Canning-Bottling
Canning and Bottling
My mother spent countless hours bottling fruit and vegetables. Living 100 miles from a large grocery store encouraged gardening and canning for the winter. She bottled meat as well. Kerr and Ball companies produce excellent cookbooks for bottling and canning. Some things mom knew how tobottle from doing it so often, but she usually checked the books for the time needed for coldpacking or pressure cooking.
Note: Below are descriptions of what I know of bottling, but using a Kerr or Ball instruction book will keep your bottling safe. Also, you may search the internet for instructions as well. Some food is better frozen than bottled.
Kerr and Ball canning books are available on Amazon.com and BarnsandNoble.com. Just search for Kerr or Ball Canning book.
Bottling Fruit
The First mom asked me to do to help her bottle fruit was go to her basement and collect the bottles and screw on lids. Her cold pack canner holds 7 quart bottles at a time. We needed pints, and it held 8. She always washes the bottles and makes sure a flat lid and ring are on it to keep it clean. All I had to do was run the the bottles through the sanitizing cycle in her dishwasher. Before she installed a dishwasher, we washed the bottles with hot water and sterilized them with boiling water, along with the rings and lids.
Second, she asked me to pull out her cold pack canner from the shelf on her back porch and fill it a little more than half full of water and put it on the stove to heat. She said the water will need to cover the bottles by at least an inch. Remember, the bottles will displace some of the water, so don’t fill it much more than half way full.
Third, we were canning peaches so, I washed and pealed the peaches, using boiling water to loosen the pealings enough to slide off. Mom cut the peaches into 6ths and fill the bottles. She left a 1/2 inch at the top. Mom’s secret ingredient for the best bottled peaches is to put one pit in the bottom of each bottle. I’m telling you, it makes a difference in the taste.
Fourth, Mom asked me to make a sugar syrup in a pan. I heated it to a boil, following the instructions in the Kerr or Ball cookbook for making the syrup. She uses both books.
Fifth, when the syrup was hot, I poured it over the fruit in the bottle and filled it leaving 1/2 inch at the top. She reminded me to wipe the top of the bottle to remove any juice that may have splashed on the edges.
Sixth, she had me place a NEW Kerr lid and ring on the bottle. Most of the rings were not new. She reuses them until they become rusty, then she throws them away. The flat lids need to be new. Tighten the ring on the bottle.
Note: I used the old flats and rings in the garden to scare off the Magpies and other varments from eating the tomatoes and corn.
Last, I placed the bottles in the cold-pack canner with a jar lifter tongs and make sure the water covers the lids by and inch. I put the lid on oon the canner. When the water begins to boil, I set the timer for the amount of time called for in the recipe.
Bottling Vegetables
**Please follow the instructions on your pressure cooker and canning cookbook. This article is an overview from what my mother has done in the past. She is 90 years old, so things may be done differently now.**
First, you will need a pressure cooker to bottle vegetables. Vegetables need to be pressured and cooked for a specific length of time, with altitude adjustments, to make sure harmful bacteria are destroyed. Growing up, my mother made sure we always cooked any bottled vegetable at least 15 minutes to be sure any remaining botchilism died. Your county extension agent or office should be able to test your pressure cooker lid to be sure it is working properly.
Add about 2 1/2 to 3 inches of water to your pressure cooker. You don’t need a full cooker of water, only enough to create steam and pressure.
Second, as with fruit, wash and sterilize your bottles. You may run them through the sterilization setting on your dishwasher as well.
Third, wash your vegetables and cut them into the size wish, or leave them whole.
Fourth, place your vegetables into the bottles. It’s okay to pack them down a little. The Kerr and Ball canning recipe books have many suggestions for bottling you may wish to try.
Fifth, add the salt and water listed in the recipe book.
Sixth, add your bottles to the pressure cooker. Put on the lid and tighten down the screws. Turn on the heat and stay by the stove. When your cooker begins to release steam, let it cook off steam for a minute or so. Your cooker instructions should tell you how long, and each cooker may be different. The steam will come out of a spout on top of the cooker. Your cooker will have some kind of instrument that you will use after it has boiled for a few minutes to begin building the pressure. Mom has two cookers. One has a little knob that flips down, and the other has a weight. The weight has 4 holes marked for the amount of pressure. Make sure you put the correct hole over the spout. If you need 16 lbs of pressure and you put the weight on with the 12 lbs hole over the knob, the pressure will begin to release at 12 lbs and won’t build up to 16 lbs. I’ve done this and had to cool the pot down and start over.
You will be able to watch the pressure gage to see the pressure building in the cooker. You need to know at what pressure to keep the cooker for the type food you are cooking. Where my mother lives, if the recipe asked for 12 lbs of pressure, the county agent had left a not stating I needed to add 2 lbs because of our altitude. So, I needed to keep the pressure at 14 lbs of pressure.
As soon as the pressure gage reaches the pressure setting needed, set your timer for the amount of time needed.
Last, stay close enough to make sure pressure doesn’t build above that set in the recipe. Try to lower or raise your heat to keep the pressure steady. The pressure cooker may start to make hissing noises if the pressure gets too high. Turn down the heat immediately, and try again to regulate it.
Bottling Meat
**This is not for instructing you how do bottle meat. Use your pressure cooker instructions and canning cookbook directions.**
First, meat needs to be pressure cooked, so you need a pressure cooker for meat as well. Make sure you know how your pressure cooker works for your altitude and add the pounds you may need to what is listed in the recipe.
Second, add about 2 1/2 to 3 inches of water to your pressure cooker. You don’t need a full cooker of water, only enough to create steam and pressure.
Third, wash and sterilize your bottles. You may run them through the sterilization setting on your dishwasher as well.
Fourth, cut meat into pieces, or as with fish, cut the head off fill the bottles. You can press down the meat tight. Add a tsp of salt or the amount in the recipe.
Fifth, Don’t add Water, unless the recipe calls for it. Most meat will produce liquid when pressured.
Sixth, Put new flat on the bottles and tighten the rings. Place in pressure cooker and tighten the screws.
Last, when the cooker begins giving off steam, let it steam for a minute or so, as your cooker instructions indicate. Close the leaver, or put the weight on at the indicated pressure. When the pressure gauge gets to the correct pressure, turn the heat down until it holds the correct temperature and set the timer for the time indicated by your recipe instructions.
When the time finishes, turn off the heat and let the pressure cool until the pressure indicater reaches Zero before trying to open.
The water where my mother lives is hard, so Mom adds a tablespoon full of vinager to the water before adding the bottles. This prevents a white dust from forming on the cooled bottles.
