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How to Can Vegetables

Source: University of Wisconsin

A pressure canner must be used to safely can vegetables at home. By heating food at temperatures well above the boiling point botulism spores are destroyed.

The quality of canned vegetables depends on the quality of the raw food. Vegetables should be young, tender and freshly picked. Vegetables will lose moisture and nutrients if they stand at warm temperatures, so refrigerate them if processing is delayed. Work with small amounts of food at a time. Do not peel, cut or slice the vegetables for canning the next day, even if you put them in the refrigerator. The natural sugars in many vegetables will turn to starch and they'll lose some flavor.

Sort vegetables for size and degree of maturity. Then thoroughly wash them.

Be sure you have an up-to-date, reliable home canning book from USDA or NDSU Extension Service. Cookbooks and other guidebooks that have not been revised in the last few years may not have current recommendations.

Get all the equipment and supplies ready ahead of time. You'll need standard canning jars and new two-piece lids. Wash and rinse the jars thoroughly, but you do not have to sterilize them if the food will be processed for 10 minutes or more.

Pack vegetables loosely enough for water to move among the pieces, but tightly enough to prevent wasted jar space. Vegetables are most often packed raw, but can be heated before packing.

After packing vegetables in jars cover with fresh boiling water or with the water in which they were heated for packing. Work out air bubbles and clean the sealing edge of the jar. Place prepared lid and screw band on the jar.

Process the filled jars in a pressure canner, following the precise instructions in the canning guide. Do not shorten the recommended process time.

When you remove the jars from the pressure canner, stand them upright several inches apart on a rack, and out of a draft, to cool. Do not retighten the bands or cover the jars. As they cool, the centers of the lids will snap down into a concave position, indicating a seal. Let the jars stand for 24 hours and retest the seal before you store them. Label and store in a dark, dry, cool place. Remove the screw band before storing.

For future reference, you may want to obtain a copy of Extension bulletin HE-173, "Home Canning of Low Acid Vegetables," which is available at your county office of the NDSU Extension Service.

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