Canning 101

Canning is a fantastic skill to have to preserve your harvest and provide a source of shelf stable long term food storage. But many people are (understandably) nervous of killing their families with food poisoning or blowing up a pressure canner and coating their kitchen with split pea soup. No need to worry! Canning is a very safe process, when done correctly, and today’s pressure canners have multiple safety features.

This will be a Hands On demonstration workshop including gear you need to get started, safety concerns, quality issues, necessary ingredients, what foods can and can’t be canned, storage, use of canned goods, how to evaluate recipes, etc.

Marie will cover pressure canning (required for processing meat, seafoods, and low acid vegetables like green beans or corn) and boiling water bath canning (used for jams/jellies, salsas, condiments, pickles, pie fillings, etc.). We will be making at least two items (one water bathed, one pressure canned).

Several canning cookbooks will be available for you to flip through and a few jars of Marie’s own home canned goodies to give you a small idea of the many items you can safely can at home.

If anyone has any food allergies, please communicate this information to the instructor because you will be sampling foods in class. Also, be aware that this class will have a fair amount of standing. It will be hard to see if you need to sit.

Handouts with information and recipes will be provided. Everyone will take home a jar or two of what you can.