Most canning soup recipes cannot go in a water bath. Vegetable soup, chicken soup, bean soup, chili-style mixes, and almost every pantry jar people pin as “soup for later” are low-acid foods. A boiling-water canner tops out at 212°F, which…
Hot pepper jelly is a sweet-heat preserve made from chopped peppers, vinegar, sugar, and pectin, then sealed in jars in a boiling-water canner. The vinegar is what makes water-bath canning safe: peppers alone are low-acid and must be pressure-canned, but…
Taco soup can be home canned, but only in a pressure canner, and only if it is built like a USDA soup rather than like a stovetop pot of taco soup. Meat, beans, corn, and tomatoes are low-acid foods. A…
Plain Brussels sprouts are not a recommended home-canning project. The National Center for Home Food Preservation and university extension services do not publish a pressure-canning process for them, and several land-grant universities list them with broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage as…
Plain zucchini and other summer squash cannot be canned by themselves. The USDA and university extension services withdrew those old directions because the vegetables collapse during processing, pack densely in the jar, and heat unevenly. That combination makes it impossible…
Rhubarb pie filling canning is a boiling-water project, not a pressure-canner project, but only when the jar follows a tested fruit-pie-filling formula. The National Center for Home Food Preservation publishes Clear Jel fillings for apple, peach, blueberry, and cherry. Rhubarb…
Tomatoes do not have to be canned to keep past the harvest. Freezing is the safest, lowest-skill method for sauce, soup, and chili. Drying is the better choice when freezer space is the limit. Fermentation changes the flavor and still…
A safe canned dill pickle recipe uses 5% vinegar in a tested brine, small pickling cucumbers with the blossom ends trimmed, and a water-bath process timed for your altitude. That is the difference between a jar that lives on the…
Canning ham is not the same job as canning fresh pork. Grocery-store ham, spiral-cut ham, and country ham are cured. The National Center for Home Food Preservation does not support using fresh-meat canning times for cured, brined, or corned meats,…
Water bath canning recipes work only when the food is acidic enough that boiling water can keep it safe on a pantry shelf. That usually means fruit, jams and jellies, pickles, relishes, chutneys, and tomatoes or salsas that have been…