August 16, 2019 • 15 mins
By far the number one fear I hear the most in regards to canning concerns food poisoning. Better known as botulism, this phenomenon has the potential to cause some very serious health problems. While botulism has the can be extremely dangerous, I’m here to provide some guidance to help you mitigate any possible risk. From acidity to temperature to different types of canning, listen to find a comprehensive guide on canning safely.
Some key highlights from today's episode:
• The importance of acid in home-canned foods
• Why you should use a pressure canner for low acid food
To get my comprehensive canning e-book, visit https://www.learnhowtocan.com
If you're ready to begin this homesteading journey, head to http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/grow to access my full library of resources to guide you down the path.
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR YOUR HOMESTEAD:
- Sign up for weekly musings from my homestead: http://theprairiehomestead.com/letter
- Get my free homesteading tutorials & recipes here: www.theprairiehomestead.com
- Jill on Instagram: @jill.winger
- Jill on Facebook: http://facebook.com/theprairiehomestead
- Apply to be a guest on the Old-Fashioned on Purpose podcast: https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/podcast-guest-application
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the old fashion on purpose podcast.
Today's episode is absolutelycrucial if you are wanting to
start canning or maybe youalready are canning.
I've noticed a lot of reallyunsafe canning information
floating around the Internetlately and a lot of it is being
(00:22):
perpetuated because people don'tfully understand the dangers of
something called botulism.
We're going to dive deep intothis topic of botulism today and
it's actually more interestingthan you may think.
So keep listening so you knowhow to create those delicious
(00:44):
home canned foods and keep yourfamily safe.
I'm your host Jill winger andfor the last 10 years I've been
helping folks all over the worldlearn how to leave the rat race
and create the life they reallywant by taking the best of the
old ways and weaving them intoour every day modern lives.
(01:09):
When I talk to folks aboutcanning or why they haven't
started canning yet, the numberone concern I hear popping up
the most is in relation to thefear of food poisoning or
botulism.
Now this is a very legitimateconcern, right?
(01:30):
This is a not an unfounded fear.
This is a real deal becausenobody wants to get stick from
home canned foods and above all,no one wants to make their
family members sick either.
Botulism thrives in roomtemperature, oxygen deprived,
(01:50):
moist environments.
And when you think about it,that's exactly what a jar of
canned food provides, right?
It's kind of like the perfectlittle house for potential
botulism.
Now the scary part of botulismis that the health effects go
way beyond just a simple stomachache or kind of feeling woozy
(02:12):
for a day or two.
It can actually cause reallysevere health issues, paralysis
and even death.
So it is a big deal and you dowant to do everything you can to
prevent ever having to worryabout it.
Now all of that being saidbefore you sell all your mason
(02:34):
jars and vow to never touch ajar of home canned food., again,
hear me out, because as scary asbotulism may be, it's also very,
very simple to mitigate therisks of botulism, all you have
to do is follow a few easyguidelines.
(02:56):
Before we dive into thoseguidelines, I want you to
understand the mechanisms ofbotulism just a little bit more
so you can understand where itcomes from and why it can be an
issue.
Clostridium botulinum, I think Isaid it right, you can correct
(03:16):
me if I'm wrong, but that's theofficial name of the bacteria
that causes botulism.
The spores are actuallyeverywhere.
They're floating around rightnow.
They're in the soil.
They might be on meats, theymight be on your vegetables,
especially, you know, vegetablesthat are coming straight out of
(03:37):
the soil like a potato or acarrot.
However, just because thesespores are floating around or on
something doesn't mean they'regoing to cause issues in that
form.
They don't start becomingdangerous until they have a
chance to be in those oxygendeprived damp environments.
(04:03):
Now, once they're in that sortof environment, that's where
they get really happy and thespores have the potential to
grow into the active bacteriaand produce the neurotoxins,
which can make us very, verysick.
So in and of themselves, thespores are a complete non-issue
until they're given the properenvironment.
(04:26):
Here's the part about botulismthat's always bothered me or
made me a little extra cautiousbecause when we think about wild
food, usually it's moldy,stinky, fuzzy, fizzy, or just
overall unappealing, right?
Smells bad, we're not going totouch it, you know, no matter
(04:47):
what.
The tricky part with botulism isthat it doesn't always cause
food to have an off taste or abad smell.
So it can be kind of difficultto know if your food is actually
contaminated.
Now again, I'm not saying thisto make you scared and you know,
keep you from ever canning athome because I'm going to say it
(05:08):
again.
