Author Topic: How to begin canning my vegetables etc.?  (Read 2967 times)

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
How to begin canning my vegetables etc.?
« on: July 28, 2014, 12:48:38 PM »
I'm considering learning how to can vegetables etc. to save the produce of my garden, which looks like it is going to be considerable.  Last year, we ended up wasting a lot of vegetables because we produced way more than we ever could use and couldn't even give enough of it away to friends and neighbors.  I'd like to be able to produce my own sauces etc. and save them to use over the winter.  Can anybody give me some idea of how to go about learning about canning and whether this would be a good idea?

RetiredAt63

  • CMTO 2023 Attendees
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *
  • Posts: 20742
  • Location: Eastern Ontario, Canada
Re: How to begin canning my vegetables etc.?
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2014, 12:58:53 PM »
Have you considered freezing them?  I know there is the ongoing electricity cost, but freezing saves more vitamins (I think) and the vegetables certainly taste better (IMO). For the vegetables, practice your blanching time first - I just froze 4 heads of broccoli, and have used some, tastes great, so I will keep going with that timing.

My parents used to buy hamburger meat in bulk in late summer, process the tomatoes and freeze lots of a basic hamburger/tomato/onion mix that could be used for spaghetti sauce, lasagna and chili.  They also made relish (tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, red and green peppers, spices, and whatever else they felt like adding) and canned that.  They were teenagers during the Depression, so having a big vegetable garden and saving the produce came automatically to them.

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: How to begin canning my vegetables etc.?
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2014, 01:19:39 PM »
We do already have a big freezer that would be used to store stuff.  However, I'm also considering making my own sauces and salsa from our produce.  That would probably be best canned instead of frozen, right?

dbanta

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 69
  • Age: 40
  • Location: Colorado
Re: How to begin canning my vegetables etc.?
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2014, 01:33:32 PM »
We usually make a large batch of tomato sauce and salsas at the end of the summer with a large tomato crop and always freeze them.  For us it's a lot easier, faster, and we don't have to worry about botulism.  As our freezer fills with bulk meat purchases we might have to start looking into canning, but for now it works.

Trudie

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2106
Re: How to begin canning my vegetables etc.?
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2014, 01:42:43 PM »
I highly recommend going to the website of the National Center for Home Food Preservation for advice on how to preserve food safely:

http://nchfp.uga.edu/

Certain low acid foods require the addition of lemon (or other preservatives) for safe preservation.

This site covers it all, and then some.

NV Teacher

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 559
Re: How to begin canning my vegetables etc.?
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2014, 01:48:11 PM »
Canning vegetables is easy you just need to have the right equipment and supplies.  They require a pressure canning pot so you can heat and pressurize the filled bottles to be sure to kill any bacteria or germs.  I don't know if they even have them any more but you might also contact your County Extension Agent for information.