Canning without proper equipment

[arelyn]

I'm in a country with no access to jars, rings, lids etc. I was told by a lady here that I can just use a sterilized jam jar and process it in my sketchy Asian pressure cooker (no directions, no gauges, no brand name). All the canning websites I'm reading say this is akin to suicide. Does anyone here have experience canning with what you can find? Any ideas on how I preserve fruit for the upcoming season when we won't have much to chose from?

[knitlove]

I know my grandmothers both did it that way on occasion.

I would be very careful on the jars I picked, make sure that there is a clear way to tell if they are sealed and carfuly inspect every thing as I opened it. I think it is probably a bit more risky but I don't think you will kill yourself.

I try to follow all of the USDA guidelines but I think that they are way over board, it seams like every couple of years they say you can't can stuff at home that you can buy caned and that they said was fine before. :shrug3

Do you know any one there who cans? See if you can do it with them first seance it is a new 'method' for you.

[IslandHome]

We've done quite a bit of canning without any equipment - though mainly jams, chutneys and sauces - and have had very few failures. We boil the jars for 20 minutes or so, and make sure everything is still hot when the lids are sealed. You do have to be careful which jars you use - anything with plastic in the lid won't work. We also turn the jars upside down as they cool, and make sure they are quite full. As long as the lid is popped inwards it means they're sealed properly.

The worse we've had as far as 'failures' is finding some mildew on a lid when opening it after 6 months or so. And we just wiped it off and still ate the contents - and it was fine.

[SweetCaroline]

i would sterilize the jars, pour hot fruit into jars and seal them with wax, refridgerate.

[WaitPatientlyOnTheLord]

The mom I nanny for is from India and I have watched her can by boiling the jars/lids, filling them with hot food stuffs (she only cans ghee, so Im not sure how to do it for other stuff.) The jam lids will pop in when they are properly sealed.:shrug3

I dunno...it does make me nervous, but doesn't the food LOOK bad if its gone bad?

[Johns_Gal]

There is no way I would risk canning without the right equipment. Can you order rings and lids online and have them shipped to you? The ball recipes are all on their site if you wish to skip the book. They have reusable lids now (Tattler lids) and I would try those in yoru situation.

Sure, botulism is rare, but it happens. You cannot see it or smell it, or even taste it. Sure, my grandparents canned everything in a water bath and lived. They won the roulette wheel.

Yes, I can, and I am obviously very careful with it. :lol

I would freeze and dehydrate; you can use your oven or even a table oudoors in the sun with a screen and a few heavy rocks. You can make freezer jams as well.

---------- Post added at 01:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

The mom I nanny for is from India and I have watched her can by boiling the jars/lids, filling them with hot food stuffs (she only cans ghee, so Im not sure how to do it for other stuff.) The jam lids will pop in when they are properly sealed.:shrug3

I dunno...it does make me nervous, but doesn't the food LOOK bad if its gone bad?

Nope, not always. Obviously you don't eat anything that seems off, and if a jar doesn't seal you treat it as any opened food (eat it now or freeze the contents).

I am slightly horrified at the idea of unprocessed, canned dairy. More than slightly.

The whole thing is that a sealed jar DOES NOT MEAN botulism cannot be present.

[WaitPatientlyOnTheLord]

I am slightly horrified at the idea of unprocessed, canned dairy. More than slightly.


Wouldn't boiling it (after it has been purchased pasteurized from the store) qualify as "processed"? :scratch I dunno, shes always done it and so has everyone she knew in India. :shrug3 I think that as people living in "first world countries" where we have ready access to everything we need tend to think thats the ONLY way to do things.

I do definitely believe there are safety issues to it. The OTHER mom I nanny for had a neighbor die of botulism from their own canned food. So it definitely happens. Personally, its not a risk that *I* would take. But I recognize I am saying that as a spoiled American who has either always had access to proper equipment or else been able to buy as much canned goods from the store as I could desire. I recognize this is not the norm in every culture.

I would exhaust all my other options before trying this, personally.

I guess I had read that the cans explode or leak generally if there is a problem such as bacteria in the food. :heart I would believe that its not always visible or smellable/tasteable otherwise my friends neighbor would not have died.:-/

[Johns_Gal]

Wouldn't boiling it (after it has been purchased pasteurized from the store) qualify as "processed"? :scratch I dunno, shes always done it and so has everyone she knew in India. :shrug3 I think that as people living in "first world countries" where we have ready access to everything we need tend to think thats the ONLY way to do things.

I guess I had read that the cans explode or leak generally if there is a problem such as bacteria in the food. :heart I would believe that its not always visible or smellable/tasteable otherwise my friends neighbor would not have died.:-/

No. Canning heats food to a high temperature and maintains it long enough to kill any bacteria (assuming proper amounts of acid are there). Honestly, just boiling food and using the food's heat to seal is little different than boiling food and pouring it in a tupperware, then setting it in the pantry.

