Heres how to safely water bath can, plus the canning equipment youll need.
Sally Vargas / Simply Recipes
Home canning is a passport to all sorts of food preservation adventures.
The most common form of home canning is water bath canningprobably because its the most straightforward.
Sally Vargas / Simply Recipes
Its not rocket science, but there are lots of steps and required equipment to get familiar with.
Stick around and well walk you through it so youcancan with confidence.
Compared to smoking, curing, and fermentation, canning is quite new.
Sally Vargas / Simply Recipes
The process was initially developed during the Napoleonic Wars to feed a multitude of troops on the move.
Water Bath Canning vs. Pressure Canning
There are two types of home canning.
How to Water Bath Can: Step by Step
Gather your equipmentall in one spot.
Sally Vargas / Simply Recipes
Fill the cannerwith enough hot water to cover the jars by at least 1 inch.
Put on the lid and bring to a boilover high heat.
As the water comes to a boil,wash the lids and bands in hot, soapy water.Dry well.
Sally Vargas / Simply Recipes
Go ahead and get started on whatever youll be canning.
Is that water boiling now?
Its important that the jars be hot when you fill them.
Sally Vargas / Simply Recipes
Simple Tip!
Line the hot, empty jars up on one of the towels you have ready.
Fill the jarsusing the handy canning funnel.
Sally Vargas / Simply Recipes
Put on the lids:Lay the lids on the jars, then screw on the bands fingertip-tight.
This means not too tight and not too loose.
Using the jar lifters,lower the jars into the water bath canner.
Add more water if needed so the jars are totally submerged by at least 1 inch of water.
Raise the heat to high.
This is called the processing time, and its not the same for every recipe.
Set them on a cloth towel on your counter.
Check for a seal:As the jars cool, the tops should seal.
Sometimes this happens right away, with an audible pop.
Sometimes they make no sound at all and take 20 minutes, or even a few hours.
you could tell a jar is sealed when you tap firmly on the lid and hear a dull thump.
Lids that arent sealed will make a metallic ping.
Any jars that didnt seal within 12 hours can be added back to the water bath and processed again.
When the jars are completely cool, unscrew the bands, which tend to trap water.
Dry off the bands and jars, if needed, and then screw the bands back on.
Just screw the bands on as needed as you bring up the jars or give them away.
Label and dateyour jars.
How Long Do Home-Canned Jars Keep?
I have jars of jam going on 4 years that are still plenty good.
Even so, a rule of thumb is to consume home-canned goods within 1 year.
How Long to Water Bath Can
Your recipe will tell you the processing time.
It is often different for half-pint and pint jars or quarts.
For a primer on that, visitthis post from our friend Marisa McClellan at Food in Jars.
What Is Headspace?
The gap between the rim of the jar and the food youre canning is called the headspace.
Different recipes call for different headspaces because certain foods expand during the canning process.
Most jam and jelly recipes call for 1/4-inch headspace.
Many pickle recipes, meanwhile, call for 1/2-inch headspace.
Some canning funnels even have hash marks to indicate headspace levels.
In fact, subjecting them to boiling water prior to canning may even cause a seal to fail.
Washing lids in hot, soapy water, rinsing, and then drying them well is the new protocol.
Go with the recommendations on the package.
