Home canning of fruits and vegetables is regaining popularity thanks to the economic downturn and a growing interest in eating locally grown food. A downside to this practice is that if food is preserved improperly, consumers may become ill or die, according to University of California Cooperative Extension nutrition advisors.

If practiced properly, home canning is a safe method for preserving food. The canning process involves placing foods in jars and heating them to a temperature that destroys the microorganisms that cause food to spoil. During this heating process, air is driven out of the jar and as it cools a vacuum seal is formed. This vacuum seal prevents air and microorganisms from getting back into the jar.

If tested recipes are not followed, food-borne microorganisms can survive and they will spoil canned foods. Worse, consumers can get botulism from eating improperly home-canned foods. Botulism is a rare, but serious paralyzing illness caused by a nerve toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Botulism can kill if not promptly treated.

There are two safe ways of canning food – the boiling water bath method and the pressure canner method. Boiling water is used with high-acid foods such as fruits. A pressure canner must be used with foods such as vegetables, meats and combinations containing these foods such as salsa or spaghetti sauce. Tested recipes and guidelines must always be followed to ensure safe home-canned foods.

“It is very important to follow scientifically tested canning instructions to avoid illness.” said Susan Algert, UC Cooperative Extension nutrition advisor for Santa Clara County.

“The boiling water bath method is safe for fruits, jams, jellies, pickles and other acidic preserves,” she said. In this method, jars of food are completely covered with boiling water (212 degrees F at sea level) and heated for a specified amount of time.

High-acid foods such as peaches naturally have a pH of 4.6 or less and contain enough acid to prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum. High-acid foods can be safely canned using the boiling water bath method.

“Certain foods, such as tomatoes, pears and figs, have a pH value close to 4.6 and must have acid added to them to lower the pH enough to use the water bath method,” Algert said. The pH can be lowered by adding commercial lemon juice or powdered citric acid.

When canning homemade salsa or other tomato products, Algert recommends following a scientifically tested recipe and using commercially bottled lemon juice to increase the acidity.

“You can’t use juice squeezed from a fresh lemon because we don’t know exactly how acidic the juice is,” Algert said. “Commercial lemon juice meets a standard acidity.”

To can low-acid vegetables such as green beans without a pressure cooker, the vegetables must first be pickled using a recommended recipe to ensure the final acidity is too high for Clostridium botulinum to grow.

Clostridium botulinum can form spores, a heat tolerant form of the bacteria that can survive boiling. If spores survive because of inadequate processing, they can revive and allow the bacteria to grow and produce toxins. Clostridium botulinum thrives in low-acid foods like meats and vegetables and in the absence of air in canned foods.

“The only safe method of preserving vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood to prevent botulism is pressure canning,” Algert said. “These low-acid foods require heating to at least 240 degrees F for a time specified for each product. This temperature can only be reached using a pressure cooker.”

To ensure safety of home canned goods, she recommends using new lids to ensure a tight seal and following scientifically tested instructions.

For more information about safely canning food, visit the University of California’s Food Safety website at http://ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu/Consumer_Advice and the USDA National Center for Home Food Preservation website at http://www.uga.edu/nchfp

Watch a video of safe canning tips at http://stream.ucanr.org/preserving_fruit/canning_safely.html

Low-acid foods:

• meats
• seafood
• poultry
• dairy products
• all vegetables
• combination products using these foods

High-acid foods:

• most fruits
• properly pickled vegetables

Foods that require added lemon juice for boiling water bath canning:

• figs
• pears
• tomatoes

It took traveling to Cuba and Kauai, and marveling at what the farmers’ markets there had to offer to make me realize just what I might be missing back home. Sure enough, once I went to the farmers’ market here in Sacramento, I never looked back.

 

The farmers’ market is held every Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon under the freeway at 8th and X streets, and boasts a plentiful array of seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as vendors selling freshly baked bread, eggs, cheese, flowers, tortillas, meats, poultry and seafood, and many other items.

 

With the price of food increasingly going up, and the local economy struggling due to the recession, the Certified Farmers’ Markets of Sacramento County offer a solution to both: pay less for your groceries while supporting your local economy. But it doesn’t stop there: About half of the vendors there offer organic produce, often at a much better price than local stores. And perhaps the most convincing argument of all: eating both locally grown food and what’s in season helps to cut down on carbon emissions. Produce imports and exports add a huge debt to our carbon footprint because of the amount of jet fuel it takes to keep up this endless cycle of international produce shipments. So shopping at the farmers’ market means going green, too, and most people even bring their own reusable shopping bags.

 

At the moment, artichokes, asparagus, mushrooms, all kinds of citrus fruit, kiwis, and rainbow kale are all in season, among several other items. Produce items change by the season, but the cheese, bread, egg, olive oil and organic meat vendors are there year round.

 

Touring the market

On a recent Sunday morning, there with my friend Becca Popham, I asked her what she loved about it. She said, “My trip to the farmers market has become a Sunday ritual. The variety is endless: organically raised meat, seasonal fruits and vegetables, flowers for my table, free-range eggs. My favorites right now are the many varieties of daffodils and mandarin oranges. You can even find locally made tortillas – garlic and butter tortillas are my favorite – and fresh bread. The big bonus – everything is fresh and grown or raised close to home. I love that my money goes directly to the hardworking farmers!”

 

Barbara Kingsolver, prolific writer and gardener extraordinaire, expounded further on this subject in her most recent book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.” She wrote: “Concentrating on local foods is a strategy that will keep grocery money in the neighborhood, where it gets recycled into your own school system, and local businesses. The green spaces surrounding your town stay green, and farmers who live nearby get to grow more food next year, for you.”

 

But enough about the politics involved in this debate. Chances are, in the fast-paced lives we lead, not everyone can make it to the farmers’ market every week, and most people need to supplement whatever they buy at the local supermarket, which is fine. When asking people why they shopped at the farmers’ market, there was one answer that everyone had in common: the freshness of the fruits and vegetables, often picked that very morning, and the taste. Because this produce didn’t have to travel or stay preserved for a long length of time, it’s just fresher, and tastes better.

 

 

If you’re not convinced yet, taste heirloom tomatoes in the summer time at the farmers’ market, and compare it to a hothouse tomato. The hothouse tomato is mealy and flavorless. The heirloom tomato at the farmers’ market tastes like sunshine. Have I convinced you yet? If not, go and see for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

 

E-mail Jeneka Sanford at jeneka@valcomnews.com.