Guest Blog - Everythingfarm.com

Check out my latest guest blog at Everythingfarm.com! I talk about canning and preserving the harvest, and some basic safety rules. A teeny preview:

"It’s always great to see those lovely, full jars with their gleaming lids and multi-colored contents neatly stacked on their shelf in the pantry. From jams and jellies to stewed meats and broth, canning is a noble pursuit. With the summer’s vegetables arriving fast and furious, it’s time to haul out the canning jars and start preserving your harvest for use throughout the winter. The poor, the frugal, and those who like to live simply will find much pleasure in the process of putting up food for the winter."

Making turkey broth from your leftovers

Brine soaked, oven roasted turkey (1)

Ahhh... The pleasantly full feeling of satisfaction after the turkey has been devoured. The parade has been and gone, and you're half way through the Purina Dog Show when it hits you. You have two weeks worth of turkey sitting on the counter in the kitchen, and no room in the freezer for it because it's full of the other leftovers. Oy...

Well, ladies and gents, I'm here to tell you that this is not your worst nightmare. Indeed, it is your Lucky Day! Hooray for leftovers and especially for leftover turkey! Rejoice, because you are about to make ... BROTH!

Making and canning turkey broth is very simple, and better yet, takes up no refrigerator or freezer space at all. It does require a pressure canner, though, so if you don't have one then you'll need to squeeze the broth into the freezer after all. However, if you can beg, borrow or steal a pressure canner for just a few hours, you can make this, put it on your pantry shelf, and have a ton of home-made broth ready for any occasion.

I'm going to be making our turkey (on Saturday, not today, because we like to celebrate Thankfulness by being damn thankful we're not stuffing turkey butt at 6am LOL) in a Westinghouse roaster, but this recipe translates just as well to a regular roasting pan in the oven. The major difference is that if you're using a regular roasting pan, then you'll need to scrape the leftover contents of it into a large stock pot, whereas with the Westinghouse, you just continue right on without doing any extra dishes (there's that thankfulness again!).

Bacon wrapped turkey (2)

When you're finished roasting your turkey, you'll serve it up either whole or disjointed, and people will feast. The leftovers will likely sit on the platter for an hour or two while you burp and digest and generally allow the tryptophan to sooth your frazzled soul. Once you recover enough, brave the kitchen mess and pull off the majority of the meat from your bird and toss it into baggies in the fridge or freezer. Plastic containers will also do. Do reserve some for later, though, for adding to soup (if you make some) and sandwiches (for the day after).

All that jellied stuff in the bottom of the pan, all the drippings left over from making gravy, all the bones and the whole carcass can be slid right back into your Westinghouse, or alternatively into a large stock pot. If it doesn't fit, hack it into pieces that will. You don't need pretty or neat, here; just make it fit. You'll be straining it later anyhow.

You can add many of your leftovers to the broth, if you like. Any onions and carrots (provided they're not candied) can be tossed in, as well as leftover gravy, green beans (so long as they're not in a cream sauce), cabbage, parsnips, and other root vegetables. Avoid potatoes, both sweet and regular, as they tend to make the broth a bit gritty sometimes. Fill the pot or Westinghouse with water, add a teaspoon each of salt, pepper, paprika, oregano and thyme, and then set the broth to simmering.

Making soup (3)

Ideally, you want to let it simmer overnight, however as long as it gets several hours of cooking you should be fine. Your broth should not come to a full boil during this process, or it won't be nice and clear (although it doesn't change the flavor much, in my opinion). Eventually, the carcass will fall apart, the neck bones will disappear into a mass at the bottom of the cooking container, and the vegetables will likely turn to complete mush. All this is fine. You may see a frothy scum at the top of your pot, and this should be skimmed off with a wooden spoon. Fat, on the other hand, should be left on the top for now. You'll remove that later.

During the later part of the cooking process, take a few sips of your broth. If it needs something, feel free to add it. Likely requirements will be more salt, and possibly such things as oregano, thyme, bay leaf, rosemary, and other "stuffing" herbs, as well as more onion, garlic, or chives. Don't be afraid to experiment, but use small amounts. Keep good records as you go through this process, because it will streamline the process for next time!

When the broth is done, you need to strain it. Line a colander with cheesecloth (or an old tee shirt or towel if you don't have cheesecloth) and pour the hot broth into another container (or two, if you're like me and make several gallons worth of broth). Remember to use hot pads and keep your face out of the steam!

