Preserving your garden's bounty

[patandchickens]

Here are some quotes:
"Oven-canning is extremely hazardous . . ."
"Oven canning is not a recommended method . . ."
"Oven-canning can be danger-. ous . . ."
"Oven canning is dangerous . . ."
"Oven canning is extremely dangerous . . ."
". . . oven canning are no longer considered safe . . ."
"Oven canning is likewise not a safe method for canning any food."

The main concern is this: Not all parts of the oven are necessarily 'up to temperature', either because of inaccurate oven thermometer or because there are parts of the oven cooler than what the thermometer says. The problem being that if processing is done even just two degrees too cool, botulism spores can survive and multiply in the canned food, and you can have significant botulinum toxins in the food even without any off smell or explodin' or whatnot to warn you about it. And botulism is of course often fatal.

However at the same time it is also true that many many many people ahve put up many many many jars o' whatnot in the oven, and hardly died of it at all. *Mostly* hardly died of it at all.

I sure do not do it myself, but since there ARE people out there who DO, it seems good to at least itemize the concerns and how to minimize the risk.


Pat

 

[digitS']

So Pat, you don't think it's a good enuf idea just to go run screaming into the street . . .

Well, I started to download the USDA pamphlet, "Home Canning of Fruits and Vegetables #8" which is apparently a definitive word on the subject but it wasn't the pdf file I thought it was. Instead, it's one of those scanned documents put into a pdf file . . . Well, that window froze . . .

Claim on the Michigan State University page where it was linked was that "word" came out in 1983 so that's a quarter of a century of concern (with lots of adjectives :/ . . .

"hardly dead" = half dead, still living dead, they woke up dead . . . ??

Steve's digits

 

[Rosalind]

The main concern is this: Not all parts of the oven are necessarily 'up to temperature', either because of inaccurate oven thermometer or because there are parts of the oven cooler than what the thermometer says. The problem being that if processing is done even just two degrees too cool, botulism spores can survive and multiply in the canned food, and you can have significant botulinum toxins in the food even without any off smell or explodin' or whatnot to warn you about it. And botulism is of course often fatal.

Yeah, that. I am persnickety about my oven and was nearly going to replace it, except after measuring it with the thermometer in various places (a calibrated thermometer, no less) it's actually not that bad for being a cheap Sears model.

However, something to bear in mind: You can get botulism from a LOT more sources than just home-canned food. You can get it from improperly baked potatoes, if you wrap 'em in foil and throw 'em in the oven. You can get it from olive oil that's got herbs or garlic cloves soaking in it. You can get it from home-fermented things like pickles and sauerkraut. Most all of the botulism cases from home canning come from canning low acid foods like asparagus, pickles, etc. So, the only things I oven-can are high-acid foods like tomatoes, veggies in vinegar brine, etc.

Now, someday when DH finally gets around to opening his own business, I am going to use his autoclave to do all my canning, but until then...

 

[seedcorn]

anyone got a good pickling recipe for peppers? I'm trying one from Michael Symon as the standard vinegar/peppers is so boring.

 

[freemotion]

You can get it from home-fermented things like pickles and sauerkraut.

Botulism in home-fermented foods in only a concern if you then can them. If you don't heat-process your saurkraut, pickles, condiments, salsa, etc, you don't need to worry about botulism. Fermenting creates an acidic environment that will NOT support the growth of botulism. When you kill the acid-producing bacteria as in heat canning, you remove the restraint on the botulism, allowing it to grow.

So ferment with wild abandon! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QdhSFfaoz0 Check out the hairdo.....this guy is my fermenting hero. I've read his book several times, all and in parts. He lives off-grid and really knows his stuff.