Contact your Cooperative Extension Service (County Extension). They may have classes, and will have up-to-date information they'll give you free.

The link below is a great site for information.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: National Center for Home Food Preservation

You need to pressure can low-acid foods, which include most vegetables. Tomatoes are an exception because they ae acidic.

My advice would be to buy the "Ball Blue Book of Home Canning andFreezing" It's cheap, and it's a really good reference book for beginning as well as experienced canners.

Ther are lts of us on this forum that can, so I am sure you'll get tons of excellent advice!

Linda

Grainlady gave you _the_ essential link for canning.

You will find a lot of experienced, enthusiastic canners on the Harvest Forum.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest Forum

Lisa, there are definitely safety rules for canning. Things like fruit, jam, jelly, pickles, relishes, chutney, tomatoes can be canned in a boiling water bath. Any vegetables (not pickled) or meat should be pressure canned.

I second the Blue Book and check out that link. You can't mjust pressure can vegetables, you have to know the lengths of time and at what pressure.

I can nearly everything, from beef to berries, I've been doing it my whole life, but I've changed a lot of my methods as safety rules change.

If you have specific questions, ask away, several of us here can and we're glad to help.

Annie

Lisa, I wish you were in my area of the country, because I could have written your post, word-for-word! I want to learn to can (I've only done cold water canning of pickles, and I don't think that's 'OK' any more), because my freezing-out-of-fear is taking too much room and I want to expand my garden, including the exact types of berries you mentioned. I'm going to stick to boiling water bath canning. Not only do I not want to poison my family, I don't want to blow anything up! And I really have no interest in canning veggies, I don't think...Just salsa, jams, pickles, and fruit.

Anyway, best wishes...I'll be trying it out this year right along with you, just a few thousand miles away!

Jam, pickles and tomatoes are a great place to start your venture into canning. I'll warn you now - it becomes an obsession. I started out making a few jars of apple butter and jelly, and now I have shelves full of canned goods in my "little cellar".

Definitely post your questions here or on the Harvest Forum. I've never encountered a more helpful group of people anywhere :-)

What the others all wrote. And come back here and to Harvest for answers to your questions.

This group has taught me so much and are always willing to help.

Lisa I too was afraid I'd poison everyone, but once I started canning I could not stop! All you have to do to can safely is to read up on it and learn the correct method for the correct type of product. Canning is no more dangerous than cooking--you can poison your family if you prepare meat, eggs and dairy incorrectly too, but you are used to doing it and follow the safety rules you learned early on. The same goes for canning, once you learn the basic rules, it is easy and VERY safe. I trust something I make myself WAY more than something made in a factory--salmonella in peanut butter is a case in point. By canning yourself you absolutely KNOW what is in your products. And they taste YUMMY!!

Fruits are easy peasy to start with since they are acidic and can be canned using a boiling water bath even without sugar. Applesauce is just about the easiest thing going to why not start with that? Or here's a fun recipe to get you started. BUY THE BALL BLUE BOOK OF CANNING and visit the Home Food Preservation Web site so you know what these techniques mean. Once you get the terms down, I'm telling you it is soooooo easy. I cannot make a decent pie crust to save my life, now THAT is hard, but all canning involves is hacking up stuff and cooking it in a big pot, then putting it in sterile jars and boiling them. If you can chop, stir and boil water you CAN can! I am the world's clumsiest and most distracted cook. If it can be burnt, improperly seasoned or mushed up some way, I will do it, but my canned goods are all great!

Linda Lou's Apple Pie Jam
4 cups tart apples, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
4 cups sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 box pectin (you can buy pectin in the grocery store next to where they sell canning jars. A common brand is called "Sure Jell.")
1/2 teaspoon butter (frankly I'd leave this out but adding a little bit of butter is a common technique to prevent foaming and it won't do any harm. I just don't like butter in my preserves, I'd rather skim off any foam that forms, which is usually very little if at all.)
Add water, cider or apple juice to chopped apples to measure 4 cups. (What this means is add a couple of splashes of juice or water to the cup measures when you put the apples in the pan to get the apples cooking). Place apples and water into large, heavy saucepan. Stir in lemon juice, cinnamon and allspice. Measure sugars. Stir pectin into fruit. Add butter. Bring mixture to full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Quickly stir in both sugars. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon. Ladle quickly into hot, clean jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands on finger tight. (I have no idea what "finger tight" means. Just screw the band on, but not so tight it will be hard to get them unscrewed. Secure is good, don't need to go overoard, the bands are there to prevent the lids from coming off during processing). Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. "Process" just means put them in the pot and boil them for 10 min.! When you take the jars out the air inside of them that has expanded with the heat will contract as it cools, forming a vacume seal for the lids. When that happens the lid will go from slightly convex to concave, and in so doing will make a "ping" sound. You will LOVE the pings!

