Canning Questions

[carr]

Where/how would one go about getting a recipe safety tested for canning? SIL has perfected an awesome salsa the whole family loves and DD and I would love to can it for gifts. Is this process cost prohibitive?

 

DH and I canned pintos the other night. They're good, but after rereading this forum not sure we pulled it off properly. We filled the hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace with the beans and liquid they cooked in. Were we supposed to put additional water to fill to 1 inch, or did we do this right?

 

Is it okay to adjust the tested recipes at all? If so, what adjustments are safe?

 

Thanks to all, in advance!!

[Violet]

Carr, you fill the jars with the cooked beans , leaving a good 1 inch headspace. Then, fill with the cooking water, still insure you leave 1 inch headspace.

I suggest you use a safe link or book for your canning. Here is the most reliable source online.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html

You can read about the basics of canning on there. They did have a free online course, and they are trying to get it back online. It was really worth your while to take.

Also, get a current Ball Blue book if you have not done so.

Basically, if you don't find the recipe or method in one of those resources, you won't be able to safely preserve it. Not other than add or change any dried spices and herbs. That, and substitute one kind of pepper for another if called for, or something like use red onions instead of yellow ones, etc. You don't safely sub one vegetable for another. If a safe recipe states carrots, you can omit them, but not use peas in place of carrots. The ph level of the two foods and the density of the two are not going to be the same. There are recipes in which you cannot ommit things for safety reasons. Such as any high acid ingredients. You would not cut down on the amount of vinegar, lemon juice, etc.

 

Getting a recipe tested is hard. You first need to find a university that will test it. It will cost a fee. If you want to preserve your own recipe you need to freeze it.

Please, do not try to process a family recipe or a one that is a cooking recipe.

It is just not safe to do so. Well meaning people may tell you to use the food that takes the longest processing time and use that. That is not safe to do. Be very careful what advice you take. Unless someone is trained in food preservation safety they will not necessarily know what is or what is not safe to preserve.

You find a recipe that is as close as the one you have from a reliable source and then you can change the dried spices or dried herbs to make it different. Those are the only safe things you can really do.

Also NEVER try to test your own recipe for ph level. Even being off just a bit can be deadly. Also, foods can and do change ph level as they sit in the jars. That is why many weeks and months go into testing in labs. Plus, you also have to have equipment to test density. This is not something we can possibly do at home. We would not even have an idea what the final density should be.

I suggest you follow current safe methods, recipes, and guidelines.

I teach food preservation and food safety and I do not stray from the guidelines at all. It is that important. Cooking is an art, but canning is an exact science.

Hope all of this helps explain things to you.

[Cat]

carr, you could post the recipe, too, and let Violet and Crazy4Canning look at it. Maybe somebody else has a similar one that's proven ok.

 

 

 

 

[carr]

Thanks y'all. Violet, I have those resources you mentioned and read them both, but I guess I'm a little thick!! lol ... it just wasn't clear to me about the liquid for the beans. As I said, they taste good and cooked to the right consistency. They just seem like they are a little thick. So I wondered if we were to add additional boiling water to them. Perhaps we just let them cook beyond the 30 minutes as this was our first attempt at canning beans.

 

I've been keeping my eye on the uga site ... I'm going to do my best to jump into that class when they open it back up!!

[Violet]

The beans often do wind up too thick. Personally, I think it better to not cook them quite as long. They need to be fully hydrated, but they will be. I think about 20 min. is good. Then, I like to use some fresh water, not all the starchy cooking liquid. I would mix it, but that is my preference. Some things like that don't wind up being a safety issue, but more of a quality issue. If they are really soft, they make great refried beans.

Your beans sound fine to me.