Every year, as harvest begins, we bring out our tools and set about preserving. Throughout the winter months it is wonderful to be able to go to our shelves and open peaches that taste as fresh as the day they were picked, or to open a quart of soup full of the flavors and nutrients of vegetables now out of season.

This site documents our preserving and lists our recipes.

If you have never canned before, or if it has been a while since you last canned, please read up on the subject before starting.

IMPROPERLY PRESERVED FOOD CAN KILL YOU ! ! ! !

Remember, what you are doing is putting food in jars and sticking them on a shelf. They will rot, that's what food does. You must must MUST know exactly what you are doing. However, if you take the proper precautions, you can preserve the harvest and have healthy, delicious - and inexpensive food on your shelves to see you through winter.

Definitions

• Blanch
  Briefly immerse first in boiling water then in ice water to preserve integrity.
• Waterbath
  This is one of the two methods for canning foods. The jars are placed in water, covering them by at least 1". The water is brought to a boil. Once a full rolling boil begins, you begin timing. As soon as the time for that particular food is complete, the jars may be removed.
• Pressure Can
  This is the second method and requires special equipment. Here the jars are placed in a pressure canner (NOT a pressure cooker), a few inches of water are added and a sealed lid is attached. The temperature is raised until white steam streams out of the valve. At that point a weight is placed and the pressure within the canner begins to build. Once the pressure has reached that stated in the recipe, the timing can begin. Once the time is complete, the heat is turned off and the pressure canner is left untouched until the pressure has dropped and it has cooled.
  PLEASE READ UP ON YOUR PRESSURE CANNER BEFORE USING. THEY ARE VERY DANGEROUS ! !
• Process
  This simply means to waterbath or pressure can your food.
• Wipe, lid and ring
  This is a standard process when canning. After all foods have been placed in the jars, you just wipe the lip of the jars and the threads with a hot damp cloth to ensure that they are clean and free from any spills or splashes. Then the warmed lid is placed on the jar and a threaded ring is tightened just "finger tight" which means just until you feel resistence and then just a touch more. Note: the ring is often referred to as a 'band'.
• Sugar or Honey syrup
  Syrups are used when canning fruits. Many people use sugar. Some people use half honey and half sugar. We use all honey.
• Headspace
  This is the space between the top of your food/liquid and the top of the jar. You want this airspace to get proper sealing. If the jar is too full, when heated the contents will push up between the lid and the jar lip preventing the lid from sealing properly.

Tables

Syrup type	Honey/Sugar	Water
Very light	1 part	4 parts
Light	1 part	3 parts
Medium	1 part	2 parts
Heavy	1 part	1 part
Very heavy	2 parts	1 part

 

Abbreviations
Ounce	oz
Teaspoon	tsp
Tablespoon	Tbs
Jigger	jg
Gill	gi
Cup	cup
Pint	pt
Quart	qt
Pottle	po
Gallon	gal

 

Liquid Measure
⅛ tsp	pinch (or dash)
1 tsp	60 drops
1 Tbs	3 tsp
1 oz	2 Tbs
1 jg	2 oz
1 gi	2 jg	4 oz
1 cup	2 gi	4 jg	8 oz
1 pt	2 cup	4 gi	8 jg	16 oz
1 qt	2 pt	4 cup	8 gi	16 jg	32 oz
1 po	2 qt	4 pt	8 cup	16 gi	32 jg	64 oz
1 gal	2 po	4 qt	8 pt	16 cup	32 gi	64 jg	128 oz

 

Dry Measure
1 pt
1 qt	2 pt
1 gal	4 qt	8 pt
1 peck	8 qt	16 pt
1 bushel	4 pecks	32 qt
1 chaldron	36 bushel	144 pecks