Pepper jam is a sweet-heat preserve made from chopped peppers, vinegar, sugar, and pectin. It cans in a boiling-water bath because the vinegar supplies the acid peppers do not have on their own. The recipes below follow that rule: keep…
Canned apple pie filling is not a “close enough” project. The filling people want—thick, spiced, ready to pour into a crust—is denser than plain canned apples, and that density is why only a few tested formulas belong in jars. The…
Chili beans can be canned at home, but only in a pressure canner and only with a tested process. Beans are a low-acid food. So are meat, onions, and most chili vegetables. A boiling-water bath never reaches the temperature needed…
Homemade enchilada sauce can be canned, but the method is not interchangeable. The same pot of sauce can be a high-acid salsa that belongs in a water bath canner, or a low-acid cooking sauce that must go in a pressure…
Plain asparagus is a low-acid vegetable. That means it must be processed in a pressure canner, not a boiling-water bath. A water bath never gets hot enough to destroy Clostridium botulinum spores in this food. The tested method is simple:…
Peppers are low-acid vegetables. That single fact decides every recipe that follows. Plain peppers packed in water must be pressure canned. Pickled peppers can go in a boiling-water canner only when a tested recipe supplies enough 5% vinegar to keep…
Beef broth can be canned at home, but only in a pressure canner. Process pint jars for 20 minutes and quart jars for 25 minutes, at 11 pounds pressure on a dial-gauge canner or 10 pounds on a weighted-gauge canner…
Canning hot sauce works only when the finished sauce is acidic enough to stay safe in a sealed jar at room temperature. Peppers, onions, garlic, and tomatoes are low-acid foods. Vinegar is what pulls the mixture under the safety line.…
Canning pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes is safe when the recipe matches the method. Plain tomato sauce that is acidified can go in a boiling-water bath. Sauce with onions, peppers, mushrooms, extra garlic, oil, or meat is a low-acid food…
Bell peppers are low-acid vegetables. That one fact decides the whole project: plain peppers must be pressure canned, while pickled or properly acidified peppers can go in a boiling-water canner. Use the wrong method and you are not “being old-school.”…