Food Preservation - A Pictoral Tutorial
Posted by humboldt_honey on Jun 02, 2009 · Member since Feb 2007 · 12529 posts
I've decided to photograph the steps of different food preservation techniques. I'll try to do the first one this weekend and put the steps with photos here.
yay!! thank you hh.
I really want to start making jams/preserves/chutneys/whatevs. Currently I make quite a mean red onion chutney, but that's easy peasy. I want to know more interesting stuff.
*eagerly awaits*
Looking forward to this as well. I love the concept of preserving my harvest...I even bought a book about it last year...but didn't actually use it.
I think the step by step photos will be inspiring.
What are you interested in, shell & vs? Jam is an easy basic. We can start there.
We can do jams/jellies/preserves, pickling (I've been wanting to make pickled garlic for a while), pressure canning, and maybe yogurt. I've made dairy yogurt but I haven't tried making soy yogurt.
(I've been wanting to make pickled garlic for a while)
so have I, keen as for tips/pics/advice :) mmm garlic...
Woo Hoo! I'd be interested in seeing this as well. I don't know the first thing about it tho, but I am interested in trying it. :)
Jams will be a good start. It's berry season , so definitely yum. Do you do the wax seal thingy? I don't know why...the whole process makes me nervous....
I think any fruits would be good. I don't know much about canning, though. What do peaches canned taste like? I assume homemade ones would taste much better than the store canned variety.
Also, fresh salsas or sauces would be awesome! I know how to make these things, but not so much how to preserve them...?
Wax generally isn't used anymore, although I still see it sold in the canning areas. It contracts and expands with heat, so it doesn't make a reliable seal. I use metal canning lids.
http://blog.al.com/southern-plate/2008/09/large_can16.png
eta: I now have eight spare pears, so I'll make peach preserve this weekend.
yes jams would be a good start.
I'm really scared of making jam. It's all my mums fault. She used to (and still does I think) make lots and lots of jam. Whilst it tasted really good at always always had cat, dog or my mum's hair in it (or all 3) - blech!
Does marmalade come under the heading of jam or is it made differenlty?
Do I need special jars if I am to make jam?
Are there specific fruits that can / can't be used?
And final question (for now) is it possible to make vegan lemon curd?
eta: stupid shelloid - if I had read hh's post a bit better I would have partially answered one of my questions - regarding specific fruits, the one I was thinking of doing was peach and that's what hh said she was doing - idiot me!
Does marmalade come under the heading of jam or is it made differenlty?: As long as the mixture is less than pH 4.6 it's all processed the same. Jams and jellies that are processed with a boiling water bath are in that category. The difference comes in how you thicken it. Do you boil it down until it thickens or do you add pectin (it's from apple peels/veg sources). There is powdered and liquid pectin and they are added at different times during the process (before or after the sugar, depending on dry/liquid pectin).
Jelly has the thinnest consistency and the fruit is strained so it's clear.
Jam uses whole fruit, instead of strained, and the fruit is cooked down. Jam can either be left with small pieces of fruit or can be blended smoother (you still have seeds 'n stuff).
Preserve is essentially jam with medium to large fruit pieces in it.
Marmalade is a preserve that contains fruit peels.
Conserves are a mixture of fruits and nuts.
Do I need special jars if I am to make jam? Yes. You'll need canning jars. The jars and bands are reusable. You can use the lids for general storage after you can something, but you'll need new lids each time because there's an adhesive strip on the lid that needs to be fresh to create the seal during the canning process. If you buy new jars they come with lids and bands/rings, but after that you can buy new lids just on their own.
Are there specific fruits that can / can't be used? I don't know of any fruits that can or can't be used. I've never seen watermelon jelly. I just googled it. There is watermelon jelly. Huh.
And final question (for now) is it possible to make vegan lemon curd? I've seen recipes (Bryanna's Vegan Lemon Curd) for lemon curd, but I'm not sure about canning it.
eta: I'm going to end up doing pears this time, not peaches, because I ended up with a grip 'o pears and peaches aren't quite in season yet. For peaches, it would be the same process, different recipe.
