Method 1: Select the food to be canned.
1, choose canned food. Choose your favorite food. If you and your family don't eat, there is no point in cooking a lot of food. Unless you are going to give them away or sell them as gifts. If you grow your own fruits or vegetables, you can choose varieties with good harvests. If your peach tree bears more fruits this year than two blueberry trees combined, what are you waiting for? Canning is an excellent way to preserve tomatoes and apples in harvest season.
If you haven't canned before, try to start with simple food. Some foods may take some effort and time to process. If you are just a beginner, you should choose a batch of tomatoes or ketchup instead of 40 pounds of apples. When you are familiar with the steps and really fall in love, you will gradually do more. Remember, when you make canned cherries, you must first core them.
3. Choose fresh food. Fruits and vegetables need to be firm and mature to avoid bad spots and mildew. But it doesn't have to be beautiful. Grow or buy your own tomatoes, or make your own pickles, always choose one (tomatoes with bumps and seams may be more suitable than those sold well in supermarkets).
Method 2: Prepare canned food.
1, refer to a cookbook or a canning guide (see tips and quotations for details) to master the specific time and skills of canning. Different foods need different cooking methods. It is ok to use the secret recipe handed down from family, but it still needs to be compared with popular recipes, and the production time and technology should be adjusted accordingly. The basic elements of safe production may change over time. It is recommended to refer to the latest guide of USDA or Ball &; Kerr book company. The production time may vary according to the texture and shape of the jar, so pay special attention to this when making old crafts. Due to our in-depth understanding of food safety or changes in plant cultivation methods, the production time may be greatly adjusted in a few years. For example, compared with a few years ago, the acidity of tomatoes has decreased.
2. Wash your hands thoroughly to ensure that your hands are clean during the whole production process. This can reduce the contamination of food by miscellaneous bacteria. Wash your hands if you want to start over after sneezing, going to the toilet and touching something other than food.
3. Prepare food according to the recipe. Most foods need to be cut open for canning. Tomatoes are peeled quickly, and fruits and vegetables are cut into pieces. You can scald peaches, nectarines and tomatoes with boiling water first, so that their skins will crack. Then fish them out with a sieve and put them in cold water. When they are cold, you can peel them easily.
Remove the inedible parts such as depressions, stalks and stones at the bottom. Note that detached peaches are easier to break from the bottom, and non-detached peaches are not easy to break. You can choose fruits according to this.
Make sauce.
Cooking and curing.
Make condiments, sauces, applesauce and other foods according to recipes.
4. If necessary, make the liquid needed for canning according to the recipe. Most fruits and vegetables need syrup (a mixture of water, juice and sugar) or salt water (a mixture of water and salt). This liquid will have different names on the menu. The basic method of canned syrup: light syrup: 6 cups of boiling water and 2 cups of sugar can make 7 cups of syrup. Medium concentration syrup: 6 cups of boiling water and 3 cups of sugar can make 6.5 cups of syrup. Thick syrup: 6 cups of boiling water and 4 cups of sugar can make 7 cups of syrup. A cup is about 240ml. Please refer to the low-calorie syrup made in http://www.pickyourown.org/peachescanning.htm.. You can change the sugar into sucralose or stevia, but don't use aspartame.
Basic preparation method of canned brine: put 5 cups (1.2L) of vinegar, 1 cup (240ml), 4 teaspoons (20g) of water, 2 tablespoons (28g) of sugar and 2 cloves of garlic (according to personal taste) into a small pot. Boil and simmer 10 minutes. Then remove the garlic cloves.
Method 3: Disinfect the jar
1, clay pots can be put into boiling water 10 minutes. It is very important to disinfect the jar. If you put mixed bacteria and food in a closed jar, the food may go bad. At high altitude, it is necessary to add another minute of disinfection time every 1000 feet (about 300 meters). Then, pour it on a dry towel and cover it with another towel for later use. You can also use the full cycle mode of the dishwasher to wash the cans.
2. Choose a pot with a medium depth, put in water with a depth of 2.5 cm, put the jar in the water and seal it, and don't let the jar stack up, so as to be evenly heated. Preheat for 1-2 minutes before formal heating.
Method 4: Can the ingredients you choose.
1. Fill the jar with food. According to the state of food, it can be divided into "hot packaging" or "cold packaging". The former means that it is hot when cooked, and the latter means that the food is simply cut and cold when canned. In this regard, please strictly follow the recipe instructions, because for the same food, different filling methods will make the preparation time different. Small liquid and semi-liquid foods can be filled conveniently by using the filling funnel.