Canning for a set amount of time at a set pressure is not the only way to do it. It is, however, the only way to be reaosnably sure you're not going to get very sick/die from ingesting a fatal nerve toxin. :/ Canning is something I don't take lightly at all; I'm no a stickler with most things, but canning, oh yes. Botulism won't just give you an upset stomach, it can kill you. Now that we have hospitals with respiratory support available, it's far less fatal than it once was, but no way amd I going to chance it.

I mostly water bath can, and I follow the directions to the letter. Canning is not an area to experiment, IMHO. If DS got botulism because I decided not to take every precaution I might never forgive myself.

Annnnd, this thread is why I do not eat other people's home canned foods unless I know they are as careful as I am. :shiver SOme people still water bath can MEATS and FISH. That's freaking scary. :shifty

[Love_Is_Patient]

I've processed both jams and pickles (cucumbers) in a water bath, using re-used sterilized jam jars. It can be done. I'm sure there is an element of risk to it. You can usually hear the 'pop' when the jars seal and sealed jars and unsealed jars do sound different when you tap the lids. I just refridgerate any jars that don't seal, and use those first.

[WaitPatientlyOnTheLord]

No. Canning heats food to a high temperature and maintains it long enough to kill any bacteria (assuming proper amounts of acid are there). Honestly, just boiling food and using the food's heat to seal is little different than boiling food and pouring it in a tupperware, then setting it in the pantry.


humm, that makes sense.:think

[StumblinMama]

Do you have a freezer? My southern granny didn't can anything. She would "put up" veggies and fruits in the freezer. She'd spend an entire day blanching and putting everything in freezer bags. I wish she was still alive so that I could ask her why she chose that over canning. She was born in 1918 in the deep south, so I'm still really curious as to why she didn't can anything.

[Johns_Gal]

I've processed both jams and pickles (cucumbers) in a water bath, using re-used sterilized jam jars. It can be done. I'm sure there is an element of risk to it. You can usually hear the 'pop' when the jars seal and sealed jars and unsealed jars do sound different when you tap the lids. I just refridgerate any jars that don't seal, and use those first.

This doesn't bother me. I figure if there is a chip in the rim or something, the food will leak out during processing or it simply won't seal. Worst case, the glass will shatter in the canner. Heck of a mess but no one dies.

It's more the whole skipping processing time thing/inappropriate lids that makes me twitch.

Also, oh my WORD if my internet drops one more time!

[SweetCaroline]

:-/ jeez. i thought we were just talking about jam. i would be careful with meat and stuff

[rheadeja]

Yeah, I'm really strict with my canning too. I have a pressure canner for my low-acid foods.....Most fruits and jams are high enough acid to water bath can just fine - tomatoes too if you add a little bit of lemon juice.

I know lots of people say "my grandma did it and she was fine" - we've all heard those stories. But I always think that we don't hear the stories of the people who got botulism, because they died! :-/

Can someone send you some jars and lids?

[knitlove]

I'm in a country with no access to jars, rings, lids etc. I was told by a lady here that I can just use a sterilized jam jar and process it in my sketchy Asian pressure cooker (no directions, no gauges, no brand name). All the canning websites I'm reading say this is akin to suicide. Does anyone here have experience canning with what you can find? Any ideas on how I preserve fruit for the upcoming season when we won't have much to chose from?
bold mine
she isn't planning on not prsssing it, she is asking about reuseing jars and processing in a presser cooker. She also seams to only be asking about fruit and not low aside food or meat.

[Johns_Gal]

bold mine
she isn't planning on not prsssing it, she is asking about reuseing jars and processing in a presser cooker. She also seams to only be asking about fruit and not low aside food or meat.

Yes. And no proper lids. Which I would not do with *any* food. I'd make freezer jam and freeze whatever slices and whole berries I wanted. It not worth risking.

I would, here, water bath them (no need to pressurize high acid foods) with no fear, but without rings and lids? Nope. That's my concern. You certainly can pressure jan fruit, but you don't need to. IME< the fruit tends to get a smidge mushy and odd when pressurized; I did whole blueberries like that a few years ago and the result was inedible unless further processed into pie filling. :/

[arelyn]

Do you have a freezer? My southern granny didn't can anything. She would "put up" veggies and fruits in the freezer. She'd spend an entire day blanching and putting everything in freezer bags. I wish she was still alive so that I could ask her why she chose that over canning. She was born in 1918 in the deep south, so I'm still really curious as to why she didn't can anything.

My mother from the South won't can because that's how poor people do things.:shrug3

We only have electricity about half the day and no generator so no freezer for us. It'd be nice though.

I would love to dry things but my "oven" is a metal box the size of my college TV that sits on top of my gas burner (so super small batches for big inconvenience) and we have a TON of bugs here. Even if I bought a bug screen the littlest ants would just walk under and help themselves.

And yes, just high acid fruit with extra lime juice added. I'm not totally mad! ;)