The contents of your cheesecloth can be thrown away. At this point they are devoid of nutritional content and you can rest assured that you've plumbed the depths of their vitamins and minerals. The resulting broth, be it clear or cloudy, should be put in a cold place to chill for several hours. It is ready to work on again when the layer of fat on the top is solid and opaque.

Using a wooden spoon, carefully remove the hardened fat from the top of your broth. Depending on your preference, it can be saved in the fridge or freezer for use in other recipes (it's great in place of lard), rendered for use in pie crusts, soaps (it replaces the palm or coconut oil!) or other items, or tossed. There should be very little fat left in the broth when you are done (a bit is just fine).

Re-heat your broth, stir well, and then ladle into hot, sterile jars and process according to the directions for your pressure canner. Generally speaking, you'll want to process it at 15 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts. Always check to see if there is a different pressure for your area (if you're above or below sea level, pressure and timing can change dramatically!). Never "wing it" when it comes to pressure canning.

Another option for those little bits of broth that don't quite fill the last jar, is to freeze them in an ice cube tray. Each ice cube tray holds about one tablespoon of liquid. Once your broth cubes are frozen, store in a ziploc style baggie, and pull out anytime you only need a couple of tablespoons of broth. This way, you don't waste an entire jar opening it for such a little bit!

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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1) Photo by TheKohser / Wikimedia Commons
2) Photo by Dennis Crowley / Wikimedia Commons
3) Photo by Claus Ableiter / Wikimedia Commons

Making dilled green tomatoes

The last of the tomatoes from the garden

Sometime in October, it happens. The frost comes, and suddenly your tomato plants are drooping and have blackened leaves. It's time to pull them up and put your bed to rest for the winter. Yet what do you do with the tons of green tomatoes you probably still have left on the vines? Dill them!

Don't use this one

I pulled up all the plants, then carefully went over each branch to make certain I had pulled every green tomato off the vines. The bowl above was the result of my final tomato harvest, a happy sight. Green tomatoes can be fried, or made into relish, chow chow, salsa, or any number of other delicious things. My favorite is always dilled green tomatoes, though. The recipe can be made from any kind of green tomato, too: roma, grape, cherry, beefsteak, etc. I mix them all together. Be sure to go through each and every tomato separately and make certain that you only use the perfect ones. If there's a blemish or mark or split, set it aside.

Cut them up

All the tomatoes should be cut. Little ones, like this one, can be cut in half. Larger tomatoes can be sliced or quartered in the most convenient way. I try to use a wide variety of shapes and sizes, while keeping each piece bite size. Cutting the tomatoes not only makes them fit better into the jars during the canning process, it allows the brine to touch all the parts of the tomato, in and out, which makes them quite tasty. Stick with green tomatoes, too, by the way. Orange or red ones will become mushy, while the green ones stay crisp.

Aren't they beautiful?

I love the way my hands smell after I've been working with tomatoes for a bit. They are very earthy, the smell of autumn to me. The cutting up of the tomatoes, which were mostly cherries in my case, was rather meditative and I found myself getting into a rhythm and singing along with my Pandora station.

All cut up

The variations of color in green tomatoes is huge. Some are almost pink, while others are dark green. Still others are pale and almost sea-foam in hue. Once the tomatoes are all cut up, you can set them aside while you make the brine and clean up the mess that sometimes happens when you're sorting through tomatoes fresh from the garden. You can even salt the snail you accidentally brought in, and discover that they really do bubble and that you think you can hear them screaming...

My favorite cookbook!

You don't find a lot of recipes in modern cookbooks for green tomatoes. This is because we've become a nation of pre-ripened tomatoes. No one buys green tomatoes, and if you grow them yourself, you probably try and encourage them to color up. You might even have stuck the greener ones into a paper bag with a banana, trying to get the ethylene to ripen them for you. The work-around for this is to turn to older cookbooks. I use my favorite McCall's Cook Book , which was put out in 1963. It has a variety of ways to use up green tomatoes, and a large array of other useful recipes that you won't find in anything made after 1990. My copy is getting old and ratty, but I don't want to give it up!

The original recipe

Keeping in mind this is an older book, I checked out my new version of Putting Food By, and verified processing times. In 1963, they said to process the jars "as manufacturer directs." Not very helpful! But Putting Food By says that tomato pickles should be processed for 10 minutes (for pint jars) in a boiling water bath.

