Amelia Jeanroy

You can preserve food by water-bath canning, pressure canning, freezing, or dehydrating—all are time-honored and safe techniques. Canning and preserving are great ways to save foods at their peak freshness and flavor and to stock your pantry with nutritious and delicious fare. These checklists provide quick instructions for each food preservation method, information on how to adjust recipes for high-altitude processing, advice to ensure canning success, and details on must-have canning and preserving equipment.

Fermenting foods requires a little bit of planning, research, and preparation before you can begin. Understanding the terms used in fermenting recipes is vitally important. And once you're ready to start fermenting your own food, you must make sure that your tools and equipment are completely clean.Glossary of fermenting termsFermenting foods and beverages requires a little bit of know-how.

Onions are a staple ingredient in many recipes. Their savory flavor often is the finishing touch to your favorite meal. Canning and preserving onions leaves them soft but flavorful. Keep these onions in your pantry as an important ingredient for your favorite recipe. Canning and preserving low-acid foods — such as onions — requires pressure canning to kill microorganisms that are harmful if not destroyed before ingesting the food.

Fermenting foods is one of those endeavors that requires patience and sometimes a little trial and error. When things don't seem to be working as you expected, check out these tips about the fermentation process. My fermented food is too salty. What do I do? When you taste fermented food, if you find it extremely salty, try rinsing it in a little water before eating.

Home cooks who live at high altitudes may be used to adjusting recipes; high-altitude adjustments apply to home canning, as well. Canning food safely requires your filled jars to be processed at a specified temperature or pressure level for a specified amount of time. If you live at altitudes higher than 1,000 or 2,000 feet above sea level, adjust your canning recipes for food safety.

Keep safety in mind whether you're water-bath canning or pressure canning. By canning foods safely, you can prevent kitchen accidents and food spoilage. Increase your chances for successful canning and maximum safety by following these guidelines: Used recipes made for modern-day canning (about 2000 or newer) and follow them exactly.

If you plan to can, freeze, or dry your food, you'll need some special tools. The equipment involved with canning or preserving food is designed for efficiency and safety, so be sure you to use them. If you have these pieces already, great! If not, add them to your shopping list: Tongs: Have tongs ready for lifting hot foods out of boiling or simmering water.