How To Use A Water Bath Canner

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How To Use A Water Bath Canner

So, you're ready to start preserving food and you want to know about water bath canning. There lots of benefits to canning and preserving, AND it's really easy to do!

If you follow directions for each recipe EXACTLY and inspect each jar carefully before serving, you and your friends will be enjoying the 'fruits of your labor' all year long!

How Water Bath Canning Works:

Here's a brief explanation of how the water bath canning process works and why it's so important.

• First, food is placed in a clean mason jar.
• A lid, with a rubber sealing compound, is placed on the jar.
• A ring, which screws onto the jar, is put on top of the lid to hold it in place.
• Headspace is always left between the food and the lid.
• Then the jar is submerged in boiling water.
• Because air expands when exposed to heat, the air in the jar expands and forces its way out from under the lid.
• That's why there are always bubbles when jars are first placed in the boiling water.
• After a certain amount of time has passed, jars are removed from the canner and the air inside begins to shrink again.
• The rubber sealing compound on the lid will not allow air in, so the lid is sucked shut, creating an oxygen-free vacuum inside the jar.
• Not only have you killed the microorganisms that might get you sick or spoil the food, you've created an environment in which they cannot survive.
  1. Free of oxygen
  2. High in acid
• It's always important to follow a tested recipe when water bath canning because not everything can be water bath canned.

Things You Can Water Bath Can:

It's possible to water bath can foods that are high in acid like:

• Tomatoes and tomato products
• Fruits, jams and jellies
• Pickles
• Some fermented products like sauerkraut

Things You Can't Water Bath Can:

Other foods, like the following, need to be pressure canned or frozen or preserved in some other way.

• Meats
• Fish
• Most vegetables
• Soups

That's a quick summary of water bath canning, but below we're going to run through the whole process so you can see each of the steps involved.

Materials Needed:

• Water bath canner (we're using a 21.5 quart GraniteWare water bath canner)
• Canner pot and lid
• Canning rack
• Accessory kit (our kit includes spatula, lid lifter, jar wrench, jar lifter and a funnel)
• A pot to heat your food
• A ladle for filling jars
• Small pot to heat lids and rings
• Canning jars
• Brand new lids and rings

Directions:

Be sure to ALWAYS use tested recipes whenever you're canning. Don't risk your own health or that of your family and friends on foods that have not been properly processed or preserved.

In this video, we're going to be processing salsa, though the focus of this video is about getting you comfortable with your water bath canner. Keep in mind, the steps we'll be walking you through will apply to most of the things you're going to be water bath canning.

1. First, you'll need to prep your food according to the recipe you're using.
2. Next, you'll need to heat things up.
1. First, heat your food to a simmer or a boil, according to the recipe.
2. While your food is heating, heat water in a smaller pot to just below a simmer, to heat up your lids and rings. You don't need to boil them, we just want them the same temperature as everything else.
3. In most cases, you're going to want to heat up your jars as well, so they don't go into the canner 'cold'. You can do this in one of several ways.
1. Heat jars in a separate large pot of boiling water.
2. Fill your sink with boiling water and heat jars there.
3. Or for small batches, boil water in your canner and heat your jars there.
3. When your food has cooked for the correct amount of time, remove your jars from the boiling water and place them on a cloth or cutting board where you have some room to work.
4. Leave your lids and rings in the hot water until you're ready for them.
5. Ladle the food into your jars-- it's best to use a funnel to do this.
6. Leave the correct amount of head space in each jar, as indicated by your recipe.
7. To remove trapped air bubbles, tamp the jars gently once or twice on the counter and run a silicon or rubber spatula around the edges of the jar.
8. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean cloth or paper towel to remove any food.
9. Next, use tongs or a magnetic lid lifter to pull the lids out of the hot water.
10. Center each lid on a jar and then screw the rings on to fingertip tightness. Twist just until you meet the first bit of resistance and then turn lids once more.
11. Now that all your jars are filled with hot food, use a jar lifter to transfer them to the jar rack in your canner.
12. Once the rack is full, gently lower it into the canner, being careful not to splash yourself with hot water.
13. Make sure that no matter what size jar you're using there is at LEAST 2 inches of water above the tops of the jars. That way you ensure your jars will always be submerged.
14. Once your jars are in the canner, you can always add more hot water, if needed. You might want to keep some hot water near by in a tea kettle.
15. Before you start the timer for your recipe's processing time, make sure the water in the canner has come back to a rolling boil.
16. Place the lid on the canner and once the water is at a rolling boil, set a timer to the amount of processing time indicated in your recipe.
17. Once the processing time has elapsed, turn off the burner and use the jar lifter to remove the jars from the canner.
18. Be sure not to tip the water off the lids of the jar when you remove them from the canner. This can cause the food to slosh around in the jar and can ruin the seal.
19. Set the jars on a cloth or a cutting board where they'll be out of the way and let them cool overnight.
20. When the jars have cooled completely, it's best to take off the rings. That way, you can avoid having your lids rust if there's water trapped in the ring.
21. You'll also want to check that all of your jars have a good seal. You're looking for a convex lid (one that's sucked down). You can also tell by pushing down on the lid, which, if there's a good seal, should have very little give.
22. Now all you need to do is label and store your food.
23. Or proudly share it with family and friends!

And that's how you use a water bath canner. It's really that simple! Look for more canning how-to's right here on The Mason Jar Suite. And as always, HAPPY CANNING!

Frequently Asked Questions and Quick Tips!

Never be afraid to ask!

1. If I'm new to canning is water bath canning the best place to start?
   
   ANSWER: While both water bath canning and pressure canning are relatively simple-- once you understand the processes-- water bath canning can be a less intimidating place to start. However, since only foods high in acid can be water bath canned, it does limit what you can preserve using this method.
   
   For more information on general canning principles and understanding how both water bath and pressure canners are meant to be used, we recommend the following links.
   
   General Canning Information
   Using Boiling Water Canners
   Using Pressure Canners
   
   In addition, those just starting out with canning may also find it helpful to go through the National Center for Home Food Preservation free, self-study course publications via the link below.
   
   USDA Complete Guide To Home Canning
   
   
2. Why is it so important to use only tested recipes when canning?
   
   ANSWER: For home canning, the specific recipe, and usually the preparation method, will determine how the product can be processed--whether in a water bath canner or a pressure canner. As mentioned above, a water bath canner can only be used for acid and properly acidified foods, while a pressure canner can be used for low-acid foods. Then, the process time in the canner will be dependent on the specific recipe and product characteristics.
   
   The USDA and Cooperative Extension program encourage consumers to use tested, science-based home-canning recipes from reliable sources like their websites or some equipment or home preserving ingredient manufacturers. In fact, here's a great resource for canning recipes from our friends at Ball.
   
   Canning Recipes
   
   
3. Why can't I preserve meat, veggies and other low-acid foods in a water bath canner?
   
   ANSWER: Because meat and most veggies are low-acid foods, they must be processed in a pressure canner. Water bath canners can't get water any hotter than 212 F (at sea level), which is the boiling point of water, and that's not hot enough to kill the bacteria that can grow in low acid foods. In a pressure canner, the presence of steam allows the internal temperature of the canner to rise up to 250° F, which is a safe temperature to ensure that harmful bacteria are killed.

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