Canning Basics: A Step-By-Step Guide

I have written many different articles about canning meat, vegetables, sauces etc. on our blog, but I realized I have never written a simple and concise article regarding the basic steps for canning foods safely. After all, canning and preserving food is a relatively simple process, regardless of whether you are going to use a pressure canner or a water bath canner, the preparation steps are the same. In fact, all of the equipment needed to preserve meats, vegetables, fruits, and sauces is the same with the exception of the pressure canner and water bath canner. So regardless of the type of canner you are using, if you follow the steps outlined in this article you will able to safely preserving your bounty.

Step One: Grab Your Recipe

Grab your recipe and take a look at the type of food you will be processing. In general, all foods containing meat (beef, chicken, fish, rabbit, and wild game), broths, beans, corn, carrots, and seafood should be processed in a pressure canner. While jellies, jams, tomatoes, lemons, oranges, pickles, and pears can be safely canned in a water bath canner.

You need to take care with combination foods. While tomatoes can be safely canned in a water bath canner with the addition of a little citric acid, if meat is added to the tomatoes such as when making chili or spaghetti sauce you will have to use a pressure canner to safely preserve the final product. Personally, anytime I add a low acid food to a high acid food (squash and zucchini in tomato sauce), I process the final product in a pressure canner. For an in-depth look at determining the proper type of canner to use in order to preserve your food safely, check out my article “To Pressure Or Not To Pressure: That Is the Question” on our blog. Now that you have your recipe and determined the proper canner to use, and you need to gather the rest of the equipment you will need

Step Two: Gathering Your Equipment

It is important to make sure you have the required amount of clean canning jars, lids and rings that you will need to process your meat, vegetables, soups, stocks, or jelly. Believe me, nothing is worse then running of canning jars before you have all your food processed. If you haven't cleaned your canning jars prior to starting, now is a good time to do so. At this point the jars do not have to be sterile, just clean. We will sterilize them later.

In addition to your jars, lids and bands, you want to gather your jar tongs, magnetic lid lifter, canning funnel, ladle and a bubble remover (a small plastic spatula will work). In my own personal inventory, I keep a couple of plastic canning funnels and ladles so that when I get knee deep in canning, I do not have to keep washing and re-sterilizing dirty equipment. However having one of each will suffice. 

While all of these items may seem self explanatory, a canning funnel has one end that sits evenly onto the jar and allows you to fill the jar without dirtying the rim or outside of the jar. While some home canners do not think they are necessary, they make canning so much easier and they only cost a couple of dollars at your local Walmart. Personally, I do not can without one.

The last piece of equipment that you will need is your actual canner. The type of food you will be canning will determine the type of canner you need. For low-acid foods you will need to use a pressure canner, for high acid foods and jellies, you can use a water bath canner. Looking at your recipe should have already given you a good idea of which type of canner you need to use. However, if you are still unsure of which type of canner to use you can check out my article “To Pressure Or Not To Pressure: That Is the Question” on our blog.

Step Three: Cleaning, Heating and Or Sterilizing Your Jars

It should be noted that most of the foods that you can, do not require you to sterilize your jars. The USDA Complete Guide To Home Canning (2015) states: Empty jars used for vegetables, meats, and fruits to be processed in a pressure canner need not be presterilized. It is also unnecessary to presterilize jars for fruits, tomatoes, and pickled or fermented foods that will be processed 10 minutes or longer in boiling water canner (p 1-15). Having said that I sterilize all my jars just out of habit, but it is not necessary.

Fill your stockpot or water bath canner about ¾ full with water and put on the stove and set it on high. If you do this step before preparing your food, then your canner should be ready just about the time you are ready to process your food items. You do not want to be waiting 20 minutes or longer after you have finished preparing the food you wish to can for the canner to be ready.

At this point your stockpot or water bath canner should be simmering or even possibly boiling which is a good thing because before we process any food items, we are going to use the stockpot or water bath canner to heat our canning jars. Using your jar tongs place the jars in your water bath canner in small batches and leave for 10 minutes to heat the jars. It is important to make sure the jars are thoroughly covered by the boiling water to completely heat them. If you can, leave the jars in the simmering water until ready to use, otherwise, remove the hot jars to a wire rack or a bath towel folded in half to protect the counter. I also take the time to soak funnels and any other equipment that will come in contact with the food during the canning process, but this is not necessary.

