How to Can Vegetables

Canning is the easiest way to preserve home grown vegetables and fruits for a longer period, when they are harvested in large amounts. Also, most of the fresh food items are seasonal, meaning they are available only during their peak seasons. Thus, correct preservation of vegetables is a simple way to ensure their continuous supply, even in off seasons. For those who don't own vegetable gardens, purchase fresh veggies from the local market and preserve them for winter months.

Vegetable Canning Basics

While canned beans, fruits and vegetables are readily available in the market, they contain food preserving additives. Also, they come with a high price tag. Thus, canning on your own with a home canning equipment is a better approach to enjoy healthy foods without preservatives. The procedure for home canning is not as difficult as it sounds. But, how does canning work? The procedure involves killing microbes that spoil food by heating and expelling air from the canning jar. These two factors help in preserving the food nutrients until you open the jar for consumption.

How to Can Vegetables at Home?

Before we actually start discussing the canning tips, let me tell you about the equipment used in this preservation method. You have two options, boiling-water canner and pressure canner. The former is a simple, large sized pot that has enough room to hold jars and cover them with water. The latter is a specialized pot designed to create very high temperature inside it. While both can be used for canning vegetables, a pressure canner is more feasible than the boiling-water canner. Here's a step-by-step guide to can vegetables with a pressure canner.