Salt in water

The brine is made by mixing together 2 cups of white vinegar with 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of salt. It's a very simple brine; you bring it to a rapid boil, then reduce the heat and simmer it for five minutes. The acidic scent of the vinegar is very pungent, burning the nose slightly. I used the fan on my stove to keep the fumes to a minimum. When boiling vinegar, never use an aluminum pot (unless it's coated). Use steel or cast iron instead.

Tomatoes in the brine

When the simmer is finished, add your cut tomatoes and bring to a boil again. Turn off the heat, and then it's ready to spoon into the jars. Speaking of the jars, they should be in your water bath canner, upside down with a couple of inches of water in the bottom. Bring the water to a low boil, then turn it down to keep the jars hot and ready for you. There are racks (like the one in this Canning Kit ) to make getting the jars in and out easier, or you can use a jar lifter like I do. Just don't stick your hands in there - it's hot!

The tools: cookbooks, jar lifter, hot pad, spoon, ladle

Take a hot jar out and set it on a steady surface. I like to put mine into a metal bowl with a flat bottom to minimize mess if I spill. Use a Wide Mouth Funnel to get the tomatoes into your jars. I used pint jars and one jelly jar for these because I wanted them to be for gifts at Christmas and Yuletide. Jelly Jars are very pretty with their diamond pattern, and hold a couple of servings worth of tomatoes, just perfect for being wrapped up.

A filled jar

In each jar, before adding the tomatoes and brine, put a split clove or two of garlic and a small head of fresh dill (or a half teaspoon of dry). Using a slotted spoon, put the tomatoes into the jar, then top it up with brine. The tomatoes should be about 3/4" from the top of the jar, and the brine should completely cover them. A good rule is to add the brine until it touches the bottom of your funnel. Use a long knife or plastic tool to release any bubbles in the jar, top up with brine as necessary, then put on a hot lid and ring. Put your jar right back into the canner, right side up this time. Repeat this process until all your jars are filled.

Jars in the canner

When all the jars are filled, lidded, and in your canner,  you'll need to add more water. For water bath canning, you want to have an inch to an inch and a half of water over top of the lids. Sticking a finger into the water (before it's boiling!) you should be able to get almost to your second knuckle before touching the jars. Bring the heat up to a boil, and once the water is boiling, put the lid on your canner. If you're using a pressure canner like I do, be careful not to lock the lid in place - this is not a time when you want the pressure to build up.

The finished product, looking awful nice!

Once the lid is on your canner, set your timer for ten minutes if you're using pint or smaller jars, and 15 minutes if you're using quarts. When the timer goes off, turn off the heat and wait for the boiling to subside, then take off the lid and use your jar lifter to take the jars out. Set them neatly and carefully on a counter or other flat space where they can be undisturbed for at least a couple of hours, until they are cool to the touch. I always put mine onto an absorbent dish towel, which protects my counters from the heat and keeps them from dribbling water all over.

If you want to give your canned dill tomatoes as gifts, you can try your hand at decorating them. It's pretty easy, and there are lots of ways to do it. Some people like to sew fancy 'hats' for the jars, held on by ribbon or string. Others will use stamps to create little tags and tie them on with seasonal ribbon and appropriate decorations like jingle bells. You might enjoy making lid labels using scrapbooking or wrapping paper. There are dozens of ways to do it, and you're limited only by your imagination (and your budget).

 To fill 5 pint jars, you will want to follow these directions:

Ingredients

• 3 lb medium green tomatoes, washed
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 3-6 cloves garlic, peeled and split
• 5 fresh dill springs or 1/2 teaspoon dried dill per jar

Remove any stems from your tomatoes, and cut into bite size pieces. Cherry and grape tomatoes need only be split in half. In a saucepan, combine vinegar with 1 cup water and the salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for five minutes. With a slotted spoon, ladle the tomatoes into the hot jars. To each jar add 1/2 clove of garlic and a dill sprig. Fill with the vinegar brine to within a half inch of the top. Add the lid and ring, and process for 10 minutes for pints, 15 minutes for quarts.
-- Adapted from Dilled Green-Tomato Pickles from McCall's Cookbook 1963 Edition.

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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Pressure canning - don't be scared!

Canned baked beans

I'm a firm believer that if you're going to cook something, go big. Leftovers can be made into lunches for the following day, recycled into other meals, and in some lucky cases, can be preserved for enjoyment later in the year. Baked beans are one of those items you can can up, and since they do take quite a bit of time and effort it is worth the effort of making extra.