Other than the canning jars and lids, is there any other special equipment needed?
pressure cookers are helpful....as are some 'special' tongs that are shaped to fit around a jar, so you can pull the jars out of a hot water bath without burning yourself.
http://ep.yimg.com/ip/I/canning-pantry_2052_20164901
A special 'wide mouth' funnel comes in handy when filling the jars, making it a little less 'messy'
http://ep.yimg.com/ip/I/canning-pantry_2052_20229354
There are other things that are purely gravy.....like:
http://ep.yimg.com/ip/I/canning-pantry_2052_20216980
it makes things a little easier when it comes to sanitizing the lids in boiling water.
sorry....didn't mean to threadjack....carry on!
Yeah. The tongs are great. I, unfortunately, can't find mine since I packed to move, so I'm going to use bbq tongs instead.
The pencil-looking thing at the bottom of this picture is a lid lifter. You simmer the lids to soften the adhesive. The lid-lifter is a piece of plastic with a magnet on one end that makes lifting a lid easier.
Really, though, you can improvise everything. You can lift the jars and lids with tongs and you don't need a specialized canning pot. I have one, but I'm going to do the tutorial with a regular pot. The one thing you'll need is a large pot with a flat bottom that has a lid (like a tamale pot). It has to be wide enough to fit jars and tall enough to have the water cover the jars when boiling. If you have a moderately large pot, but not huge, you can just process half pint (cup) jars. There are different shapes of half pint jars. One is skinny and tall, one is shorter with rounded sides (more gift-y), and one is short and squat. I like the short squat ones (Kerr brand) because I use them to store other things. Alltrista makes both Ball and Kerr, so I don't think there's a difference between brands. But I digress. If you're working with a smaller pot, you can select the jar size to work with a pot you have / process the jars in two batches.
oooohh! i can't wait for the updates! :^
BLUEBERRY JAM - PART 1 OF 2
I bought a grip of blueberries yesterday, so I made blueberry jam instead. This is for US measurements. I'd translate, but I don't want to get it wrong. Anyway, this shows the process. Libraries have lots of canning books, so you're set.
Blueberry Jam
1. Thaw and drain 2 pints frozen blueberries
2. Crush blueberries
3. In a large saucepot, combine 3 cups crushed blueberries and 2 tablespoons lemon juice
4. Stir in one packet powdered fruit pectin (It turns out soft. I'd try one of the recipe review suggestions of stirring in an addition 20% of another packet.)
5. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
6. Add 5 ¼ cups sugar (cane/beet)
7. Return mixture to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
8. Skim foam if necessary.
9. Ladle hot jam into hot "Ball" 8-oz jelly jar to 1/4 inch below rim.
10. Wipe jar rim clean.
11. Place lid on jar and tighten band, just until a point of resistance is met.
12. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
13. Cool for 12 to 24 hours. Remove bands. Lids should be concave in middle.
Yield: About 6 half pints (i.e., six one-cup jars).
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Step 1 - Heat water. If you are using a boiling water bath, it takes a while to heat the water, so start that heating first. You need to use a pot with enough capacity so that the water completely covers the jars while boiling. When I was shopping for a large pot, they were all really expensive and then I was in a Mexican food store and this pot was being sold for $17.
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Step 2 - Wash and rinse jars and rings. You can also put them in the dishwasher and use the rinse cycle. Leave them in there until they are ready to use to keep them warm. I don't have a dishwasher, so I wash them and then put them in the canning pot to heat. You just want to keep them warm so when you're filling them they don't crack (which isn't a common occurance, anyway).
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Step 3 - Mash blueberries - I used fresh blueberries. It took a few blueberries over two pounds to make three cups mashed. Mash the blueberries, one layer at a time. You can use something like a potato masher. I did two batches in a a food processor and blended each batch for about 15 seconds. Add the crushed blueberries to a pot with the lemon juice. The pan in the picture is too shallow. You'll want to use something more akin to a stockpot.
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Step 4 - Place the lids in a small pan of water. It's easier to seperate them later if you lay one facing up, the next facing down, and so on. Heat the water to a simmer, but don't let it boil. You just want to heat the sealing compound on the rings.
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Step 5 - Turn the stove onto high heat. Some recipes require you to simmer ingredients before adding the pectin. A lower temp is fine for that, but pectin breaks down over extended time in heat, so you want to heat at a high temp once it's added.
