How To Preserve Produce Without Refrigeration
(Page 8 of 9)
July/August 1971
By Frank Garrett
Once prepared, the food being canned is then packed into the sterilized containers and processed immediately. Allow a one-inch head space for starchy foods (corn, peas, beans) and a one-half-inch head space for other fruits and vegetables when you pack them. Some foods can be cold-packed (packed into containers uncooked) and covered with syrup or water. Cooked foods are packed hot (hot-packed) and covered with the liquid from cooking. Cold-packed foods shrink during processing and should be packed tightly. Hot-packed produce should be placed in the cans fairly loosely.
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Use a knife blade to release any air bubbles trapped in the containers. If food is cold-packed into tin cans, place the open cans in a hot water bath that comes within two inches of the top of the cans. Boil until the temperature of the food reaches 140° F for fruits and soft vegetables or 180° F for harder vegetables. Seal cans while hot and process immediately as with hot-packed foods. Syrup for cold-packed produce should be prepared in advance, kept boiling hot and poured over the foods after they've been packed.
Tin cans are sealed before processing. If glass jars are used, screw the tops on tightly before processing, then turn back onequarter turn to allow steam to escape during the operation.
Processing is the very heart of preserving canned foods. This is the "cooking" which kills all bacteria in the containers . . . most especially the Clostridium botulinum bacteria which lies dormant in the soil but thrives inside an airless container. It is estimated that only one teaspoon of botulinum toxin could kill the entire population of the United States so do not try to shortcut processing time in any way when canning.
On the other hand, please do not get the idea that home canned foods are any more dangerous than commercially canned foods. Properly processed, either is entirely safe. Improperly processed, either can kill you . . . as the recent deaths caused by products packed by Bon Vivant Soups, Inc. of Newark, N.J. have—unfortunately—proven.
When processing foods in a pot filled with boiling water, one group of containers can be removed and replaced with another without interrupting the boiling. Foods processed in a pressure cooker, however, must remain inside the cooker for ten minutes after the heating operation. Pressure may then be released slowly through the cooker's safety valve. Although the pressure cooker method is somewhat more complicated and time-consuming than the hot water bath, processing times of many foods can be more than cut in half with the cooker.
After processing, lift containers out of the pot or cooker and set the cans or jars on a towel or piece of cloth (never on a cold surface). Seal all glass jars tightly (tin cans and self-sealing jar tops are sealed before processing). Leave all containers at room temperature for two or three days to check seals, and immediately use the contents of any jar or can which shows signs of leakage.
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