Just a note to people who are more experienced in canning: This blog is for everyone who cans, from the most experienced to the person who's doing it for the very first time. I may mention things that seem like common sense (don't touch hot jars). Don't be insulted. Instead, think about when you were just starting out, and canning seemed like brain surgery and you were afraid of exploding your pressure canner. If I miss a safety tip, PLEASE make a comment below.

Baked beans need to be pressure canned. A water bath will not have enough heat to destroy hidden bacteria, either in the beans or the small amounts of meat in them. The timing for pressure canning the baked beans are for the recipe I used here, and if you use a different recipe (for instance, with tomatoes in it), you will want to check out the times for processing them. The size of your jars also matters, as well as your height above sea level.

Heating the jars

As with all canning, start with clean, heated jars. I like to run my jars through the dishwasher on the "sanitize" mode, but that's because I'm lazy. It's just as adequate to clean them in hot, soapy water and rinse them well. To heat the jars before adding your beans, you need to turn them upside down in your canner, with about two to three inches of water in the bottom. The water should be brought to a boil, and the steam will fill the jars (and some of the water will, too), sterilizing them and heating them.

Don't pick up hot glass jars with your bare hands. Use a jar lifter or tongs, and always use hot pads or oven mitts. Be aware that when you lift out your jars, not only will they be hot, but they'll be filled with boiling hot steam. As you stand the jar upright, that steam will come out, so keep all body parts away from the jar opening until that steam has escaped. Hot steam will burn you!

Hot jar, ready to fill

Place your jar onto a cutting board or safe surface, or into a shallow bowl. This will help contain the mess which often happens during canning. Using a funnel (as I did in this post on canning tomatoes) also helps keep the mess under control. Put a metal knife into your jar, both to help conduct heat away from the glass and to help you get rid of any air bubbles in your beans after they've been added.

Using a large spoon or ladle, fill the jar with the hot beans. The beans should reach the bottom of the neck portion of your jar, which is about an inch or less from the rim. Use the knife (or plastic spatula) to gently move the beans around, releasing any bubbles. If there were large ones, you may need to add more beans to bring it up to the right level.

Cleaning the rim

Once the jar is appropriately full, remove the funnel and carefully clean the rim of the jar with a hot, moist cloth. Visually inspect the lid for any beans or sauce and clean them off if you find any. Place a hot canning lid onto the jar, followed by a hot ring (don't forget those hot pads!). Tighten the ring "finger tight" but don't wrench it on or you may ruin the seal. Put the finished jar back into the pressure canner, right side up this time. Repeat the process until all your jars are filled and sitting in the pressure canner.

Pressure canner with beans

Your pressure canner may hold a different number of jars from mine. Make sure you check your manual (many are available online for free) to be sure you've got it right. Mine, a 21.5 quart model, holds seven quarts or 18 pints (you stack them on two levels of nine jars each). While it's perfectly fine to use the pressure canner with less jars in it, I personally feel that it reduces problems such as breakage when the canner is full. Also, you'll use the same amount of energy and water for three jars as you will for seven, so you might as well process a full pot.

For pressure canning, the water should only be about two to three inches up the sides of the jars. This is different from water bath canning, where you want the jars completely covered. Do not cover (with water) the lids of jars that you are pressure canning, or you will have problems with seal failures.

Locked and loaded

Put the lid on your pressure canner and follow the directions of the manufacturer for sealing it tightly. My All American canner has six screws around the lid which fold up and screw down to hold the lid securely in place. The screws should be tightened in twos, on opposite sides of the canner. Tighten two, rotate slightly, then tighten another two, continuing until all the screws are secured. Then go around once more and re-tighten to be sure they are fully secured. At this point, you can begin bringing up the heat under your pressure canner.

You want to bring your water to a full, rolling boil to start. Once it is boiling, you can lower the temperature until it continues to boil but isn't spitting out liquid. Your pressure canner should be allowed to vent (blow off steam through its vent hole) for 10 minutes before you put the weight on or start your timer. This lets the temperature build up inside, while venting off the air you won't need. After then 10 minutes are up, put your weight on. For baked beans with pork, you want your weight (or rocker, as it's sometimes called) to be at 10 (see picture above). This will keep the pressure in your canner at the right level for your beans.

