Store It Foods

A stock pot can be one of the most versatile items you have in your kitchen.　 As the name implies, it is perfect for producing soup stocks, but it can also be used for preparing soups and stews, cooking pasta, boiling corn on the cob, braising meats, making marinara sauces and much more.　 Larger than your customary pots and pans, it is this larger size that lends it its versatility.

Since soup stock is generally prepared for use in future meals, many recipes suggest separating the large batch that results into smaller portions.　 Some of these could be refrigerated for more immediate use, and others frozen for use at more distant meal times.　 One home chef recommends that the freezing take place in ice cube trays with the frozen cubes being taken out and stored in plastic freezer bags for space saving convenience.　 Freezing, however, need not be the only option.　 Canning is also a possibility.

Of course, canning, if chosen, needs to be done properly.　 Water bath and steam canners work, but they may not work safely.　 The best choice, when it comes to the canning of　such non-acidic foods as meats and many vegetables, is pressure canning.　 This effectively destroys those organisms which cannot be totally eliminated when relying solely upon boiling water methods.

It is unfortunate, but true, that owners of smooth top ranges are, to their dismay, confronted with the possiblity that the home canning that they want to do on that stove top may not be possible. All-American, for instance, is the manufacturer of one of the most popular brands of pressure canners, and they clearly state that “Pressure Cooker/Canners are not suitable for glass/flat top ranges.”

Why is that?

One appliance manufacturer explains: “We would advise that a ‘raised bottom canner’ be used on the smooth surface cooktop… further… it is most important that the canner – or any pot or pan for that matter – not exceed the size of the burner, as this may trap heat and cause serious damage to the appliance.”

It is quite possible that you can use your smooth top range without the least bit of difficulty.  Sadly, it is also possible that on one of those occasions a problem could arise, and then you might hear those dreaded words, “Sorry, that is not covered by your warranty.”

You would probably be safer to look at alternatives.  Presto manufactures pressure canners that they point out is safe to use on that smooth surface cooktop.  Some people use a two burner external grill on which their canner could be placed.  Electric grills means the canning could continue to be used in the kitchen.  Gas grills are more efficient, but they need a well ventilated area in which they can be used, and that means the canning may need to be done outdoors on patio or porch.

Hopefully, someone will come up with an adapter of some kind that will permit the use of all sizes of canners on a ceramic top range.  That seems not to have happened yet, so for the time being at least, these other options need to be examined.

When you are checking through the list of items you have ready to tackle that next big canning project, pause for a moment when you come to the kitchen mitts.  Actually, pause for a moment even if it is a small canning project.

Home canning shouldn’t raise many safety concerns, but there are a few, and one of them centers on the fact that you will be working with some very hot items.  Jar lifters, kitchen tongs and the like lessen the likelihood that you will be coming into contact with those hot items, but a good pair of oven mitts constitutes a good addition to that safety equipment.

Be careful, though.  A nice pair of quilted, thickly padded mitts looks nice and works well with the dry heat of your oven.  They also can work well with your pressure or water bath canner.  Here, however, you are working with very hot liquids, and those hot liquids can very quickly soak into those fabric oven mitts and render them ineffective.

There is something relatively new on the market — silicone oven mitts.  They can protect you from very high heat, and, as a bonus, are waterproof.  That makes them ideal for home canning.  In fact, they are also great for working with hot oils which gives you another reason for considering their use in your kitchen.

They may not be as pretty as those fabric mitts, but, when it comes to safety, does that really matter?

The art of canning is appealing to more and more people these days, and for good reason.  It’s a way of saving money in tough times, it’s a method of making use of excess produce that might otherwise go to waste, and it’s a means of controlling and knowing all of the ingredients that are going to end up in those canning jars.   Those are great goals, but how do you start?  If you have never canned before, what is needed?

The first step could probably be summed up in one word – “Research”.  Not only do you need to know what tools may be required, you will also want to know how to use them.  There are a great many “How To” guides to canning and just about everything else available online.  That would be a wonderful way to start.   We would also recommend the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.

Many refer to this as the ”Bible of Canning”.  It is chock full of lists, guides, suggested procedures and over 450 recipes for preserving homegrown fruits and vegetables.  Not only would it be useful for research, but it would be of continuing value once you have actually started to can.

Have you ever wondered why there are 31 days in August?  There were 30 days in April, 31 days in May, 30 days in June and 31 days in July.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep the sequence going, and have 30 days in August?

