So I have access to large amounts of fruits, typically from just over ordering and they don't get sold as fast as they could, and because they don't look "editable" or have started to slightly soften, they get tossed. Now, I don't have to climb into any dumpster or anything to get them, the manager of the kitchen just lets me have them if I want them. Even though they aren't suppose to do this because liability reasons.
first of all, googling "canning resources" or something like that, gives me an over whelming amount of hits and every one is pretty much got its own secrete sauce. so I would maybe like a book, or if someone knows a really reliable resource on the internet that works good too.
So far my understanding of canning is:
acquire jars.
clean jars with soap and water and rinse out all the soap residue and drop them into a pot of water at or above 180 fahrenheit or 82 centigrade for 10 minutes.
remove them from the water with clean tongs and trying to only touch the outside of the jars but not the rim of the jar or inside. shake out most of the water, and while the jar is still warm, throw in your freshly made canning medium in my cause marmalade. wipe the edge of the jar clean with a fresh clean rag and put the top and screw the lid on.
now take your pot of water, and throw in a grate of some sort on the bottom, and put the cans on top of that and bring it all to a boil for 15 minutes.
Can anyone with canning experience let me know if that will work for what I want to do?
>>958898
OP, I can't contribute personal experiences, but if you don't have much luck on here, I recall seeing an few canning threads on /ck/ in the past.
If you end up running into a ton of problems with canning, pickling is a pretty easy short-ish term solution for certain food stuffs.
>>958898
http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Blue-Guide-Preserving-Edition/dp/B00OEJZSNW
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1570618402
These should do it for you.
>>958934
cool both of those are on bookzz better for me cause I don't have to spend the money I barely have right now.
You really want to start out by sticking to recipes developed by a source like Ball. Don't change anything (at first), don't make double batches, just follow the directions properly, from jars to cooking to processing.
> liability reasons
not a real thing.
>>958949
Liability reasons considering this is a government run kitchen. there for, they are responsible for disposing "spoiled or unpalatable" food deemed so by the kitchen workers who are required to take food safe courses, that are set up by people who have studied their lives into the information and data required to make such calls. You know, the one's with PhD's... Where's your PhD? It's not some conspiracy to make money by big corporations. I'd explain exactly what this place was if there wasn't repercussions to such thing. but there are. I think with the information already provided you could get a few close guesses at to what it actually is, but I will not confirm or deny any of those guesses. nobody deserves to loose a job over 4 dozen or so of apples because the skins were browned, or they where slightly soft.
Who the fuck likes eating apples that are rock hard anyway. I've always hated those kinds...
>>958898
While this is more of a >>>/ck/ thing, they tend to not have as many people there who home can/preserve anything for some reason.
I do both water bath canning and pressure canning. It is a way of life for me. (All these reposted pics are fully mine.)
For pressure canning and water bath I recommend this manual, which has everything you need to learn,
http://www.allamerican-chefsdesign.com/admin/FileUploads/Product_49.pdf
Here's my method:
1: Wash jars, lids, and rings with soap and water.
2: Boil jars, lids, and rings (keep jars and lids hot, allow rings to cool.) Prep the canner according to the manufacturer's instructions.
3: Hot Pack the food into the jars (hot packing refers to bringing the food to a boil for 5 minutes before putting it into the jar, it should be boiling hot when put into the jars, this removes air from the food to prevent sealing problems and increase the lifetime of the food.) Some recipes, usually for jams, jellies, and preserves call for putting food grade wax (I use bee's wax from my hives) on the surface of the food in the jar prior to canning.
4: Put hot lids and rings on the jars and hand tighten the rings (not tight enough they won't seal, too tight and the lids will buckle or the jar may explode; the lid acts like a check valve, releasing pressure during the canning process but stopping anything from getting back in, creating an area of low pressure in the jar.)
5: Place the jars into the pressure canner or water bath canner. (Any empty spaces for jars should be filled with jars containing boiling water. If your canner fits 7 jars but you only have 5 jars of food, put 2 jars of boiling water with them. This prevents jiggling during boiling from knocking a jar over.)
6: Start the processing according to the canner's manufacturer for the type of food you are canning. Processing times and pressures can vary widely depending on food type, food consistency, and the altitude of your location.
>>959066
7: After the processing time has passed and you've followed the manual's instructions for removing the jars from the canner (it takes a long time for the pressure canner to depressurize so be patient) you allow the jars to cool completely. Their lids should "POP!" down as they cool, indicating a proper seal. Never push the lid down. Take the rings off and wash the jars down with soap and water. You may put the rings back on if you want to, but they are n longer needed.
8: Label the lid or jar side with the date of the processing, the contents of the jar, and the methods you used to can it (pressure can/water bath, amount of time for processing).
The viscosity of your food, the size of the chunks of the food, the food type and its acidity level, all play a major role in how long you need to process the food and whether or not you should even process the food.
An example is preserving pumpkins. Making a pumpkin puree shouldn't be done for canning. It is far too thick and heating it can be a problem. It may never get sterilized. However, if you merely cube up the pumpkin into 1 inch cubes, fill the jars and fill the spaces with the boiling water from the hot packing method the water can then circulate around the food and sterilize it properly.
Things like meat and mushrooms always need an impressive amount of time processing. I'm talking 90 minutes or longer depending on the recipes. You always have to use a pressure canner too.
>>959067
Water bath canning is the simplest, easiest, shortest time, and least expensive home canning method for high acidic foods. It is a great place to start.
Remember, if any of the lids bulge during the processing, replace both the lid and the ring and re-process it again or eat it right away. Any lids that bulge AFTER the processing time need to be treated as a health hazard and their contents be dumped and their jar tops inspected for damage. If a lid never seals with a pop, after the jar is cool, take the lid off and inspect the jar top for damage. Reprocess it with a new lid or eat the contents.
>unrelated random pic
This thread is bringing back flashbacks of helpin my mom can stuff
>Bing cherries go on sale.
>Mom clears out the entire stock.
> 10 hour canning party for two days.
>always have to pit the cherries.
>hot ass kitchen
It became a lot more fun when the moms would let me drink when I got around 15-16
But every year, one weekend was spent all day canning.
>>959080
Canning and preserving is the most work-intensive time of farming for me. Everything else is ultra easy and not really that labor intensive.
>>959066
Thanks.