Now the waiting begins. You want to process your beans for 65 minutes if you have pint jars, and 75 minutes if you have quart jars. Start timing as soon as your weight is on the vent. Your weight should not be bobbing around on the vent like a crazed squirrel. It should be gently rocking back and forth making the occasional "pfffffft" sound as steam escapes. Slowly (very slowly) lower the temperature on your stove until you reach that gentle rocking. Make note of the setting, because next time you can something in that size jar,  you'll have an idea of what temperature to lower it to, making it easier on you.

Labeled and ready for storage

When the timer alerts you, turn off the heat under your pressure canner. Do not move the canner for at least one hour, and preferably not until it is cool to the touch (which may take several hours). When you can touch the canner without a hot mitt, you may remove the weight. Use a hot mitt to remove it, even if the temperature seems cool, because there may be bottled up steam inside. Taking off the weight allows that steam to escape, and lets the canner depressurize and cool down.

When it is quite cool you can open the lid of your canner. Check the pressure gauge to see if it is at zero, and then gently pull the lid off. If it doesn't come off right away, you may need to let it sit a bit longer, or you might need to encourage it with a wooden spoon handle (sometimes the seal doesn't want to let go). Never try to take the lid off before the pressure is at zero and the canner is completely cool to the touch!

Remove your jars, then check the seals on them by pinging them on the lid with the back of a metal spoon. "Pings" mean the seal is good, and a "thunk" means it didn't take. Any jars with bad seals should be immediately refrigerated and used soon.

If they need a wipe, do so with a damp cloth or sponge. Label your jars and  put them away in your pantry. Over the winter, if you get a craving for those sweet, delicious baked beans you can just pull out a jar and heat it up  in a pot or the microwave. You may need to add a bit of water, depending on how thick your sauce was when you canned the beans.

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button).

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Canning tomatoes in a water bath canner

Finished jars

There's something special about going to your pantry or cupboard in January and pulling out a home-canned jar of tomatoes for a recipe. You can taste the flavor of summer, and perhaps smell the scent of the hot sun on the tomatoes as you crack the lid open. The effort might be a bit more than you're used to, but the results are more than worth every moment of work.

For the recipe to the stewed tomatoes, please check out my Examiner article on cooking them.  Today we'll be dealing with how you can up the results of your tomato processing. It should be noted that, while it's possible to make stewed tomatoes and can them in the same day, it's often more comfortable to do them on two separate days. Especially at this time of year, the kitchen can get hot very quickly, and each stage of this process takes up a lot of room.

Jar lifter in metal bowl

First, you'll want to assemble all your tools. It's absolutely necessary to have your stewed tomatoes on hand and hot, your jars, lids and rings, a clean, moist cloth, and some hot pads. For the most comfortable canning experience, it's worthwhile picking up a canning kit, which includes a magnetic lid lifter,  funnel, jar lifter (pictured at right), and a plastic or wooden spatula. Some kits also include a lid sterilizer rack, which makes that part a breeze. I also like to have extra kitchen towels on hand, and a large metal or ceramic bowl to catch the drips.

Lids and rings, heating

Add two to three inches of water into your canner pot and put your clean jars in upside down to sterilize and heat them. Bring the water to a rolling boil then turn it down to just a simmer while you get everything else ready. Lids and rings should go into a small pot and be covered with water. Never boil the lids, as it can damage the rubber rings and cause your jars to not seal correctly. A light simmer is more than adequate.

Jars heating up

Have your pot of stewed tomatoes sitting beside the spot you'll fill them at, with the jars in the canner beside that.  This keeps you from spilling tomatoes into your pot of hot jars and keeps your mess and reach to a minimum. Beware; as you remove the jars from the canner, they will be hot! Use hot pads and your jar lifter to get them in and out of the pot. Never put your fingers or hands into the opening of the jar as you turn it right side up, because the hot steam coming out of the jar can and will scald your skin.

Jar with funnel and spatula

Pull out one jar with the lifter and put it right side up in your bowl. Slide the funnel into the mouth of the jar, and put the spatula into the jar itself. The spatula does a two things for you. First, it spreads the heat out a bit more evenly, which isn't as important today as it was in the past, but is still a good idea. Second, it helps keep bubbles from forming in the jar. Before removing the spatula from the jar, move it around a bit in circles then up and down, allowing all bubbles to rise to the surface. This helps create a good seal during the canning process.

