April
2004 April
2004
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Safe At the Plate Food preservation
resources: Food safety as well as quality are critical when preserving food. Especially when it comes to canning, science must prevail over “craftiness.” That is why we always stick to USDA-tested procedures and recipes. We can not depend on recipes printed in cookbooks or magazines to be safe. There is nothing that requires a recipe to be tested for safety before printed. While jams and jellies are not generally risky as long as they are processed in a boiling-water bath, other canning recipes handed down through the family or clipped from sources other than these below are best retired. Be especially wary these days of bread-in-jar recipes, chocolate sauce recipes, and pumpkin butter recipes. There are no safe home procedures for these products. USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and Preservation. One of the most respected resources, the print version is no longer being sold by the Government Printing Office. However, a reprint is available through Amazon.com and is available in PDF form on the web from several universities. The current edition is 1994, but we have been informed by Elizabeth Andress, at the National Center for Home Food Preservation, that it is under revision. We’ll let you know when the new version is available. University of Missouri Extension Publications. The recommendations and procedures from USDA are incorporated into the food preservation series of guide sheets from Missouri. These can be purchased from your local county Extension office or found at http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/hesguide/foodnut/index.htm . Back issues of Quality for Keeps for 2000-2003 can be found online at http://extension.missouri.edu/stcharles/qfk.nl/index.html So Easy to Preserve (5th ed.) The Ball Blue Book (1995) or later also meets USDA standards. It can be often be found near the canning supplies in stores for about $5 or ordered online from Alltrista’s website at http://www.homecanning.com/ . National Center for Home Food Preservation: University of Georgia The National Center for Home Food Preservation is the place for the most current research-based recommendations for most methods of home food preservation. The Center was established with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CSREES-USDA) to address food safety concerns for those who practice and teach home food preservation and processing methods. This site is will be the first place to find new information when it becomes available. Penn State’s Food Preservation Database http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/ With both food safety and food preservation databases, this site has a great search engine that goes well beyond the confines of Penn State. The Complete Guide to Home Canning is available in the searchable database and in PDF format. Utah State Food Publications http://extension.usu.edu/cooperative/index.cfm/cid.249/ An excellent source for canning publications, the USDA guide is available in PDF format. Other
April 2004 Articles:
Cynthia
Fauser
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