Just as a clarification, tomatoes are not considered acidic. They are borderline and can be low-acid, depending upon variety and growing conditions. They can be processed in a boiling water bath but for safety and security, bottled lemon juice or citric acid is added to the product.

The distinction between low-acid and high-acid foods is critical. Improperly processed low-acid foods put consumers at risk of botulism. If a food is high-acid, there may be a risk of spoilage, but you don't have to worry about killing anyone. Green beans, corn, meats, etc. must be pressure-canned (unless they're pickled) because only pressure-canning will reach a high enough temperature to kill botulism spores.

Jams offer an excellent starting point because the results are so satisfying and the risk is essentially non-existent (barring some unusual preserves like banana or fig).

The NCHFP link provided above is an excellent one to check. They're the "gold standard" and always have the latest research and information.

If you scroll down the main page, you'll notice their FREE online course: Preserving Food at Home: A Self-Study. You work at your own pace and there's no cost. What more could you ask?

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP Self-Study Course

Thanks, Carol, I knew their course used to be free, but you had to give them your social security number, but I didn't know the requirements now.

I'm glad it's still free.

And you are absolutely right about the tomatoes, especially some of today's hybrids are much lower in acid than tomatoes used to be and you could get into real trouble canning tomatoes if you're not aware.

Annie

I was cleaning out my basement this past month - what can accumulate in over 20 years!!! Anyway, I came across a set of old Time/Life cookbooks I bought when I was first married, but never ended up using all that much. One of them was on preserving, so I took it out of the box and flipped thru it - that was where I learned about the acid and sugar issues (they recommended adding lemon juice to tomatoes as well), but to me, the instructions weren't all that clear and I was confused about why you could hot water bath jam, but not string beans. Now I understand a little better.

I will definitely check out that book - I have to go up to Borders today at lunch anyway, so I'll see if they have it and if not, I can just get it on-line.

I definitely will be back with questions once I get started!!

Rhome410 - I forgot about salsa! That's something I want to can as well. I make my own and freeze it, but again, because of space issues I'd like to can whatever I can and save the freezer space. Good luck with your garden as well! I'm VERY excited about the blackberries most of all - I can't wait to pick my own. I'm sick of lusting after them in the grocery store at about $5 for a tiny little package!! And the whole family loves blackberry jam.

Lpinkmountain - thanks for the recipe. Apples are cheap enough that I'll probably work on making some apple sauce and apple butter while I patiently wait for my berry bushes to produce, which haven't even been planted yet!!

Thanks to everyone for the tips and the links - I didn't even think of the Harvest forum - that makes sense. I'll be back soon with more questions, I'm sure.

While I'm here, besides Wal-Mart, is there another good place to get the supplies? I know I can get them online as well - is there an "approximate" price range to look for? I would have no idea if I was getting ripped off or not because I don't have a clue what the supplies should cost. And I won't shop at Wal-Mart even if they're the cheapest around, so that's not an option for me. Thanks!

Lisa

Ditto on the Ball Blue Book--great value for the dollar.

If you want to pursue pressure canning, be prepared to bite the bullet and get a good big pressure canner. I have used two All American pressure canners. I started out with the 921, but gave it to a relative and bought a 930 because it can process 14 quart jars at once. If you have the storage space for it (it's HUGE) it's worth it in time saved. (Once the canner comes up to pressure, the processing times are the same--so you are effectively processing twice the product per processing cycle.)

Another useful gadget in canning (water bath and pressure canning) is a jar lifter; it's not safe to handle hot slippery wet jars without one. They're pretty cheap. There are lots of other gadgets but I consider this one indespensable to any sort of canning.

Here is a link that might be useful: all american canner

I live in a really small town, so I get my canning stuff at the local hardware/feed store, but they are a tad bit more expensive. Most Ace Hardware or True Value Hardware stores carry supplies, and they will order them for you if they don't have them in stock. Every once in a while, the local supermarket has jars and pectin, but I can't count on that.