Filling the jars

Slowly and carefully begin scooping the stewed tomatoes into the hot jar. The funnel will make this much easier and will keep the mess to a minimum. When you get near the top of the jar, fill slowly. The last quarter inch or so should be liquid, and the jar is considered full when it reaches the top of the rounded part of the glass. Do not fill the jar up into the neck, as it will be too full and may boil over while canning. Wipe the neck and rim of the jar with your cloth, making sure that there are no bits of tomato or spattered liquid there. A little extra vigilance here will mean a better seal later. Don't rush.

The magnetic lifter works well

Using tongs or your magnetic lifter, retrieve one of the lids from your other pot, and let it drip for a moment. Place it gently but firmly onto the rim of the jar, being sure to center it well. Get a ring from the water, and add that on top of the lid, securing it in place. You should only make the rings "finger tight". This means only use your fingers and not the palm of your hand while tightening, and don't try to screw it down very hard.

Ready to be canned

When the lid and ring are secure, give the jar a wipe with another cloth and return it to the canning pot. It should slide right back into the space it left, but this time it will be right side up. Repeat this procedure until all the jars are filled and returned to the pot. An average canning pot will hold seven quarts or nine pints comfortably. I used quart jars for my stewed tomatoes because that's the amount of tomatoes we generally go through in a meal. You may want to use smaller jars for yours. You should always can in jars that are the size you want to pull out of the cupboard to use, so there is no waste.

Jars in the canner

I use my pressure canner as a water bath canner, but there are water bath canners that are sold just for that purpose. There are different sizes of each of these. Mine is 21.5 quarts in size. As a water bath it holds the standard seven quarts or nine pints, but when I am pressure canning I have an option of adding a tray and stacking pints double high, allowing me to pressure can up to 18 pints at a time. The water in a water bath canner should be an inch to two inches above the lids of the jars. If you can, boil water in another pot to add to the canner, to speed up the heating process.

Don't click the lid shut!

When using the pressure canner for water bathing, be sure not to click the lid closed. You don't want to build up pressure when water bath canning! Bring your lidded canner to a boil, then slowly turn the heat down until it reaches a point of boiling without completely rattling the jars around inside. For stewed tomatoes at 1000 feet or less above sea level, you want to process the jars for 45 minutes. You can check processing times online, or pick up a book like the Blue Ball Book Guide to Preserving or Putting Food By for reference. I prefer the latter book, which has information about more than just canning.

When your processing time is over, turn off the heat and let your canner stop boiling. Avoid opening or moving it before the boil stops, as it can jostle the lids and rings, and cause sealing failure. Use your jar lifter to remove the jars as soon as you safely can, and set them carefully on a dry kitchen towel. Let them rest, undisturbed, at least overnight and preferably 24 hours.

There are some tricks to checking to see if the seals are right. Many books (including the ones I mentioned above) will tell you to visually inspect the lids, then press gently on the top of the lid to see if the "button" is popped down. If it is, then your food is properly sealed. However, the act of pressing down can actually cause the seal to break every once in a while, so it's better to use what I call the "ping ping bong" test.

Using a metal tea spoon, gently let the bowl of it fall onto the center of each lid. You should notice that your jars have a "ping" sound. If one or more has a distinctly deeper "bong" tone, it is likely not sealed fully and should be put into the refrigerator immediately. Use unsealed food as soon as possible to avoid spoilage.

Ready to be put away

Sealed jars can be labeled and put away as soon as they are completely cool to the touch. If there is any stuff on the outside of the jar, wipe it down before storing it away. Most people label the tops of their jars, but others have fancy labels they affix to the side of the jar. The choice is yours! Be certain to label them somewhere, though, because stewed tomatoes look a lot like salsa, spaghetti sauce, and even baked beans once they've been in the dark pantry for a couple of months.

No ring, Ma!

Sealed jars can be put away without the rings, if you need them for sealing up other jars. The lids stay on by themselves, held on by the pressure created during canning. Rings are handy to have on hand, though, even if you don't store your jars with them on. If you open a jar but don't use the entire contents, you'll want to put it in the fridge. A ring will hold the lid in place for you.

Rings can also be used in decorative fashion. Some people like to cut a scrap of quilting fabric and put it over the lid, then screw the ring in place. If you do this with in-season fabric, it can be a beautiful gift. Others will use raffia to tie home made labels to their jars. There are places online to print your own labels, either for the metal lids or for the side of the jars. You can also buy sticky labels at most grocery and hardware stores.

Check back next week for information on pressure canning and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button).

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