Canning & Preserving
Pressure canning, water bath canning, jam, pickling, and freezing — the methods we actually use to carry our garden through the winter.
Low-acid foods like green beans and plain vegetables must be pressure canned — a boiling water bath is not safe for them. High-acid foods like jams and vinegar-brined pickles can be water bath canned. We follow current Ball and National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) guidance for times, pressures, and altitude adjustments, and we'd encourage you to look yours up each season rather than relying on ours.
Canning & Preserving
How I turn fresh yellow peaches into a homemade peach topping that can be water-bath canned for the pantry and used in iced tea, pancakes, biscuits, yogurt, and more.
Read the GuideAbout 1 hour 15 minutes • About 7 half-pint jars
Canning & Preserving
We grow either bush beans or pole beans each season, pick them by the bowlful, cut them into two-inch pieces, and pressure can them a canner load at a time.
Read the Guide1 afternoon • About 14 quarts
Canning & Preserving
The classic Sure-Jell strawberry jam we make from our raised-bed berries — crushed fruit, pectin, sugar, and a short water bath.
Read the Guide1 hr 15 min • About 8 half-pints
Canning & Preserving
Sweet corn straight from the garden, blanched in water with salt and butter, cut off the cob, and packed into the freezer for winter.
Read the Guide1 afternoon • Depends on the picking
Canning & Preserving
Our two old plum trees give us more fruit than we can work up in a day. We pick and wash the plums, then spend the next few days making batch after batch of traditional plum jam for the pantry.
Read the GuideMultiple batches • Varies by harvest
Canning & Preserving
Direct-sown beets, cooked and slipped, packed into jars with a simple sweet-and-sour brine we make the same way every year.
Read the Guide2 hrs • Varies by harvest
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