Welcome to strawberry canning at The Giles Frontier! Today we have a group of families that have come to learn about the history of canning and how to can themselves. Have you canned before? Did your grandmother or other family members preserve food?
It is a great skill to learn and pass down to your children. In history, people lived in smaller communities and raised their food on their farms. During the season of harvest, many families did it together as a community. There are communities in Florida that would travel and literally make tent cities at each other’s farms to help put up the harvest for the next year.
Today, we are pairing families together to make jam as a community.
A canner can be used but is not necessary. Canning does not need any special tools that you don’t already have, but there are a few tools that make it nice. A stockpot is perfect for most of the canning process.
Water bath canning: High acid content foods like strawberries, blueberries, most fruits, and tomatoes.
Pressure canning: Low acid foods. Green beans, squash, etc.
Why do you want to take all of the air out of a jar when canning? We want to prevent bacteria growth. Heating the jars for a period of time will pull out the air and create a seal. That is when you hear the “pop”.
Jars are shelf stable for at least one year or more. Keep in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.
Pomona’s Pectin is what we are using in our jam which allows us to use less sugar, no sugar, honey or fruit juice.