Please help me explain to them why this should not be done!

[bluegrassmom]

I help admin a small board of women who are of a prepping mindset. But some of them are still kind of new to it all and don't quite have it all figured out yet. We are trying to explain to them why you should not can things with milk, butter, or cheese in them. We have posted articles, etc. But what we are coming up against is the thinking that commercially prepared canned foods have gravies, etc in them that they believe contain milk and other things we are telling them shouldn't be canned. Please point me to a resource that explains why this line of thinking is not safe!

[ma & pa steel]

From http://www.pickyourown.org/canningqa.htm

 

Is there anything I can't or shouldn't can at home?

 

Absolutely. Just because you can buy something in a jar that was canned, does NOT mean that it is safe for you to try that at home. Commercial canning equipment often hits higher temperatures, operate in sterile environment, include lab testing of representative homogenized batch samples for pathogens, and other safeguards that do not exist in a home kitchen or with home equipment. The National Home Canning center, a partnership between the USDA and U.Ga, provides list list of things you should not can at home (links provide additional information):

 

Herbs or vegetables in oil or oil infusions. Instead, choose to make flavored vinegars (See below).

Canned breads. Instead, package completely dry cake recipe ingredients as gifts and provide mixing and baking instructions.

Canned chocolate sauces/ fudge sauces. Many of the recipes that are passed along are low acid, contain dairy products, and recommend boiling water processing. The NCHFP, USDA or its partners in the land-grant university-based Cooperative Extension System do not have safe tested recipes for these products.

Pumpkin butter

Canned gifts made in decorative, untested, jars. The temptation to package holiday canned foods in special decorative jars is not recommended. Only use recommended jars and lids.

There are many other recipes that are not recommended. Choose only safe, tested recipes from research-based resources such as the NCHFP, USDA or the land-grant university-based Cooperative Extension System. The recipes that are published on pickyourown.org are duplicated from these sources - any significant deviations or untested recipes are rare and clearly identified as such.

 

Keep in mind that some recipes, such as those above, are safe if kept refrigerated or frozen, RATHER than canned and stored outside of a fridge or freezer. Most refrigerated foods can only safely be kept out of refrigeration for a very short period of time (usually less than 2 hours). Labels should tell the recipient to refrigerate. Likewise, frozen foods should not be allowed to thaw. These facts should be taken into consideration when choosing to give a refrigerated or frozen preserved food as a gift.

 

Hope this helps.

[Jeepers]

Thanks for the link. I was planning to make pumpkin butter this fall. (sigh)

[Violet]

Pumpkin butter needs to be frozen.

 

Remind them that they only have a $100 or so pressure canner and commercial industry can have multimillion dollar equipment. Plus, they add chemicals that we don't use at home.