General Tips for Home Canning

You will have to attend to many details while preserving food at home, but it gets easier as you become familiar with the process. The following tips will help you successfully complete your home canning project with great results.

Buy a jar lifter and use it.
Make sure that jars in canner are not touching each other or the sides of the canner.
Make sure that a rack is in the bottom of the canner that prevents the jars from touching the bottom.
Always inspect the edges of the jar mouths for nicks or scratches. Imperfections in the edges will make sealing impossible.
Always use new lids. Packages of just lids are widely available for this purpose. Jars and bands may be re-used.
Always wipe completely clean the jar mouth edges before applying the lid. Particles of food on the jar mouth could interfere with sealing.
Follow canning guidelines. Don’t compromise, substitute, or declare something good enough. Follow the directions and your food will be safe and good.
When pickling foods, make sure to use vinegar with 5% acidity. Some vinegars only have 4% acidity, but don’t use them.
Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours after removing them from the water bath or pressure canner.
Remove the jar bands and wipe clean the jars and lids before storing. Little bits of food often leak out during processing and you would not want to store the jars with food bits stuck to them. You can put clean jar bands back on for storage if you want to.
Home canned products have a shelf life of up to 12 months. Label and date your jars as you produce the food. Do not eat food more than 12 months old.
Select high quality produce at or near the peak of ripeness. You can cut out small blemishes if necessary, but don’t use overly damaged foods.