Technique: Canning [edit]

Other Names:Putting Up, Canned, Preserving, Can, Home Canning, 坎宁 (Chinese), 缶詰 (Japanese), تعليب (Arabic), डिब्बाबंदी (Hindi), Кон... All Translations

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Edited by: Sheri Wetherell, mrsound

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Wikipedia

Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food is processed and sealed in an airtight container. The process was first developed as a French military discovery by Nicolas Appert. The packaging prevents microorganisms from entering and proliferating inside. To prevent the food from being spoiled before and during containment, quite a number of methods are used: pasteurization, boiling (and other applications of high temperature over a period of time), refrigeration, freezing, drying, vacuum treatment, antimicrobial agents that are natural to the recipe of the foodstuff being preserved, a sufficient dose of ionizing radiation, submersion in a strongly saline, acid, base, osmotically extreme (for example very sugary) or other microbe-challenging environments. No such method is perfectly dependable as a preservative. For example, spore forming thermal resistant microorganisms, such as ''Clostridium botulinum'' (which causes botulism) can still survive. From a public safety point of view, foods with low acidity (a pH more than 4.6) need sterilization under high temperature (116-130°C). To achieve temperatures above the boiling point requires the use of a pressure canner. Foods that must be pressure canned include most vegetables, meats, seafood, poultry, and dairy products. The only foods that may be safely canned in an ordinary boiling water bath are highly acidic ones with a pH below 4.6http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ1097.html, such as fruits, pickled vegetables, or other foods to which acidic additives have been added.

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Tags: Food Preservation, Food Storage

[edit] About Canning

Canning is a food preserving method in which the food is sealed in an airtight container. This method prevents spoilage and allows for food to be stored unrefrigerated for a longer period. To prevent food contamination prior and during the canning process a number of various methods are used: boiling, pasteurization, freezing, drying, vacuum sealing, as well as antimicrobial ingredients, such as salt, sugar, acids, etc.

Low acid foods require sterilization under high temperatures (240-275 F or 116-130 C) to avoid the Clostridium botulinum (botulism) microorganism. To achieve temperatures greater than the boiling point a pressure canner must be used. Most vegetables, meats, fish, poultry and dairy products require this method. High acidic foods such as fruits, pickled vegetables, or foods that have had acid added can be safely canned in a boiling water bath.

How canning was developed: In the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, the French government offered a large cash reward to the inventor who could come up with a way of preserving large quantities of food. The large armies of the period required an increase in quality food, especially during the summer and fall months. In 1809, a French confectioner and brewer named Nicolas Appert developed a method of sealing food in glass jars and found the food did not spoil unless the seal was broken. It took another 50 years before it was understood why sealed food did not spoil, thanks to Louis Pasteur, inventor of the pasteurization method.

Since glass jars were not easily transportable, commercial canneries replaced them with cylindrical tins or wrought-iron canisters, the name later being shortened to "can". These proved to be cheaper and less breakable than glass, however glass continued to be preferred in home canning.

In North America, the most common glass jar used in home canning is the Mason jar, which have thick walls. In the United Kingdom, Kilner jars are most used, which are similar to Mason jars but without the dimple on top.