It’s almost canning season, and you just want to make sure that when you are doing food preservation you are doing it safely. There are a number of different ways people can preserve food. With freezing, be careful not to overload the freezer.
Make sure that you are doing it vastly sufficient to allow the freezer to freeze that food quickly, and to not overload the freezer. And also, the closer you are to maintaining your freezer to zero, the better it is on the quality and structure of food.
Then with dehydrating, a couple of tips. Most fruits and vegetables actually dry better at 110, 120 rather than up around 140, that’s a little too hot, and so your food will take a little bit longer, and the color and the texture is actually nicer in the long run.
For water bath canning, make sure they’re covered with at least an inch of water over the top, if you can get more that’s great, and then you start your actual timing when the water comes back up to a boil after you’ve added the jars, and then be sure to add time for the altitude you’re at.
For pressure canning, you want to make sure you have an accurate gauge, and an altitude adjustment for using your pressure canner for low acid foods, you want to make sure you add pressure for the altitude that you’re at.
The last thing that I want to mention is that you follow safe practices in food preservation. Make sure that you’re using tested recipes from either USDA, or State extension offices around the country. There are food preservation classes that are going on around the state, check yourlocal extension office here.
