# Anyone do canning?



## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

Would like input and help from locals that can thier own food and thier feedback on the shelf life they've experienced.

I'm collecting pasta mason jars right now. IIRC they are 500mL on the jars. The lids are one piece. 

I'm i the process right now starting my germination for cucumbers, and etc. My strawberry plants survived the winter so waiting for a patch to form up.

Would like help on how to can as well.


----------



## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

I'm gonna try it for the first time this year. I ordered, started, and have now planted a whole bunch of different and insanely hot peppers and want to make LOTS of crazy-hot hot sauce 

I haven't done much research yet, but I'm pretty sure you will be able to use the jars but will have to buy new lids, which are super-cheap...



AquaNekoMobile said:


> Would like input and help from locals that can thier own food and thier feedback on the shelf life they've experienced.
> 
> I'm collecting pasta mason jars right now. IIRC they are 500mL on the jars. The lids are one piece.
> 
> ...


----------



## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

you need to buy new lids, the rings are reusable. lids are not.

I do tomatos. Unless you intend to can pickles with your cucumbers, you'd need a pressure canner. Benardin has a good canning book as well as a book called "Put a lid on it" which is small batch pickles and sauces.

hot water processing you need to be using acidic foods, which are tomatoes or add enough acids (lemonjuice or vinegar) to bring it up a bit. I often make sauces (50 - 150lb of tomatoes) a year depending on how my larder is holding up.

I do not jest when I say it takes time. for tomato sauces, I can give you a few quick tips to speed it up.

edit: I make a decent salsa.


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Hey Carmen,

How did the canning go? I just got a ~20L water canner last night from Wallys for $20. Add that canning (I think 5 pc kit, magnetic wand, jar lifter, etc) for ~$13ish and you got a kit sans jars for under $50 which is what Home Hardware was selling for the Bernadian starter kit.

I got some strawberries and blueberries a week ago on sale at T&T for 99cents/16oz and 4 or 8oz blueberries. Looking to make my first jam.

Sunstar,

Check out Tattler for reuseable lids. THey've been around since the 70's. Thier lids are reuseable and BPA free. IIRC it is something like $0.40-50 CDN cents a lid (taxes in for IIRC reg or wide mouth) for one time use lids. Thier reuseable lids by the companies claim had a seal last 20yrs of reuse. I've read other reviews of the lids from other canner blogs and it seems it holds up to pressure canning as well as water canning. I forgot but I think I worked it out to $1.25 USD/lid so you're paying like 3x the cost of a one time use lid but you can reuse it over and over (just flip the seal each time you reuse it for a uniform wear).

In the long term you save. IIRC I read that the metal canning lids have BPA in them. 

BTW Food Basics has a sale on Tomatos now. 99cents/lb for hot house.

Going to try my hand at making some pasta sauce seeing as it costs frigging almost $5/bottle for some good sauce. One site I checked broke down the costs of each canning recipe and I think the pasta sauce ended up costing $2.50 a can if you bought the tomatos on sale. Obviously less if you grow your own.

EDIT:

http://www.pickyourown.org/spaghettisauce.htm Hmm les then $1/jar


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Carmen,

Well buying lids all the time adds up in costs considering they are designed for one time use only. I've heard (and personal experience only with sealing some water) of people reusing them but for short term and for fridge storage and not really storing for 6/12months for a rainy day storage. 

I've reused a regular lid before just sealingup some water in the jar to test it. It's been about 3-4 months I'd say and the seals are still holding well. The jar used to hold jam from some event gifts from U of Waterloo. The thing about the jars is you want FLAT rims on them as they give the best seal. 

If you're buying the jars then yes they will be flat but I've heard some jars if you reuse food jars from grocery stores the rims may be rounded off tho the Classico jars are flat rimmed. 

A tip on saving money asI've found out while researching and looking to save money I learned that the rings rarely go bad and the only thing to invest in are the lids. Sure if you need extra rings for damaged ones then buy them but it's the lid you want as the rings just hold the lid in place. Once the vaccum has been achived you can remove the rings and store with just the lids. Some people store with the rings but honestly unless you're super clumsy and banging the tops of the lids often from all I've read keeping the rings on isn't always a good idea as the rings can rust on the inside (asI've seen on some ringsI have). 

Now to build me a quick wood stove out of cinder blocks in the backyard and pull some fallen logs from a park/revine and you can save on electricity as well in the long run when you're doing the long 40-50min water boils.


