaspoon whole mustard seed (per pint jar)

1 garlic clove or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

(per pint jar)

5 cups water

5 cups apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup salt

 

Preparation:

Leave the stems on and wash the beans; drain, then pack beans vertically

(with the stems at the top) into clean, hot, quart canning jars. Add the red

pepper, mustard seed, dill seed and garlic to each jar.

 

In a large saucepan, combine and bring to a boil the vinegar, water and salt

Pour the vinegar mixture over the beans in the jars, leaving 1/4 inch head

space. Seal with new lids and screw bands and place in a boiling water bath

for 10 minutes. Let jars sit undisturbed and out of a direct breeze until

cool. As they cool, a vacuum will form inside the jars and the jar lids will

make a clicking sound as they invert and form a secure seal. Let jars sit

until completely cool. Most people enjoy these so much you will need to hide

a few jars away for Thanksgiving and Christmas!