When making beans and other foods, you should carefully pack them neatly when canning. It's much easier to sell or just make soup for your own use.
2. Leave some space at the top of the can, which is called the top gap of the can. This gap is necessary. Depending on the food, it is about 3-25mm. Please follow the recipe.
3. Add preservatives according to the recipe. Common household preservatives include powdered sugar, salt, acids such as citric acid and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Mix the preservative with the liquid evenly.
4. Add syrup or antiseptic solution. Leave a gap of about 0.5 inch (12mm) at the top of the jar.
5. Exhaust bubbles. When pouring liquid, the gaps between loose solids can be filled. You can also use a plastic knife (one of canned food consumables) to gently squeeze food along the wall of the can to discharge bubbles.
6. Carefully wipe the jar mouth with a wet cloth, and take residual water drops, especially to ensure the cleanliness of the sealing ring.
7. Cover each jar with a soft sealing cover. The magnetic bar can help you take the lid out of the boiling water safely. If you don't have a magnetic bar, you can use pliers, but don't hold it directly by hand.
8. Place the cleaning ring on the sealing cover. Press hard, but not too hard, or the contents of the can may be squeezed out.
Method 5: Make canned food with cooker (cauldron).
1, according to the recipe, you can use the method of water bath. This method is suitable for many cooked foods (appetizers, pickles and jam) and acidic fruits (apples, peaches, pears and apricots). Please judge whether the food is suitable for water bath according to the recipe. Put the toothed plate into a cauldron or a water bath can-making machine, and put the cans on it. Add an appropriate amount of water to make the water depth 2-2.5 cm. If the food is hot, please heat the water; Instead, cold water is used for cold installation. The jar should avoid drastic temperature difference changes. You can try the water temperature with your first knuckle. Don't fold the cans and put them in the water bath.
2. If you use a large pot, put a toothed plate or a small towel at the bottom of the pot to prevent the jar from directly touching the bottom of the pot. Bring it to a boil. Please refer to the recipe for cooking time, and the time may be increased according to the altitude (above 900 meters).
3. According to the arrangement of the menu, use the pressure cooker in time. Pressure canning is especially suitable for meat and vegetables because they don't contain too much acid. Compared with the water bath method, the pressure method can shorten the production time of peaches and tomatoes. At the same time, it can reduce the production of miscellaneous bacteria, which is more necessary for foods with less acid. The pressure cooker can pressurize the tank by heating. It usually takes 240 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1 16 degrees Celsius) to kill bacteria. Put the jar in the pressure cooker. If the jar is small, it can be folded. Don't pile cans directly on the lid, you can stagger the edges.
Check the gasket before use every year. They may dry on the shelf. Gaskets are important because they can create sealing conditions. You can put the dry gasket in the freshly boiled water to restore it to its original state. If the gasket is aged or cracked, it must be replaced. The life of gasket is about 1-2 years.
Cover the pressure cooker and tighten it. The position of the handle can indicate whether it is tightened or not. Remove the safety valve from the cover.
Boil the pressure cooker. You will see steam coming out of the safety vent, usually with a pointer in the middle. This kind of needle will suddenly appear when steam is generated.
Give off steam. At first, the steam will come out very violently, and let this violent steam out for about 7 minutes (or refer to the recipe instructions).
Cover the safety valve for escaping steam. Now start to calculate the production time. The pointer on the pressure machine will also rise from this moment.
Adjust the furnace temperature to a constant pressure (according to your recipe and your altitude). The pressure is generally 10 psi (indicated by the sea level pressure gauge). You may need to make some adjustments. The result of adjustment may be delayed.
Pay attention to the pressure in the pot at any time during the production process and adjust the temperature accordingly. Ventilation and other changes can quickly change the air pressure. Therefore, it should be adjusted frequently. An increase in temperature can be an increase in pressure, and vice versa. Too low pressure may make cooking incomplete, and too high pressure may lead to the danger of explosion.
Stop heating after the time specified in the recipe. Do not remove the safety valve until the pressure gauge pointer returns to zero. When the pointer of the safety port falls back, let the steam out for a period of time.
Slowly open the lid of the pressure cooker. You can also let the lid cover loosely for a while, or just open a small crack. The jar in the jar may break due to the pressure drop, although this does not happen often (especially when you decompress carefully).