Canning is the general term for preserving food in sterile containers, using heat treatment in a boiling water bath to reduce the bacterial activity in the food to zero or as near as possible. The vessels are sterilized before use and held hot in order to ensure they are sterile when the food enters them.
Home canning involves the use of canning jars, sometimes also referred to as mason jars. The jar and the ring with the threads on it may be used multiple times; the round lid insert may only be used once in the canning process; the process permanently alters the shape of the wax on the underside of the lid.
Only certain types of food may be canned using the boiling water method: jams and pickles especially. Anything with a high enough sugar, salt, or acid content to retard bacterial formation may be canned using boiling water. Please consult the USDA canning guide to make sure the boiling water method is appropriate for your food. Some foods such as soup are not salty or acidic enough, and must be canned using the pressure canning method, rather than this method.
You can find the guide here: [ Ссылка ]
Equipment:
• pint or half-pint (or half-cup) jars sufficient to contain the food
• canning pot with basket or stock pot with clean towel, large enough to contain the jars comfortably
• sheet pan(s) sufficient to hold the jars upright
• canning funnel
• tongs or jar grabber
• optionally, other canning tools, such as a magnetic lid lifter
Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 225F
2. Place the jars, lids, rings and possibly the canning funnel into the canning pot and fill with water to cover (and fill) everything.
3. Bring the pot to the boil, and allow to boil for a minute.
4. Turn off the pot and allow it to cool with the lid on until the boiling has stopped completely.
5. Carefully, using tongs or a jar grabber, remove the items from the pot, drain them, and place them on a sheet pan.
6. Place the sheet pan full of sterilized jars into the oven.
7. Complete the recipe for, or warm up to simmering, whatever food is to be canned.
8. Using the canning funnel, fill the jars with the food, leaving about a half-inch of headspace (though different foods may require more or less, refer to the canning guide).
9. With a clean towel, ensure that the rims of all the jars are clean.
10. Place a lid insert and ring onto each jar, and tighten “finger tight” but do not crank down the lids. Air should be able to escape, but water should not be able to enter (which it will do if the lid can float up off the jar).
11. Place the filled jars back into the canning pot.
12. Bring the canning pot back to the boil.
13. Boil the jars for the time specified in the canning guide, based on the food and the size of the jars. Always process for the longest time if using a mix of jar sizes or foods.
14. Once the time is up, turn off the heat and allow the pot to cool briefly before taking the jars out.
15. Allow the jars to sit and cool completely to room temperature.
16. If need be, clean them up with some mild soapy water.
17. Label the jars with the contents and the canning date.
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