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Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

---------------------METHODS OF CANNING--------------------------

Canning is a method of preserving and storing food. Sealing food in
containers and processing it at boiling or above boiling temperatures
destroys the molds, yeasts, bacteria, and enzymes that are in or on
the food. In canning, heating destroys microorganisms that can make
the food unsafe to eat, as well as change its flavor, color, and
texture; sealing keeps new ones from getting to the food.

A Frenchman named Nicholas Appert is credited with the discovery of
canning when he sealed and heated food in glass bottles to help
Napoleon feed his troops. For this ingenious work, Appert won a prize
of 12,000 francs, as well as the gratitude of generations to follow.
Since Appert first started his experiments, two distinct types of
canning have been developed: heating, or processing, in boiling
water; and processing under steam pressure. These two methods are
used for different types of foods, and are not interchangeable.

The acidity of a food is what determines how it should be canned,
because acidity determines what microorganisms can spoil the food.
Food spoilage is caused by molds, yeast, enzymes, and bacteria.
Bacteria are the most difficult to destroy because some of them may
thrive at temperatures that kill molds, yeast, and enzymes. Heating
food to boiling, sealing it in jars, and then processing it in
boiling water will destroy molds, yeast, and enzymes, but not all
bacteria. That's where steam pressure canning comes in. The spores of
the bacteria are not destroyed until the temperature of the food
reaches 240 degrees F. Since water boils at only 212 degrees F, any
food that will support the botulism bacteria spores must be processed
in a steam pressure canner, where the pressure creates temperatures
above boiling.

Although you'll find it easy to can most vegetables successfully,
there are a few varieties that are better frozen instead. These are
broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, parsnips,
edible pod peas, pumpkins, rutabagas, and winter squash.

For all practical purposes, the rest of the vegetables with the
exception of the high acid foods; tomatoes, fruits, sauerkraut,
rhubarb, and foods with vinegar added such as pickles and relishes
which are not popular with bacteria and so can be processed by the
boiling water bath method, MUST be steam pressure canned. Also
requiring steam pressure canning are meat, poultry, seafoods and
soups. This method of canning destroys these bacteria and their
by-products. Safe canning procedures should never be shortcutted. To
make sure your home canned foods are safe, always process low acid
foods (all vegetables except tomatoes) in a steam pressure canner,
following the instructions specified in each recipe. When you're
canning any combination of acid and low acid foods, such as tomatoes
and corn, treat the mixture as a low acid food and process in a
pressure canner.

Source: Vegetable Gardening Encyclopedia
Typos by Dorothy Flatman 1995
Submitted By DOROTHY FLATMAN On 10-04-95

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