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Anyone got a pressure canner? Looking for the cheapest place for canning supplies in the GTA and good service on the pressure canner should I need to return it for bad seals or what not. Home Hardware was like 'No you can't return it after you use it' and I was like 'Well how do you know the seals would work? How would you know the guage/dials work properly if you don't test it? I mean I can understand if you're using food in it but if you're just testing it with water the unit is still clean. It's like buying a car without testing to make sure it works." and I still got the no reply. >__<;; 

I'm thinking Presto or All American (if they're EVER on sale). All American I like as you don't have to buy replacement seals as it is a metal to metal seal. Presto is like $15 for the seal and like $10 shipping and IIRC it's like pending the wear and tear/usage you could be replacing the seals every 3-4 yrs. It adds up on the seals pricing just like one time use lids If you use like 24 lids a month (50c x 24 = $12/month x 12mon = $144/yr).


----------



## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

I didn't end up doing hot sauces. I had nooooo idea how many peppers it takes to get a jar of hot sauce; I had tons but nowhere near enough. I made a few jars of different types but we ate them all!  Mmmmmmmmmm  Green peppers are cheap at the store during the summer...I'm going to use the space for more Bhut Jolokia, Arbol, and Serrano this year!

I did end up doing up green tomato relish. I can't believe how easy it was. I just did a boiling water bath in a large stock pot and they all sealed and are still 100% fine.


----------



## george (Apr 11, 2009)

I make jams every year. Last year I bought about 8lbs or blueberry on sale and added some fresh picked raspberry and strawberry. My friends went nuts, I think I gave half away.

I used mason jars and I almost boiled them and poured the still hot jams inside. What you can use as well is acetylsalicylic acid or ASPIRIN to make sure they stay fresh and do not get mold.


----------



## HOWsMom (Jan 3, 2012)

I generally do up jam, pickles, sometimes tomato sauce, stuff like that.


----------



## Octavian (Sep 30, 2009)

AquaNekoMobile said:


> Would like input and help from locals that can thier own food and thier feedback on the shelf life they've experienced.
> 
> I'm collecting pasta mason jars right now. IIRC they are 500mL on the jars. The lids are one piece.
> 
> ...


My wife and I make strawberry jam, raspberry jam, zesty dill pickles. If you have a chest freezer you could also freeze ripened tomatoes from the garden to be used for cooking during the winter - when you thaw them the skin peels off easily. We make frozen mixed vegetable packs by blanching carrots, cauliflower, beans, and broccoli. We also blanch spinach which is then frozen to be eaten during winter. We also dry our own hot peppers and age some wheels of cheese.

In terms of pasta sauce we make a meaty tomato sauce which we also freeze. On large batch makes about 15 meals.

We have access to home grown herbs year round and will soon be eating lettuce which should be ready in two weeks. Fig trees are already starting to grow foliage and its only February.

It helps if you have a bit of garden space to grow your own food, a cold room for yearly storage a vacuum packer and a chest freezer to store food. A little time and patience will save you money on your grocery bill and help you eat a bit healthier.


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Well this is the first time for me to make jam. I have 4 containers of strawberries (16oz/ea I think) and 3 packages of blueberries (1/2 pints I think is the size ~8oz?).

Need some help from the experts and seasoned pros here. Total green bean newbie here. I went a bit nuts a couple days ago when at Wallys. I knew the basic enamel Bernadian canner is ~$20ish (pot + lid + jar rack) and I'd need the canning tools which I got them at Wallys as well but I ended up leaving the store spending just around $100. >__<;; I got the canning book as well. I got a few pectin packages from Certo, 4pack of 250mL canning jars x 2 (8 jars total but at $7.22/pack >.<, 1 set of lids only in 70-78-86mm, and a roll of Rival vaccum sealer bags. Gah...

Just found out NoFrills carries canning supplies as well tho mostly small jars in the sub 500mL area. I got a package of original Bernadian pectin before leaving the store.

I'll have to go and pull the canner out of the oven (huge unit! Uggghhh) and check on what pectins I got. I grabbed one of each as I didn't want to keep going back and forth to the store (not to mention easier as I have the items at hand and can sort out what I need or not and return it later in one trip then spending multi trips).

Thanks in advance on the help.

EDIT: I can't SURE-GEL anywhere locally. I know ythe pickyourown website has it's instructions based on that product.


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

carmenh said:


> I didn't end up doing hot sauces. I had nooooo idea how many peppers it takes to get a jar of hot sauce; I had tons but nowhere near enough. I made a few jars of different types but we ate them all!  Mmmmmmmmmm  Green peppers are cheap at the store during the summer...I'm going to use the space for more Bhut Jolokia, Arbol, and Serrano this year!
> 
> I did end up doing up green tomato relish. I can't believe how easy it was. I just did a boiling water bath in a large stock pot and they all sealed and are still 100% fine.


My god you must be hot.  Dual meaning on that. LOL My understanding is the Bhut's are the hottest peppers in the world currently.