The Ball Blue Book of Canning (2011) states: Jars should be heated for 10 minutes before filling to prevent breakage. Submerge the jars in enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer (180 degrees), keeping jars in simmering water until ready for use (p. 10). The USDA Complete Guide To Home Canning (2015) states: Submerge the clean empty jars in enough water to cover them in a large stockpot or boiling water canner. Bring to a simmer (180 degrees), keeping jars in simmering water until it is time to fill them with food (p. 1-14). If you want to sterilize your jars, then you need to heat the water to boiling (212 degrees) and then leave them for in for 10 minutes before removing.

While you are heating your jars, take a small saucepan and fill with water and set it on high and heat it just until it starts to boil. Turn the burner down to low or simmer and add your rings and lids. Now it's time to get your food prepped and prepared for canning.

Step Four: Prepping and Preparing Your Food

Now that you have your recipe, the proper canner, and all of your canning equipment (ladle, funnels, lid lifter, and bubble remover) and your jars. It's time to go ahead and prepare the food your are wanting to preserve per your recipes instructions as needed prior to canning. Once your food is ready, grab your jars and get ready to fill them as instructed and place them in either your water bath or pressure canner to be processed.

Step Five: How To Use Your Water Bath and Pressure Canner

A water bath canner relies on the temperature of the boiling water to preserve food (water boils at 212 degrees) therefore the contents of the canning jars in a water bath canner can never exceed the temperature of the boiling water. A pressure canner on the other hand relies on a small amount of water which is heated and pressurized to bring the internal temperature inside the pressure canner above the boiling point of water (5psi = 227 degrees, 10psi = 240 degrees, and 15psi = 257 degrees) in order to preserve low acid foods safely. Now that you know the how and why, we can get on to instructions for using each individual type of canner. For more specific information regarding the different types of pressure canners check out my article “Yes You Can!: Preserving Your Bounty” on our blog.

Step Five A: Using A Water Bath Canner

Once your jars have been heated and the food you wish to process is ready, take your canning funnel and fill the jars leaving the required amount of head space per your recipe (usually ¼ to ½ inch). Wipe the rim of the jar with a damp paper towel and remove a lid and ring from the small saucepan and place onto the jar and hand tighten. Then using your jar tongs place the jar into the water bath canner, repeating this process until your water bath canner is full or you run out of jars to process. Once all the jars are in the water bath canner, make sure the jars are covered by 3 to 4 inches of boiling water, then cover the canner to maintain the heat and process for the required amount of time as indicated by your recipe.

Step Five B: Using A Weighted Gauge Pressure Canner

Once your jars have been heated, add 3 to 4 inches of water to your pressure cooker and bring it it a slight boil. Once the water is boiling, add the food you wish to process is ready, take your canning funnel and fill the jars leaving the required amount of head space per your recipe (usually ¼ to ½ inch). Wipe the rim of the jar with a damp paper towel and remove a lid and ring from the small saucepan and place onto the jar and hand tighten. Then using your jar tongs place the jar into the pressure canner, repeating this process until your pressure canner is full or you run out of jars to process.

Once the pressure canner is full, place the lid on the canner and increase the heat under the canner until steam begins to come out of the vent. Then place the appropriate weight as called for in your recipe. Once your pressure canner starts to rock the weight, reduce the heat source until it “rocks” or releases pressure every 15 – 25 seconds, then start your timer and process for the indicated amount of time called for in your recipe.

Chef's Note: If I am ever unsure of the exact pressure to use on my weighted pressure canner, then 15psi is my default pressure setting.

Conclusion

These are the steps that I follow almost every time I can meats, produce, soups and jellies. I have performed these steps in this order so many times that I can almost do them in my sleep. I am not going to tell you that these are the only steps to follow and that you have to follow them in this order, rather they work well for me, and in my experience follow a pretty logical progression. Gather your recipe, gather your equipment, clean and sterilize your equipment and jars, prep your food, then process your food. Like I said at this beginning of this article, the steps involved to preserve your own food and food products is simple and quite satisfying.

You may notice that my instructions for using a pressure canner are for a weighted gauge pressure canner, I have never used a dial gauge pressure canner so I am not comfortable giving instructions for something in which I have never used. If you have a dial only pressure canner, I suggest you consult the manufactorers instruction manual regarding it's proper usage. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.

Related Articles on Our Blog:

Yes You Can!: Preserving Your Bounty.

To Pressure Or Not To Pressure: That Is the Question.