Canning Information

With summer coming to an end soon, I thought it would be a great time to include some canning information here for those of us who are looking for ways to preserve our harvest. The holidays are up next as well, and homemade gifts are always special — including jams, jellies and homemade mixes.

Who else but the people who make Ball canning supplies? / Jarden Home Brands
From the USDA
Last year I wanted to can some lemon curd and hollandaise (as part of a food basket together with some English muffins and a chunk of Canadian Bacon, to make Eggs Benedict) but I was advised that this would be dangerous, so I sent this message to the people at Ball (the canning folks):

Hi, I’m looking for information on safely canning lemon curd and hollandaise. I have received conflicting information from different people; some say it’s perfectly safe as long as you have enough acid in the recipe and you make sure the seal is perfect, some say that I’m risking botulism if I try it. Would love to get some help, please! Thanks!

And this is the response I received:

Thank you for your message. We do not recommend canning dairy products or anything with dairy products in it such as lemon curd. We regret we are unable to offer any recommendations or guidelines to do so. We appreciate you contacting us and wish we could have been of more assistance.

Sincerely,
Consumer Affairs
Food Safety and Foodborne Pathogen Site
From the Farm and Garden Forums, including a recipe and cautionary instructions
I get my canning supplies from Wal-mart usually — they carry Ball — but I also like Weck’s.
I LOVE French hermetic jars, but I haven’t found instructions on how to use them for canning (do you just seal them and that’s it?), so I haven’t tried using them — besides the fact that they’re expensive (the ones that Clearbrook Farms in Cincinnati uses are about $5 a piece, just for the jar!)
My Favorite Books on Canning:
- The Self-Sufficient Gardener: A Complete Guide to Growing and Preserving All Your Own Food by John Seymour — one of my favorite gardening books, but includes great information on canning as well
- The Ball Blue Book of Preserving — a classic!
- Clearly Delicious: An Illustrated Guide to Preserving, Pickling & Bottling by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz — I could just eat the pictures off of these pages!
- The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food : Easy Step-by-Step Instructions for Freezing, Drying, and Canning by Janet Chadwick

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7 Comments

elvie gabalfin on 13 February 2006 at 4:22 am

i will not comment i just asking some help. I do have researrvh now and if it is ok on you can i ask some methods in preserving tilapia. Thank you very much your response will surely help my school research.

Sarah B. Williams on 18 August 2006 at 5:50 pm

This is a very informative site. I was looking for canning recipes and found you.
I am looking for Tomato Jam recipes, and corn chowder recipes for canning.
I am also planning to purchase a pressure canner, if you have any recommendations, I would appreciate it.