Dixon: Confused about canning? These time-tested tips are top shelf

AMY DIXON

Well, according to my home vegetable garden, zucchini season is upon us.

I use the word us because in addition to me and my husband, our friends, family, neighbors, colleagues and complete strangers are receiving bags full of yellow squash and oversized zucchini almost on a daily basis. The summer harvest has started.

Every year, it seems that no matter how much fresh produce I manage to give away and force upon others, I still have a glut waiting in the wings. This is by no means a bad thing, though, which allows me the opportunity to preserve the fruits and vegetables I’ve grown by freezing, canning and dehydrating.

These days, most of us don’t rely on food preservation to sustain our diets, and we’ve moved well past the necessities of root cellars and canning pantries. However, eating from our gardens and enjoying that freshness well past the harvest window is a wonderful thing. Why grow so much squash and tomatoes if we don’t make it last, right?

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Learning how to reap the most from what you’ve sown is an invaluable skill, one that I was taught at a young age.

My grandmother made the best strawberry jam, a process she first let me be a part of when I was around 8 or 9 years old. I would help her wash and core baskets of ripe strawberries, our hands and laminate counter tops stained red in the process. She’d then cook the berries down slowly on the stove, stirring tirelessly until the magic combination of fruit, sugar and pectin would thicken. Afterwards, we’d ladle the jam into square plastic storage containers and layer them in neat stacks in the chest freezer. It was a long process, but well worth the result.

As a young adult, my aunt taught me the basics of canning, using both a water bath canner and pressure cooker. I learned what to freeze and what to dehydrate, along with a small dabble into fermentation. She also gifted me my first copy of the “Ball Blue Book of Preserving,” the absolutely necessary go-to reference guide for home canning.

I feel incredibly lucky to have had this mentorship at that stage in my life, a period where I was just getting into plants and cultivating a garden. It made me realize the power wielded within a packet of seeds and how just a little bit of knowledge could sustain me.

I’ve been hooked on canning for well over 20 years now, looking forward to my summer harvest every season. Since the pandemic spurred a surge in home vegetable gardening, a lot of new gardeners are eager to learn how to preserve their own food. I want to give an overview of food preservation, to help readers better understand what to do, how to do it and the best resources for hands-on learning.

Water bath canning, pressure canning, freezing, dehydrating and fermentation are the most common types of food preservation.

I’ve found that many people are intimidated by the idea of canning and preserving their produce. It’s nothing to be shy about, though. You just need a few supplies and a little bit of instruction about food safety guidelines.

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension is an invaluable resource for food preservation advice. I reached out to Stokes County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent Savannah Meyers about canning basics and some specifics regarding food safety.

“Food preservation is a fun and delicious way to save your harvest to enjoy in the off months of the year,” Meyers said. “It can be intimidating to start, but practice will help to grow your confidence.”

For those new to putting up their harvest, Meyers recommends starting with the most simple processes of freezing and fermenting. She pointed out that canning requires a bit more equipment and more food safety protocols.

“Freezing is the simplest, and one method many of us already use,” Meyers said. “For fermentation, starting out with a jar can allow you to make many different things. Sauerkraut is one of the simplest.”

While I haven’t dabbled in fermentation past sauerkraut, I do have a lot of experience freezing my harvest. I’ve used both freezer bags and vacuum seal bags. There are many different reusable containers available, as well.

In addition to freezer jam and fresh blueberries, I’ve also frozen fresh green beans, yellow summer squash and zucchini, okra, sliced green tomatoes and lots of roasted tomatoes with basil. Picked straight from the garden, many vegetables require only that you wash and dry them, slice, blanch (parboil) and package into freezer bags or containers.

It’s really that simple.

Meyers stressed that properly thawing frozen produce is also important to prevent food-borne problems. She defined four ways to properly thaw: “in the refrigerator, under cool running water, in the microwave (cook food immediately, don’t refreeze) or as part of the cooking process.”

However, thawing frozen produce at room temperature on the counter is not a safe method.

“Keep in mind that freezing prevents the growth of spoilage microorganisms in food, but it does not kill all pathogens, so proper thawing and cooking methods should be followed,” she explained.

Dehydrating is great for berries, fruits and herbs. I don’t dehydrate enough foods, and could stock up on some great snacks if I did more. And it’s a quick method of food preservation in terms of hands-on time.

“It is possible to dehydrate food in your oven, if it can reach temperatures 200 degrees or lower,” Meyers said. “And some herbs are able to be dried in the microwave. However, it is recommended to use an electric dehydrator for efficiency and quality.”

When it comes to canning, there are two distinct methods: water bath and pressure. Water-bath canning is used to preserve high-acid foods, such as pickles and jams. Pressure canning is used for low-acid foods, such as beans and corn.

Each method requires glass jars with lids and bands, but different types of pots are used for each. Water-bath canning requires a very large pot with a lid (the most common is an enamel pot sold specifically for canning).

Pressure canning requires a specialized pressure canner, which has a locking lid with a gauge.

There are other supplies that you need for canning as well, such as a jar lifter and funnel. The good thing is that you can find all the supplies you need in a kit, usually a Ball brand.

Years ago, I was taught how to pressure can, but all my home canning is done using the water-bath method. Each summer my husband and I can dozens of jars of salsa, pickles, relish and pickled okra. We also love to gift jars to friends and neighbors.

I won’t get into the specific steps of water-bath canning because the method varies for every recipe. The two best resources available for learning how to can are the “Ball Blue Book of Preserving” and attending classes at your local extension office. I am a hands-on learner and I think classes and workshops are so helpful for anyone looking to learn about the basics of safe canning.

The pages of my “Ball Blue Book” are now tattered, dog-eared, stained and crumpled. And I love it. When the cucumbers start to pile up and it’s time to make spicy pickles, the “Blue Book” leads my fingers to the right page — exactly where its spine is cracked and messy notations riddle the page margins.

Year after year, reading my own handwritten instructions about the quantity of cukes it takes to make a run of delicious homemade pickles — I consider that grounds for a successful and satisfying harvest.

Amy Dixon is an assistant horticulturist at Reynolda Gardens of Wake Forest University. Gardening questions or story ideas can be sent to her at www. facebook.com/WSJAmyDixon or news@wsjournal.com, with “gardening” in the subject line.

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