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

george said:


> I make jams every year. Last year I bought about 8lbs or blueberry on sale and added some fresh picked raspberry and strawberry. My friends went nuts, I think I gave half away.
> 
> I used mason jars and I almost boiled them and poured the still hot jams inside. What you can use as well is acetylsalicylic acid or ASPIRIN to make sure they stay fresh and do not get mold.


I'm not sure on that aspirin method. I read somewhere in the last couple weeks while I was looking for canning info that IIRC it's not a USDA approved method. I'll have to check and see on that.

EDIT: Found it.

http://www.pickyourown.org/cannersnotrecommended.htm


----------



## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

you guys are hardcore into this canning thing!

The only thing I ever jarred was a jelly I made out of wine. It was awesome! (except for the part where i stepped away for one second and it started to overflow the pot, and caught fire and caramelized on the stove.)

But the finished product was spot on!


----------



## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

Well not hardcore here. I've yet to actually can my first food product (unless you want to count the canning the water as a test ).

You arn't hardcore unless you own an All American stainless steel 21qt canner. Those beasts are like 20lbs dry.  But built for a lifetime and will'able for future lifetimes of canning. Now that's hardcore. 

I just did some looking at the Wallys reciept and yup No Frills is cheaper by almost a dollar on some things.. This can help others out to save some money. I may just return some of the Wallys items (not the jars I want...... and frigging like $3 a jar in that 4 pack when Can.T has it for 12x250mL for about ummm.....like $8ish I think.). 


Here is some help for others to save money and to start out. Water canners are cheaper then pressure canners ($149 CDN cheapest I've seen for the Presto model which has a good reviews and reliabilty/safety).

No Frills: (compared to Wallys) 

$2.29 12 x 70mm lids only (save -$0.32)
$2.79 12 x 86mm lids only (save -$0.95)
$0.00 12 x 86mm with rings (can someone get a pricing for me? No price listed on the shelf but the product was there)
$2.09 Bernadian regular fruit pectin
$2.39 Bernadian no-sugar pectin (save -$0.89)
$3.59 Bernadian liquid pectin 2 pack
$12.49 Bernadian home canning kit (4 essential tools) (save -$0.98)
$16.99 Bernadian Cooks Helper canner kit (pot + lid + some tools I think. It's a smaller version of the 20L canner I have so I don't think you'll be able to do 1qt items. 500mL cars may be pushing it pending the car dimensions)
$0.00 12 x 125mL (can someone get a pricing?)

It was close to closing time then so I didn't bother asking for a price check as I'm sure the clerks wanted to less work and go home then.


Wallys:

$19.93 Granite-Ware 20.4L water canner w/rack
$ 7.22 Bernadian 4 x 250mL decorative jars (70mm lid)
$ 2.61 12 x 70mm lids only
$ 3.14 12 x 78mm lids only
$ 3.74 12 x 86mm lids only
$13.47 Bernadian home canning kit (4 essential tools)
$ 3.28 Bernadian no-sugar pectin
$ 1.97 Certo Crystal (red box) pectin
$ 2.17 Certo Light


So far I'm seeing a $3.14 savings comparing what I got to what I wrote down on the pricing if I got the items from NoFrills. I'm sure the savings could be like $10+ if I had more numbers on some of the other items.

Hope this helps.


----------



## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

carmenh said:


> I didn't end up doing hot sauces. I had nooooo idea how many peppers it takes to get a jar of hot sauce; I had tons but nowhere near enough. I made a few jars of different types but we ate them all!  Mmmmmmmmmm  Green peppers are cheap at the store during the summer...I'm going to use the space for more Bhut Jolokia, Arbol, and Serrano this year!
> 
> I did end up doing up green tomato relish. I can't believe how easy it was. I just did a boiling water bath in a large stock pot and they all sealed and are still 100% fine.


If you want some quick and easy hot sauce there are some recipes here as well as just about everything there is to know about hot peppers. http://pepperjoe.com/


----------



## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Hahahaha no (on both!)! Bhut's are the second now. Some farmer in the english country side developed a hybrid pepper that is hotter, but seeds are not yet available to the public...

[/QUOTE=AquaNeko;235728]My god you must be hot.  Dual meaning on that. LOL My understanding is the Bhut's are the hottest peppers in the world currently.[/QUOTE]


----------



## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Yummy, thanks!



BillD said:


> If you want some quick and easy hot sauce there are some recipes here as well as just about everything there is to know about hot peppers. http://pepperjoe.com/


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Well just got back from checking the local Wallys and logging thier prices. Hope to get some spreadsheet out shortly of the locations and prices.

Still looking for pressure canner help.


----------

