Preserving Your Harvest

[Smokerbill]

Picked, snapped, cleaned, and canned 8 more pints of green beans yesterday. Had room in the canner on the last batch so threw in 2 pints of water to can

Is the canned water for and emergency stash?

 

[tripletfeb]

Is the canned water for and emergency stash?

Yup. Any time I have room in the canner, I put a can of water in. It lasts much longer than bottled water

 

[saysfaa]

Yup. Any time I have room in the canner, I put a can of water in. It lasts much longer than bottled water

Just tap water? Or do you put anything in it - a bit of mineral salt or lemon maybe?

 

[tripletfeb]

Just tap water? Or do you put anything in it - a bit of mineral salt or lemon maybe?

Not just tap water. Tap water has flouride in it and I would never can that. Any water that gets canned needs to be boiled for 10 mins before. I get spring water so I can that. And it's not wise to add anything in it because that could mess with the canning process

 

[tripletfeb]

Not just tap water. Tap water has flouride in it and I would never can that. Any water that gets canned needs to be boiled for 10 mins before. I get spring water so I can that. And it's not wise to add anything in it because that could mess with the canning process

I just process the water for whatever time the canned goods need. So, this last time, I had three jars of beans so had room for two jars of water. Beans need processed for 20 mins so that's what the water got, too

 

[saysfaa]

Not just tap water. Tap water has flouride in it and I would never can that. Any water that gets canned needs to be boiled for 10 mins before. I get spring water so I can that. And it's not wise to add anything in it because that could mess with the canning process

Ok.
Some people's tap water is well water, though - no flouride.

Logically, we add a little salt and/or lemon juice to many of the vegetables and fruits we can so it must not be very likely to interfere with the canning process. Neither would benefit water like it does those things but it might taste better.

 

[tripletfeb]

Ok.
Some people's tap water is well water, though - no flouride.

Logically, we add a little salt and/or lemon juice to many of the vegetables and fruits we can so it must not be very likely to interfere with the canning process. Neither would benefit water like it does those things but it might taste better.

Many of the websites that I trust for canning say not to add anything into the water because it may interfere with the canning process. I understand what you are saying and can only think that maybe the fruits or veggies help balance out the addition of salt or lemon juice. Either way, it's not necessary for my uses so I don't add it. And tap water means city water, to me at least. If someone has well water, they still need to boil it for 10 mins first

 

[Smokerbill]

I canned three pints of dill pickles today and processed them in a low temperature pasteurization water bath. The hardest part was babysitting the pot for a half hour to keep the water at 180-185 degrees.

 

[WingItRanch]

I canned three pints of dill pickles today and processed them in a low temperature pasteurization water bath. The hardest part was babysitting the pot for a half hour to keep the water at 180-185 degrees.

View attachment 4192722

Does the low temp pasteurization help keep them crisp?

My parents swear adding a strawberry leave to the jar helps keep the pickles crisp.

 

[Smokerbill]

Does the low temp pasteurization help keep them crisp?

My parents swear adding a strawberry leave to the jar helps keep the pickles crisp.

It's supposed to make a difference. I'll find out if they're crispy in a month or so.

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/pickle/ge...ing/low-temperature-pasteurization-treatment/