Well, that’s the way it was supposed to be.  We need to go all the way back to the early days of the Roman Empire to find the reason for the change.  Julius Caesar was responsible for modernizing the calendar.  The Julian calendar, as it was known, honored that fact by having one of the months named after the famous Caesar.  Hence, the month known as Quintilis was renamed July.

It was followed by Sextilis.

Julius’ successor was his nephew, Augustus, who became the first Roman Emperor.  It was decided that he, too, should be honored by having a month named after him.  For that reason Sextilis became August.  Then it was noted that Julius had 31 days in his month, while Augustus only had 30.  This had to be rectified!  A day was stolen from February, which was already suffering by being the leap year month, and given to August.  Then everybody was happy.

Scientifically, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  Sensible or not, we still have 31 days in August.  That’s the way it is and we live with it, and probably no one cares a whit.  After all, in the grand scheme of things, it makes no difference whether we say there are 30 days in that month or 31.  It could be changed, but why bother?

On the other hand, there are things in life that could be changed and should be changed.  Consider something like home canning.  There are too many people who still can the way grandma canned — just because “that is the way you do it.”

Well, in recent years it has been found that low acid foods are better done in a pressure canner, that “oven canning” is not always safe, and that other, once standard practices, have the potential for problems.  A potential for problems does not mean that a problem will always develop, but it could.  Using a water bath canner for canning low acid foods, for instance, was once the standard, and the possibility of not killing all micro organisms may be very small, but the fact that it is now known that some contaminants might survive that canning process, does mean that we should now be considering other, safer alternatives.

The lesson, of course, is that every so often we should re-evaluate our methods.  Is there a better and safer way of doing it?  Is there an easier way of doing it?  Is there a less expensive way of doing it?

When it comes to food preservation it could be very important to find answers to these questions.  Yes, as with the calendar, the answers may end up being that we could make changes, but that it doesn’t really matter.  Sometimes, though, we could make changes and it does matter.

Probably the single most important (and costly) item that you will buy for home canning is a pressure canner. A good pressure canner will probably cost more than all other canning supplies combined. The good thing about a quality pressure canner is that you only have to buy it once. With proper care they can last for a very long time. I own an aluminum canner that belonged to my Great-Grandmother, and is probably 80+ years old. I still use it every year, with great success.

Choosing the right size pressure canner can be a balancing act. You don’t want to get one too small or you will be canning small batches one after another. At the same time, you don’t necessarily want to get one too big, or you will have empty space inside the canner.

Personally, I suggest you consider getting one larger than you think you will need. Once you get started, you will want to can more and more. For example, my new canner holds 18 wide mouth pints at a time (or 20 regular), because I can stack them two levels high. My old canner will only hold 8 wide mouth pints at a time. That makes a huge difference in the amount of time with canning supplies.

Dry pack canning is growing in popularity.  This method of long term storage is effective at providing an air tight environment for those foods you wish to include in that storage, making it perfect for dehydrated and dried foods. 

An important consideration, however, is what size of container you wish to use in the process.  The number 10 can is extremely popular, and is approximately one gallon in capacity.  Smaller cans are available if you wish to use them, but if you do wish to use them, it is also necessary to make sure the can sealer you are going to use is capable of handling those smaller cans.  That is not necessarily always the case.

Consequently, prior to making an investment in such a tool, it would be wise to determine the ideal can sizes for use in your family.  This is another case of “looking before you leap.”

There are many people who love their steam canners.  However, some doubt the safety of the method.  The USDA remains on the fence.  It will not list it as being safe, but it will also not say that it is not safe.  According to the agency, the jury is still out, even though there are a great many canning experts who have now thrown their support behind the method.

In any case, for those who are uncertain as to whether they should opt for water bath canning or steam canning, there is now a new alternative.  They can choose the new dual use canner which can do both.  It’s easy to convert from one method to the other.

Once again, if you but look for them, surprising options can sometimes come to light.

Here’s an innovative idea from Ball.How many a time have you opened a jar of peaches or something else you have canned at home, used what you needed, and then transferred the remainder into some sort of a plastic container for storing the leftovers in your refrigerator?  That’s probably something that we have all done.

Now Ball has introduced plastic storage lids for regular or wide mouth jars that can be used with that now opened canning jar so that it can be used for that refrigerated storage.  Now we need not concern ourselves with transferring contents from one container to another.

It may not be a big thing, but it can be a bit of a time saver, and may even save a little bit on expense as well.