When I got my water bath canner and rack (the blue-speckled enamel kind), I think it was $18. The last time I looked at one, they were up to $45, but you got some jars, a jar lifter, funnel and a few other things as a kit. If you have a big stock pot with a lid, you can use that as long as it's deep enough to cover the jars with 2" of water.

Jars range from $7 to $12 a dozen, depending on the size. They went up about $1 to $1.50 last summer per dozen, probably due to the freight charges since gas was so expensive.

Pectin is $2.39 a box for the Sure-Jell stuff and I think $3.29 for the liquid pectin (which I only use for Habanero Gold jelly). Replacement lids are $2.50 to $3.00 for a box of 12.

Check Goodwill or Craig's List or Freecycle or yard sales for jars. As long as they're not chipped or cracked, they're fine to use for canning. Just make sure they are true canning jars (usually labeled Ball, Kerr or Golden Harvest).

Check out the Greatest Hits thread on the Harvest Forum for Annie's Salsa recipe (and lots more). I made almost 100 jars this year, and I'm worried I'm going to run out. It's the best!

Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest Forum - Greatest Hits Thread

One added thing - about the boiling water bath kits, which come with jar lifter, racks, etc., be sure it is tall enough to fit quart-sized jars. I purchased one - when I felt my old one was getting too rusty, but discovered the new one was too short for quart sizes.

You need 2 inches of boiling water above the jars for proper canning, and the shorter canners are only good for pint sizes.

However, if you have a pressure canner - it can be used for a water bath vessel also, so no need to purchase a 2nd one, just for that purpose.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

I have been canning for years and use a pressure canner for everything even pickles. Maybe I'm a little crazy but the lids today do not seem to seal as well when using a hot water bath method. So to be safe and avoid the non-sealers I always use the pressure canner. Last summer I entered a relish in the state fair and they only accepted pressure canned items.

Here is a link that might be useful: Traveling and cooking with grandpa

I haven't noticed any difference in the ratio of unsealed or poorly sealed jars regardless of processing method. I might get one or two seal failures in three or four years. I've gone more than that with no seal failures. (I should knock on wood saying that, LOL.) I've used everything from lids leftover from my MIL's (1950's-60's) to the current flats and rings.

One thing, though, is that newer lids utilize a different sealing compound. The older lids had to be boiled to soften the compound. If you do that with the new lids seals will fail. Those lids need to be heated but not boiled. The instructions on the box will clarify.

But I have noticed a shorter processing time expels less air, which is why I don't like to process jams only 5 minutes. On some jams I've noticed more problems with oxidation, so I don't doubt pressure canning would result in improved keeping qualities.

Carol

Lisa -

Your post describes me a year ago. Wanting to can, but not wanting to kill my family in the process - trying to research and being confused by so much information. The good news is, you've found the place to be! Research as much as you can (from the proper sources listed in the above posts) and ask questions here. The folks from the Harvest forum taught me how to can. Now I have in my pantry - green beans, tomatoes, salsa, pickles, jams/jellies, you name it. My advice: Educate yourself and then just jump in and do it. There is a learning curve, there will be mistakes, but you'll be canning everything in sight in no time.

On the Harvest forum there are tons of posts on new canner recommendations. The presto 16 or 23 quart seems to be pretty popular for 'newbies'. I bought the 16 quart Presto on Amazon last summer and it does everything I need it to. Cost is around $80. I think the All-Americans are in the hundreds.

Buy yourself the Ball Blue Book or the Ball Complete Guide to Home Preserving. Read it to get a good basic understanding of pressure canning vs. boiling water bath, high acid vs. low acid foods, etc. Then utilize the great people on these forums.

Best of luck to you!! (LindaLou's apple pie jam is very good!)

I totally agree with what Joy said. Ditto, me too. There are certain foods that are very easy and safe to can--jams, jellies and pickles, due to being acidic and using sugar, both create an environment where dangerous bacteria cannot grow well. So the stuff might be mushy, moldy or whatever, but not poisonous. Start with those, gain confidence and then branch out. I would also recommend a book called "Keeping the Harvest: Discover the Homegrown Goodness of Putting Up Your Own Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs" (Down-to-Earth Book) by Nancy Chioffi and Gretchen Mead. That book goes over what are the best methods of preserving the various kinds of produce--canning, drying or freezing. But there are similar books if you can't find that one, just search on Amazon for "preserving the harvest" or something like that.