Madison County Extension Service: Preserving food is a science

Gardens will soon be overflowing with fresh vegetables and it won’t be long before summer fruits are ready for picking. Whether you are canning food in jars, freezing it, making pickles or jellies, preserving the summer’s bounty is easier than you think. Any food preservation method done correctly, will store good quality food for use all year long. There is nothing better than vegetables from your garden during the cold weather months. Home canning has changed greatly since it was introduced more than 170 years ago. Changes arise from scientific research and new technologies have resulted in safer, higher quality products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts research and posts news on their National Home Food Preservation website. Our Extension colleague, Dr. Elizabeth Andress, with the University of Georgia conducts applied research application for home canning for USDA. Pressure canning vegetables and other low acid foods like meat, fish and poultry is still the only safe canning method. Your grandmother probably boiled her jars of beans for hours, but you can’t kill botulism spores at 212°F and that is the highest temperature you are going to get if you boil a pot all day long. Pressure canners raise the temperature inside the jars to 240°F, a temperature high enough, over a period of time it will destroy botulism spores. The recommended time is different for each food and jar size, timing is critical for ensuring a food safe product. If you have a pressure canner with a gauge, it needs to be tested each year for accuracy before you begin any canning. We have a gauge tester at the Extension office and you are welcome to call and make an appointment for testing. If we know in advance, we can have the tester ready, and it will not take much time to determine the accuracy of your gauge. It only takes a couple of minutes to run the test. Freezing food is fast and safe. It is a more expensive form of preservation when you consider running a freezer year round. The extreme cold simply retards the growth of microorganisms and slows down the chemical changes that affect the quality and causes food to spoil. The amount of food you freeze is limited by freezer space. If you only have a refrigerator and freezer combination, you are very limited and may only freeze a small amount of your favorite fruit or vegetable. If you have a chest or upright freezer, it runs more efficiently if it is at least ¾ full. Use food continuously from the freezer and replace it with other food. The faster the turnover, the lower the operating cost per pound of frozen food. Jelly and pickles require time, patience and a quality recipe. Too many things can go wrong that result in a less desirable product or even spoilage. Get directions from a reliable preservation source and don’t take short cuts. The Madison County Extension office has complete and accurate research- based instructions for all food preservation procedures. A workshop, Basic Food Preservation, will be held on Tuesday, May 26 at 6 p.m. at the Madison County Extension Service. Basic techniques of canning and freezing will be discussed along with demonstration of proper equipment and materials. Participants will receive a fact sheet and USDA guidelines for safe preservation processes. Call the office at (850) 973-4138 to register for the class The University of Florida Extension/IFAS Extension – Madison County is an Equal Opportunity Institution.