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otrasca

Help with Canning :-)

otrasca
9 years ago

This will be my first year canning my harvest. I have Many different fruits and veggies. I would like some canning pros to tell me the best ways to can citrus, berries, & melons. If the store can do it.... I can do it, I just need a little advice from some of you who have found the best ways
References always welcome.
Thanks in advance for your knowledge!
Tamara

Comments (4)

  • carolstropicals
    9 years ago

    Great Post !!
    I have been learning canning for the past 8 months or so.
    The best advice is to go to YouTube. That is where I have learned. Of course there is the Ball book on canning which you should own, but Youtube has been great. There are some people who have been canning for years and it is best to follow them - not the people who have just started.

    I like Katzcradul, Imstillworkin, and a few others. You will finally get to know who is the best. On one of her videos Katzcradul was canning butter. I believe it was her second video on butter. At the end she said the names of each person who canned who, she felt, was the most reputable.

    Citrus is tricky since the skins should be removed since they are not sweet. This is cumbersome. I have made preserves several time. Also there are recipes on the internet for jellies and jams.

    My advice is to go to Youtube and type in Katzcradul along with the word canning. It is a long process - learning to can correctly and what works best for you.
    I believe I have watched 100 or more videos. I have learned to can chicken, roast, butter, and some fruit.
    Hope this helps. Start the Learning Tree !!

  • luvncannin
    9 years ago

    I follow the Ball Blue book faithfully and the other canning book is So Easy to preserve from the Coop Extension university of Georgia. They are tested and approved recipes. I do not personally use any recipes that are not tested. I was in the food service industry long before I fell in love with canning and there are too many ways to make mistakes with food. My employees call me picky, LOL. The National Center for Home Food Preservation is also the best site and check out GW harvest corner, lots of experts and great advice
    sorry I am not any good at linking
    kim

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Lots of help over on Harvest forum. If you're just starting off canning, I recommend the Ball Blue Book (can find at Walmart, Target, etc. this time of year) and their website, freshpreserving.com - you can search for recipes by ingredient, very handy.

    The NCHFP has a self-guided course, you have to register and they will send you a password, link below. They also have recipes.

    There is a lot of misinformation on the Internet (though citrus and most fruits are acidic enough not to be a danger, you don't want to waste your fruit and time/energy on something that's not going to be the best quality or spoils). NCHFP at the U of GA is research lab for USDA and Ball conducts their own testing, so you know those recipes will be safe (in the case of low-acid foods) and give best quality taste and texture, though of course individual tastes vary so you may find a particular recipe too sweet, not sweet enough, etc.

    BTW melon is something that is NOT acidic so you have to be sure to follow tested recipe and add acid, not very many approved melon recipes, NCHFP has one for Watermelon Rind Preserves which are more of a sweet pickle. University extension sites may have recipes for melon. Here are a couple (sorry, don't know how to insert more than 1 clickable link)

    University of Ca, Davis

    http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8095.pdf

    University of WI

    http://fyi.uwex.edu/safepreserving/2013/08/30/safe-preserving-watermelon-jelly/

    (Note that they say there is no safe melon jelly recipe, but they do give links to 3 melon "pickle" recipes). Their home page has a lot of good info on it.

    I don't know what kind of melon you grow, watermelon won't preserve at all, but you can freeze firmer melons like cantaloupe and honeydew.

    http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/freeze/melon.html

    Here is a link that might be useful: Self-guided course on canning

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    9 years ago

    Yes - I was going to recommend the Harvest Forum too. It's a slightly misleading name but it's actually all about food preservation rather than picking.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest Forum

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