apple*tart
Senior Cook
I've seen lots of books on canning at book stores and at the library. How can I know if the recipes in them are safe to use? I want to strike a balance between being safe and expanding my horizons beyond the blue book.
Canning books trustworthy?
- Thread starter apple*tart
- Start date
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the recommend methods/times have changed over the years.
check carefully for the "date" of the recommendations / guidelines. stuff fom the 60's is not the best advice.
>>I want to strike a balance between being safe and expanding my horizons beyond the blue book.
I'm unable to conceptualize what you mean - there are good, up-to-date canning recommendations for pretty darn near anything. when canning stuff for long term preservation, there's "safe" and there's "not safe" - where does "expanding" coming in?
check carefully for the "date" of the recommendations / guidelines. stuff fom the 60's is not the best advice.
>>I want to strike a balance between being safe and expanding my horizons beyond the blue book.
I'm unable to conceptualize what you mean - there are good, up-to-date canning recommendations for pretty darn near anything. when canning stuff for long term preservation, there's "safe" and there's "not safe" - where does "expanding" coming in?
mcnerd
Head Chef
I've you want to expand your horizons in canning, contact your County or State Extension and sign up to become a Master Canner.
If you want to start off on a small scale, go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation (National Center for Home Food Preservation) and take their online self-study course in Food Preservation. If you are good you should get through it with 100%.
They and the USDA are the recognized final word on the subject of food preservation, canning, and food safety and if they say it is not safe....it is not safe. No expanding horizons beyond that.
If you want to start off on a small scale, go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation (National Center for Home Food Preservation) and take their online self-study course in Food Preservation. If you are good you should get through it with 100%.
They and the USDA are the recognized final word on the subject of food preservation, canning, and food safety and if they say it is not safe....it is not safe. No expanding horizons beyond that.
apple*tart
Senior Cook
Sorry, I guess I didn't do a good job explaining. I don't want to make up canning recipes or anything like that. What I meant by expanding was that I want access to safe recipes beyond the ones listed in the Ball blue book or the NCHFP website, both of which I'm familiar with and have used. There are loads of other cookbooks with canning recipes in them, but I hesitate to assume that the recipes they contain are all safe just because they're in a book. I was wondering if there was a way to verify or evaluate their safety before making them. Does that clarify?
mcnerd
Head Chef
Yes that clarifies, thank you. Did you order the book at the NCHFP for $18 called "So Easy To Preserve". Superb canning book. I also have:
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (400 recipes)
Small-Batch Processing by Topp & Howard
Putting Foods By
Preserving In Today's Kitchen
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (400 recipes)
Small-Batch Processing by Topp & Howard
Putting Foods By
Preserving In Today's Kitchen
apple*tart
Senior Cook
I'm actually going to the library to check out a few books. I like to do that with cookbooks before I buy them - kind of like a trial run. My library does have the NCHFP cookbook, so I planned to look through it. I'll see if they have the other books you mentioned. Thanks for the recommendations.
mcnerd
Head Chef
Just be carefully that the canning book is (re)printed after about 1994. Anything before that date should be considered unsafe by current standards. And, despite what many people do, just adding canning processing information does not make the recipe safe.
apple*tart
Senior Cook
Thanks for the date - but what do you mean by the last part about just adding canning processing information?
mcnerd
Head Chef
Just as I stated -- it could be an old "open kettle" processing recipe or a cooking recipe that someone decides they want to 'can' it, but is never tested or proven safe by a food expert for modern canning and storage.
There are tested and approved canning recipes for just about everything out there, but what always surfaces is the desire to 'can' cooking recipes or modify the tested recipe with other ingredients that changes the safety of it. If a different and unique recipe does come along, it can be submitted to the NCHFP for testing.
There are tested and approved canning recipes for just about everything out there, but what always surfaces is the desire to 'can' cooking recipes or modify the tested recipe with other ingredients that changes the safety of it. If a different and unique recipe does come along, it can be submitted to the NCHFP for testing.
apple*tart -
the biggest issue in years of late is pressure canning vs. the old boiling water bath route.
one of the biggies dangers is botulism. anaerobic (low oxygen) and low acid conditions promote that possibility. once-upon-a-time the prevalence of botulism spores was considered a geographic issue. no longer true. just because you got the green beans from Farmer Brown locally down the road who gardens organically is not any assurance that the produce is 'botulism free"
it takes higher than boiling water temps to kill botulism spores. hence the move to pressure canning. the increased pressure raises the temperature of "boiling water" past the point of "temperatures that kill botulism spores"
for example, the old generalized advice like "tomatoes are acid enough" no longer holds - multiple "low acid" tomato varieties exist today. the only truism is "change is constant"
I hope I'm not missing the point - "recipes" - things that taste good after canning/preservation - is a different issue than "how" the stuff was processed in terms of "safe" - a good tasting recipe of "x, y and z" is likely to taste just as good "pressure canned" as it was "boiling water bath canned" - but the recommended safe methods of getting there have changed.
