There is another method to preserve your summer bounty and that would be canning. Canning has had a resurgency in resent years as people have been looking for ways to save money and keep their food preserved to be used at a later time. Some may remember their grandmother pulling out the old canner, a load of mason jars and lids and bands. Mine never did so I had to learn how to can myself and I have been using this method for many years now. I don't can a lot of different items but stick to preserving all of my stock that I make so the family can make fresh soup any time they want. I do occasionally can some extra spaghetti sauce, beans or soup so we can use it later or the kids can have some pasta for lunch. I do find it interesting that we call it canning when we use jars to preserve the food in and not tin cans. I am pretty sure this comes from the fact that the Ball Jar Company was originally in the tin can making business and branched out into making glass jars.
Canning is not really very difficult to do and in a method I will describe shortly, gets even faster and easier. There are two methods of canning- pressure canning and water bath canning. Which method to use is determined by what you are canning. With pressure canning you are heating the food in jars (specially made, thicker glass jars) under pressure so the steam generated will get the food to a higher temperature and kill any bacteria that will make you sick. Water bath canning puts this same jar under water that is boiling and the heat goes no higher than 212 degrees (since that is the temperature water boils at). Water bath canning is used for highly acidic or highly sweetened foods, such as tomatoes or jams and jellies. Pressure canning must be used for other foods with a low acid level such as meats, soups and the like.
To be sure which method to use, I highly recommend anyone wanting to can to buy The Blue Book Guide
Water bath canning is pretty easy. In general, this is the method- place hot food in hot jars, remove air bubbles, place hot lids on the jar and close with band to hand tight. Place the filled, sealed jars in a pot of hot water so that the water completely covers the jars. Boil these jars for the recommended time (see the recipe in The Blue Book) and remove from the water after this time has elapsed, placing on a dish towel on the counter until the jars have cooled, which will take a couple hours.

Using the proper jars is essential. They come in all sizes and some have pretty designs on them. You will usually be using pint or quart sized jars for most of your canning. They also come in regular or wide mouth, depending on how big of an opening you need to get your food into the jar. You do not want to use old "mason" jars
This has been a primer on canning and perhaps I will post again, more in depth about the methods and recipes. Again, I recommend that you get "The Blue Book" to get you started. Read up on the recipes it has to give you new ideas for putting away your extra foods to be used later.
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