I've wanted to get into canning and preserving, but I've been putting it off for a while. During the height of summer I didn’t see the point in canning stuff via the boiling method since that won’t keep low acid foods for more than a few weeks. I’d rather just eat my peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables and fruits fresh instead of canning them and putting them in the fridge for a week or two. There’s plenty of fresh food stuff available now to enjoy.
The other reason is because I lacked a pressure cooker for proper cannning. When canning low acid foods, the best way is to use a pressure cooker to get the internal temps up around 250 degrees. This is far higher than can be achieved with the boiling method (212 degrees max), and is guaranteed to kill off all little nasties that might cause spoilage, enabling me to keep summer food stores for a year or more. Sweet, fresh, Georgia peaches in January, blueberry jam at Christmas, garden-fresh tomato chutney and salsa during the winter… this is my real goal. Plus the ability to use my own recipes and ingredients, and to know what all went into it.
I’d been putting off getting a pressure cooker because it seemed an extraneous purchase while I've been so busy. But I saved some cash here and there, got a $10 gift card to Walmart, and seized the chance when a Presto pressure cooker went on sale. I bought the cooker, a basket for jars, and a dozen pint canning jars. I’ll go back and get some wide mouth jars as well. Added the supplies I already had for boiling/canning, I think I’m ready to start processing the summer’s harvest for storage. This kind of canning will also allow me to ship jars of goodies to family and friends.
