First off, the official rules.....
We all know the USDA canning rules, that change periodically and I personally think are intended to instill fear of doing any home canning and rely on big AG commercial products that provide much profit for them and more risk & cost to the consumer. As for the risk, the list is not inclusive but includes the quality of the foods such as GMO laden, meat producers inhumane treatment of animals and a host of other questionable & suspect methods of getting large amounts of food on store shelves to an ever increasing population with fewer acreage & farms to do it with.....including countless product recalls for various reasons.
Botulism is very real as is other bacterias that can affect your food. These things can happen even in commercially canned foods, but the risks are higher at home.....if you're not careful. And to guard against it, the USDA recommends all home canned low acid foods be boiled 10-15 minutes before consuming.
Low acid foods such as meat, beans, fish, vegetables, etc are recommended to be pressure canned at atleast 10lbs pressure, depending on your elevation which can also determine time of processing.
High acid foods such as fruits and tomatoes or tomato based products can be water bath canned. Though many of todays tomato varieties are not as acidic as older ones and is recommended to include some type of acid (lemon juice, vinegar, citric, etc) added.
Then there's the rules of only using metal lids one time and ONLY one time and having to continually buy more......also promoting corporate profits vs consumer costs. As for those metal lids, if anyone has noticed in the last couple of years have now been labeled 'SureTight lids, helps keep foods sealed now up to 18 months' …...but many experienced canners know that home canned food, if properly processed and stored, will stay sealed and good for many years. So I'm not sure what's the scoop on this new marketing spin other than Ball/Kerr/Jardin or whoever now owns the company, has changed the formula of the rubber seal and no longer recommend they be simmered before use.
Tattler lids are the one exception. Rubber seal and separate plastic cap, can be used repeatedly for years if properly cared for and are rather expensive up front but can pay for themselves in no time.
Only approved canning jars should be used, manufactured by Ball, Kerr, Mason, etc (no store bought food product jars or lids)
Now that you understand the rules......now comes the rebellion :devil: But I will say this.....I am not promoting anyone to do this(these) I'm just saying it can be done, IF, IF, IF absolutely necessary in a crazy mixed up world where the 'rules' aren't possible for whatever reasons. And even then, ONLY if you are an experienced canner with some years under your belt. I am in NO way suggesting a new inexperienced person that doesn't have the first clue on canning or food safety try any of this. Now that being said, here we go...….
1. Most foods can be waterbath canned, even low acid vegetables, meats, etc and at one time (up until the 70's) was an accepted method of canning, though processing times were 3+ hours, depending on the food. (personally, I have wb green beans, corn, carrots, raw packed chicken, broths, spaghetti sauce with burger, etc successfully and even shorter times, but I have done it for many years and was how I was taught by my Mom & aunt who also done it this way for many years before that.) I will also say here that I have finally moved to a pressure canner and have used it successfully for many foods I would have never done in a water bath. Like dry soup beans or pumpkin, potatoes, ham, bacon,(yes BACON) etc
2. Reusing metal canning lids......ONLY if the lid is not damaged in anyway from previous use/removal and seal is intact and clean. Sometimes when you remove a lid it can create a nick, or the rubber seal has worn thin and the metal shows thru, or even the seal can get mold growing and make black spots. Any lids in such condition should be thrown away and not reused. They are damaged and your jars of food won't seal properly.
3. Store bought food jars that have a rubber seal in the lid that comes down over the thread of the jar......like Ragu (and others) jars can be reused, but only with high acid type foods. I do reuse many a salsa or pickle jars, but for similar type foods.....such as homemade salsa canned in store bought salsa jars, pickles canned in pickle jars, etc.....namely because it's near impossible to get the pickle smell out of a pickle jar, no matter how well it's washed or even soaked with baking soda. So it's easier to use pickle jars for them.....and it saves my other canning jars for other foods.
A...….old mayo jars must be mentioned here. In the past, when the jars were actually made of glass (not plastic), Hellmans or Best Foods would fit perfectly with regular mouth lids & rings and Miracle Whip would fit wide mouth lids/rings...….then of course they changed it so that just as you were tightening down the lids with that last twist, it would spin free....then the jars went plastic. Back when the jars were glass and the lids would tighten all the way, I did use them for canning......until a few broke in the canner (WB) so I gave that up, but I've heard some people still use them old jars.
4. Open Kettle canning.....used to be another popular method of canning, but is rarely heard of now days cause of dem rules, ya know. The actual method is to put HOT food into HOT jars, cap with HOT lids & rings and set upside down on the counter for about 10-15 minutes, then turn right side up....as the product/jar cools it creates a vacuum seal......no processing needed. I do this with jams, jellies, & pickle stuff. Jams have plenty of sugar for preservation and the pickle stuff has vinegar. Sometimes I do this with tomatoes and sometimes in a WB, just depends on either whats in it, or if I have other canning projects.
I'm sure there are others, but these are what I can think of at the moment. And I can't say it enough...…..any canning methods, whether by the rules or not, you and only YOU can make such judgement calls and hopefully it's based on your own experience to guide you. If you choose not to do any of this, that's great. I can respect that...….I'm just saying that if you do chose to rebel, you better damn well know what you're doing.