Add the pectin. Pectin comes in 1.75 or 2 ounce packets, depending on the brand, and a paper with canning recipes. Either size box is fine. Pectin is a white powder that comes from vegetable sources (like apple peels). There are different types of pectin: powdered, liquid, a kind where you can use artificial sweetener, etc. They aren't interchangable - you want the general powdered pectin. Sprinkle and stir the pectin into the blueberry mixture (or bring the blueberry mixture to a boil, stir in the pectin, and return the mixture to a boil - it makes more sense that way). It's a soft jam. I read a review where a woman added about 20% of another pectin packet to make it more firm. I was going to do that, but I forgot.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3375/3601378556_169ef20926_m.jpg
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This is what the stove setup will look like at this point:
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Step 6 - Add the sugar. I have this premeasured in a bowl. I changed to a larger pot because once the sugar is added and the mixture starts to boil up quite a ways. It would have boiled over in the pan I was using. I was using it to make pictures easier. You really want to use something like a stockpot to make the jelly.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/3601379200_c7df1c35be_m.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/3600566429_92f37b9ea4_m.jpg
Step 7 - Skim the foam. Foam forms on the top of the jelly. Skim it off. I use a spatula. You can put a little EB/oil in the jelly mixture. It's supposed to help it not foam as much.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3600566637_d6f853bb81_m.jpg
Step 8 - Fill the jars. Different recipes have you fill the jars to different levels. For jams and jellies, it's mostly to a quarter-inch of the top. I didn't have quite enough for all six jars. I would have, but I lost some jam to the transfer between pots. In this case, I didn't process the partial jar and I'll refrigerate and use it first.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3371/3600566789_6fc05ff7fc_m.jpg
Step 9 - Wipe the rims. With a wet piece of paper towel, wipe the rims so they can make a good seal with the lids.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3657/3601379894_12223ca1ed_m.jpg
Blueberry Jam - Part 2 of 2
Part 10 - Tighten the ring. Place a ring on the jar over the lid and finger tighten - meaning tighten as much as you can only using your fingertips. You don't need the rings on really tight.
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This is what my counter setup looks like at this point:
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Part 11 - Place jars in pot. Take a double layer of paper towels or use a real towel and set the jar in the pot on the paper towel. It helps protect the jars from the direct heat of the burner or they might break. The pot is larger than the burner, so I position the jars in the center of the pot so they'll be over the heat.
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Part 12 - Cover the pot with a fitted lid and process the jars for the specified amount of time. The recipe will tell you how long to process your jars at sea level. At higher altitudes you have to process the jars for longer because for each 1,000 foot gain in elevation, water boils at 1.9 degrees F lower than 212 F. The box the jars came in will tell you how many extra minutes extra if you need to do that. For example, if you live between 1,001 and 3,000 feet in altitude, you need to increase your processing time by five minute. Don't start counting the time until the water is at a rolling boil.
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Part 13 - Remove jars from the pot and allow to sit undisturbed. I was trying to do this with no special equipment. Having a utensil to clamp around the tops and a spatula to support the jars on the bottom worked pretty well. Set the jars aside. When the jars cool a vacuum is created inside. When you hear the lids "pinging" you know you got a seal. Let them sit until cool and then press the center of each lid. If it gives, the jar wasn't sealed. You can either heat a new lid and reprocess it or put it in the refrigerator and use it first.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3651/3601382380_0f24691bea_m.jpg
Once the jars have cooled, remove the rings, wash the jars of any sticky residue, and store in a cool, dark place. The jam will be good for up to a year before the flavor starts to go, but it's best during the first six months. Don't store the jars with the rings on them. If the jelly spoils (rare), you'll want to see it ooze out under the lid, so you don't want the ring clamping the lid down. If you open a jar and it looks/smells/seems "off," discard it. It's not worth taking a chance. That said, I've never had a spoiled jar. It doesn't happen very often.
Part 14 - Eat.
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whoa this is so cool. I want to try! thanks, hh!!
Wow, that was a great demo!! after reading/looking at the demo I feel confident enough to give it a go! :)
thanks hh-- you make it look easy!
If you do make jam, find a different recipe. This doesn't have much blueberry flavor - and it's only blueberries and sugar. ??? The process would be the same.
---> Carrot Cake Jam is good. I get requests for it.
This is a great web site to check out, too. It has tons of listings for pick your own farms, and step by step directions for canning and freezing.
http://www.pickyourown.org/
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