Vegetables (2013)

You must use a pressure canner to safely can vegetables at home. This is the only way to prevent the possibility of botulism. By using the pressure canner and heating food at temperatures well above the boiling point, you destroy botulism spores.

The quality of canned vegetables will not be any better than the quality of the raw food. Vegetables you can should be young, tender and freshly picked.

Vegetables will lose moisture and nutrients if they stand at warm temperatures. Refrigerate the vegetables if you cannot process them right away. Work with small amounts of food at a time.

Do not peel, cut or slice the vegetables one day for canning the next day, even if you put them in the refrigerator. In many vegetables, some of the natural sugars will turn to starch—and the vegetables will lose some flavor.

Sort vegetables for size and degree of maturity. Then thoroughly wash them. Be sure you have an up-to-date home-canning book before you begin. Cookbooks and other guidebooks that have not been revised in the last two or three years may have unsafe instructions.

Get all the equipment and supplies ready ahead of time. You will need standard canning jars and new two-piece lids. Wash and rinse the jars thoroughly. You do not have to sterilize the jars before you fill them with food.

Pack vegetables loosely enough for water to move among the pieces, but tightly enough to prevent wasted jar space. You can pack most vegetables either raw or after briefly heating in boiling water.

After packing vegetables in jars, cover with fresh boiling water or with the water in which they were heated for packing.

Process the filled jars in a pressure canner, following the precise instructions in the canning guide. Do not shorten the recommended process time.

When you remove the jars from the pressure canner, stand them upright on a rack several inches apart, and out of a draft, to cool. Do not re-tighten the bands or cover the jars. As the jars cool, the centers of the lids will snap down into a concave position, indicating a seal. Let the jars stand for 24 hours and retest the seal before you store them. Label the jars and store in a dark, dry, cool place. You must remove the screw band before storing.

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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