if you're looking at canning meat products, different set of issues and dangers.
the biggest issue in years of late is pressure canning vs. the old boiling water bath route.
one of the biggies dangers is botulism. anaerobic (low oxygen) and low acid conditions promote that possibility. once-upon-a-time the prevalence of botulism spores was considered a geographic issue. no longer true. just because you got the green beans from Farmer Brown locally down the road who gardens organically is not any assurance that the produce is 'botulism free"
it takes higher than boiling water temps to kill botulism spores. hence the move to pressure canning. the increased pressure raises the temperature of "boiling water" past the point of "temperatures that kill botulism spores"
for example, the old generalized advice like "tomatoes are acid enough" no longer holds - multiple "low acid" tomato varieties exist today. the only truism is "change is constant"
I hope I'm not missing the point - "recipes" - things that taste good after canning/preservation - is a different issue than "how" the stuff was processed in terms of "safe" - a good tasting recipe of "x, y and z" is likely to taste just as good "pressure canned" as it was "boiling water bath canned" - but the recommended safe methods of getting there have changed.
if you're looking at canning meat products, different set of issues and dangers.
mcnerd
Head Chef
There's nothing "old" about Boiling Water Bath canning. It's a requirement for all high-acid foods (jams, jellies and pickling). Pressure canning is only used for low-acid food processing (meats and veggies) and with adherence to tested recipes or there is a good chance your food can turn to mush.
apple*tart
Senior Cook
Ack! I can't seem to get my point across. It's probably my fault, I'm having a crummy week.
What I'm talking about recipes meant to be canned, found in canning-specific cookbooks. It's just that because of past experience, in which I've found incorrect and potentially dangerous information in books, I don't automatically trust that just because something is in a book, it's automatically safe/correct/etc. I've canned before and I'm up on all of the risks, which is why I'm cautious here. Since I'm not an expert, I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to recognize a crappy canning recipe when I see one. I was hoping for some information on how to evaluate canning recipes found in canning cookbooks to make sure they're actually good.
What I'm talking about recipes meant to be canned, found in canning-specific cookbooks. It's just that because of past experience, in which I've found incorrect and potentially dangerous information in books, I don't automatically trust that just because something is in a book, it's automatically safe/correct/etc. I've canned before and I'm up on all of the risks, which is why I'm cautious here. Since I'm not an expert, I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to recognize a crappy canning recipe when I see one. I was hoping for some information on how to evaluate canning recipes found in canning cookbooks to make sure they're actually good.
mcnerd
Head Chef
There's no way to 'evaluate' a recipe as being safe just by looking at it. That is the job of the food scientist with a Ph.D. and a quality laboratory, but you can become aware of the most common dangers just by improving your knowledge and experience in food preserving. Other than that, it is constantly stressed to stick to the known and trusted sources -- Ball Blue Books, NCHFP, etc., and Discussion boards that support safe canning practices.
would you settle for "old but still viable" Boiling Water Bath Method?
frankly, I'd say it is "old" - it "invented" home canning.
some more modern day things have pointed out that boiling water baths are not adequate/safe for "anything you want to do on a coal stove" - which is where I got introduced to canning quarts and quarts and quarts and quarts of green beans.....
mcnerd
Head Chef
No, because that is not correct. If you believe that then I would encourage you to take the online study course at the National Center for Home Food Preservation to brush up on your food preservation knowledge. It's free, you get a Certification of Completion in the end, and it has only 4 sections to it. I finished it in less than a day.
And you should know by now that green beans are a low-acid food and MUST be processed in a pressure canner to be safe in order to kill the C. Botulinum spore. It loves to make Botulism Toxin in those kind of foods in a sealed jar. On the other hand, jams, jellies and most pickled goods are high-acid and not liked by the Botulinum spore so it will not grow, so such foods only have to kill off the standard bacterias, molds, yeasts, and fungi that also exist, and that can be done in a Boiling Water Canner with little or no loss of food quality.
Each canning method has its purpose and use, and yes by today's standards.
absolutely correct.
YO ADMIN - please edit my post to read "new water bath methods"
or
better yet:
"Deleted due to nonsensical nit picking."
marigeorge
Senior Cook
Apple*tart, what are you canning? Vegetables, fruits, preserves/jam, jelly?
apple*tart
Senior Cook
Fruits, mostly. Preserves, chutneys, whatnot.
marigeorge
Senior Cook
One of my favorite books is Christine Ferber's Mes Confitures which has some unusual pairings of ingredients.
You can find it on amazon.
You can find it on amazon.
