Home Canning: How To - Credit to Original Poster

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Saw this on another board and found it useful. ALL CREDITS go to the original poster!

The purpose of this thread is to help those who are new to canning, or those who want to know the "whys" of home food preservation. This is such a massive subject, so I will be adding to it over time. If anyone has a question or a suggestion, please feel free to post it.

First Step
The first step for any new home canner is to pick up a hard copy canning guide. Unless you plan to can only one food or plan to look up every step of the process, this book will be a priceless reference that you will use for years to come. It will give you specific instructions on what method to use for certain foods along with guidelines to fit you personally. I recommend the “Ball Blue Book of Preserving” which is easily found and covers nearly every subject. Of course you'll need jars, lids, and the proper canner to suit your choice of food.

Home Canning
Home canning is an extremely broad subject that deals with everything from meatballs to marmalade. Though the subject of canning itself is vast, food preservation by canning follows quite a narrow set of rules. If these rules are followed, your home canned food will be safely preserved and delicious for many years.

Food Spoilers and Spoilage Inhibitors
There are a few main things that seek to spoil your food, and a few main ways to destroy them. Mold, Yeast, Enzymes, and Bacteria not only have the ability to spoil your food, but they also have the ability to make you sick to the point of death. With that said, you can easily avoid food spoilage with a little knowledge and a few simple steps. There are 3 common ways to protect your food from spoilage: Acid, Sugar, and Heat. Heat is the most important and is used (to some degree) in every type of home canned food. Acid is used to preserve things like pickles and sauerkraut, and sugar is used in jam and fruits. If you can destroy the spoilers and keep them from getting back into the jar, you have successfully preserved your food.

The Two Canning Techniques
Pressure canning and water bath canning are the two canning methods and both should be considered carefully. These two methods have the same principals but entirely different food spoilage targets, a mix-up in procedures could have bad consequences. Water bath canning is a method in which the temperature of the food never gets any higher than 212 degrees F, the boiling point of water. Water bath canning is only reserved for foods with enough acid or sugar to make them safe at these temperatures. The point of pressure canning is to increase the temperature of the food to a minimum of 240 degrees F at which point the nastiest bacteria spores are destroyed. Pressure canning is used for (but not limited to) low acid foods such as meat, soups, vegetables, gravies, and meat stock.

Altitude
Your altitude affects both methods of canning and should be considered before you start. You should have a canning book, it will guide you through these variables. If you live higher than 1000 feet, you will need to adjust the canning pressure or length of time to suit your altitude. At high altitudes, water boils at a lower temperature than is required to kill certain spoilers.

Hot Food into Hot Jars
You’ll often read, “Hot Jars, Hot Liquid, Hot Canner”. This is because it is the quickest way to finish the sterilization process and it prevents a number of problems. The longer food is heated, the less flavor and nutrients it will have. Temperature and pressure are more quickly gained if all parts are heated before canning. You can put cold food into cold jars and put it all into a cold canner, but it will take three or four times longer to heat up the entire thing. One major mistake, however, is putting cold or cool jars into a hot canner, or vise versa. You’ll break a bunch of jars this way because of the temperature shock to the glass. If you decide to start out all cold for some reason, just remember to start your timer after heat and or pressure have been achieved.

Part 2 below due to character limit