Side Tracked - Preserving Again Part 3

 For a very good reason.  I am very eager to encourage people to preserve their own food and to stock up their Pantry storage wherever possible.  A couple of my followers on Instagram had asked how I did basic water-bathing and so I wrote up the two preceding posts.  I am not sure I have covered everything but I think it will be enough to give you a start it is very difficult to synthesise and cram everything I have learned over the years in. So apologies for the length of the main article but I did condense it as much as I can. A lot of the recipes and instructions on the Internet tend to come from America and come under their jurisdiction and rules. However their recipes vary a great deal to ours.  There has always been a healthy "Bottling" Brigade in this country.  For a while after Freezers came in this declined somewhat but with the costs of energy prices people are going back towards the more traditional household skills of which a prime one is Preserving.  I think that this is long overdue and am glad that their is a resurgance in having a go at this.

The differences are that when we make jam in this country the ratio of fruit to jam is usually the same of sugar to fruit i.e. 1:1. It is the sugar that preserves the jam.  A lot of the sites encourage water bath canning of the jam.  This is only necessary if the quantity of sugar to fruit varies from the 1:1 ratio.  Otherwise there is no need as a vacuum is formed between the jam and the lid from the heat.  There is quite a bit of sugar in the preserves because they were originally needed for long-term storage and that food had to take you through extremely cold British Winters (well they used to be when I was a child) with no central heating.  Although you can adjust the sugar level, this is something I tend not to do.

Equally if I make jellies, I cook up the fruit first and then drain it overnight through a jelly bag.  You then measure the juice out and for each pint of liquid you weigh 1lb of sugar or part thereof i.e. 1 pint 4fl oz = 1lb 4oz of sugar. In metric 1 litre of syrup to 1kg of sugar.

Vinegar preserves.  The acidity of your vinegar must be 5% any lower and the pickle does not keep well. One or two companies are trying to introduce a lower percentage vinegar i.e. 4%.  It may be good for general cooking but not for preserving. Therefore please check any vinegar you buy to make sure that it is minimum 5%.  The overseas recipes often combine water with the vinegar which weakens the solution.  If this is part of the base recipe then the preserve because the vinegar has been diluted will need hot water bathing to ensure that the preserve is shelf stable.

I am lucky enough to be in a position where I have a Pressure Canner a Water Bath Canner and a Steam Canner.  I have lately been water bathing low acid ingredients following a recommended strategy which has been explained in the first post to this series and indeed the rationale behind it and the difference between water bathing and pressure canning.  Lets face it not everyone can afford a pressure canner.  This does not stop you preserving food though.

I must say that when I first bought a Pressure Canner and the Ball book I had expected the book to be full of Pressure Canner recipes. It is not.  A lot of the recipes are indeed water-bathing recipes with the exception of low acid preserves such as meat. Pressure Canners are a considered expense but the base can be used for water bathing as well.  I have a 23 quart Presto. Anything you can do with a Pressure Canner can be accomplished with Water bathing. Europe have been preserving this way for hundreds of years.  Indeed French housewives are continuing the practice and they water bathe. I have mentioned before the Le Parfait site and the type of recipes you can process.  All their recipes are water-bathed. Some countries do not do Pressure canning at all and I believe it is illegal to Pressure can in Germany.  It all comes down to high standards of hygiene and also following prescribed methods for your country. Different countries different rules. Your kitchen, your choice, your Rules. We are all entitled to our own opinions. No matter what they are all seriously tested ways of preserving.

I have a very deep stock pot which I tend to do most of my hot water bathing in.  As long as you have a deep stock pot with a lid you have the basics for water bathing.  You need the lid on to maintain consistency of temperature and to ensure the food is processed at the correct temperature. Any dips could mean the fruit does not process properly.

A steam canner is a utensil with a 2 to 3 inch base inside which there is a rack on which to stack your bottles.  The jars are not submerged in water and it uses a minimal amount of water in the base to bring up to boil, which is extremely clean and efficient.  It has a domed lid with a dial on the top and you work on the basis of elevation. Here in Peterborough we are below 1000 feet.  I therefore bring the steam canner up to boil, and when it reaches the right setting on the lid I reduce the heat but keep it on that marker. Other areas differ, although quite a lot of UK is under 1000 feet. Therefore you must check which altitude setting is correct for your area.  It is effectively a cleaner way of water bathing. 

However what I do find disconcerting is that a lot of the American Preservers refer to their water-bathed items as "Canned".  To me in the UK when they say "Canned" I automatically think that they are following a Pressure Canning recipe which is not the case.  In the UK water-bathing has always been called "Bottling". I therefore think that a lot of misunderstandings arise because of the language used and different words mean different things in any one country or any one area.

Sizes of jars to use vary.  Generally speaking when it comes to fruit, if the fruit is being stored in larger pieces I tend to use the Kilner or Ball jars.  You can even use recycled Pickle jars which can be bought quite cheaply and then the jars recycled.  I bottle Clementines who in syrup as a novelty to serve at Christmas.  Because I am bottling them whole I will need a 1 litre jar more for the space than anything else.  If using halved fruit, you can pack the jars a bit more tightly, although I tend to use the larger jar still. For fruits like Blueberries, Cranberries you could use a recycled jam jar.  For Apple sauce I use the jam jars as well and for Apple and Pear Butters.

You do not have to pay an arm and a leg for jars.  Recycling or buying in cheap jams from say Lidl or Aldi for the jars can be a big saver the same as recycling pickle jars which are a lot larger they can be recycled for Pressure Canning.

Hopefully I will get into filling the cracks of bits of information I may have not covered in the last few posts in the next few days.   I do hope these posts are helping.

If you have any questions, please do ask. I am not an expert but it is something that I am passionate about.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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