As long as you follow testedrecipes and approved techniques,
you don't have to worry aboutit.
It's not like a sneaky villainwho will, you know, come in and
contaminate your foods at anygiven time and you never know.
We can absolutely prevent itfrom even perpetuating in our
canned foods as long as we'refollowing the rules.
(05:31):
The way that we prevent botulismfrom becoming an issue is with
two secret weapons.
And those weapons are high heatand acidity, right?
And those are the two thingsthat we bring into canning
techniques and processes thatensure that we never have to
(05:52):
worry about our foods beingdangerous.
Botulism cannot survive intemperatures over 240 degrees
Fahrenheit and it can also notsurvive with acidity that is
lower than 4.6 the Ph.
Okay.
(06:12):
Those are really important foryou to know.
High Heat and acidity.
So let's talk a little bit aboutthe importance of acid in home
canned foods.
You'll hear a lot in the worldof canning, you'll hear people
refer to, oh this is the lowacid food, this is a high acid
food.
And the reason this is referredto so frequently is because the
(06:35):
acidity content of a given foodwill determine what canning
methods should be used topreserve it safely.
Just to underscore it again, incanning a high acid food is any
food with a Ph of less than 4.6so this is going to include
(06:57):
things like pickles, you knowthey have vinegar in them,
relishes, most fruits, you know,peaches, apples, they have acid
in them, jams, jellies, thingslike that.
They are high acid.
And so when we take the naturalacid content of those foods or
foods that are, you know, madewith additional vinegar or lemon
(07:20):
juice, we combine that with theboiling water temperatures of a
water bath canner, then that is100% efficient to keep that
particular foods safe andprevent botulism from forming.
And that's why you canabsolutely use a water bath
canner for jams, jellies,chutneys, pickles and so on.
(07:45):
Now the difference comes in withlow acid foods.
Things like most vegetables, youknow, green beans, carrots,
whatever, meat, soups, broths,and so on.
Now these foods obviously don'tcontain really enough acid,
hardly any acid and that is notgoing to be able to stop the
(08:06):
growth of botulism.
And you know, in some of theseinstances, like for example, we
can add acid to green beans andmake pickled beans.
That's great.
But in other foods, let's say ifwe want to canchicken, we don't
want to add cups of vinegar tothe chicken because that's just
going to be a little bit gross.
(08:27):
We want to be able to leave thatchicken as is and still be able
to can it.
And in order to do that, we mustuse a pressure canner.
High acid foods think water bathcanner, for low acid foods,
think pressure canner.
(08:48):
Now the magic of pressurecanning is that it has the
ability to heat the foods in thejars to high enough temperatures
to kill any and all lingeringbotulism spores without the
presence of extra acid.
Keep in mind, remember we saidbotulism cannot survive past
(09:10):
temperatures of 240 degreesFahrenheit and a pressure canner
will go to that point andbeyond.
So it's got it covered.
We're a hundred percent safe.
Now we contrast that with waterbath canning.
Boiling water is about 212degrees Fahrenheit, right?
(09:30):
So that's way below that safepoint, which is why the acid is
required there.
Now that's really all you needto know as long as you're using
a pressure canner for low acidfoods and making sure the foods
that you're canning in yourwater bath canner have enough
acid, you're all set.
Now a little side note here,cause I hear this a lot on the
(09:52):
internet, you may have had agreat grandma or a relative or a
friend who cans low acid foodson her homestead with a water
bath canner and she never had asingle issue.
Right?
I've heard stories of folksduring the Great Depression
canning meat on an open flame,you know, pot with water on an
(10:13):
open flame, putting some wax inthe top of the jars and that
meat was fine.
Okay, so can you get away withthat even today?
Yeah, you probably can.
Some of the time.
The question is is do you reallywant to be playing Russian
roulette with your canned foods?
(10:33):
I know for me that's 100% a no,that is not worth the risk for
me.
I'm going to advise you thatthat is not worth the risk for
you either.
So stick with the approvedprocesses and guidelines and the
ones you can trust.
One of my favorites is thenational center for home food
(10:55):
preservation.
The ball blue book is a greatresource and also the USDA has
some canning recommendations.
Now I like to just reassurepeople these rules and methods
are not there to try to limityour liberty in the kitchen and
it's not the government tryingto come in and control your food
(11:17):
storage.
It's really just to lower theseinstances of botulism because
the home canned foods were avery high source of these in
these cases where botulism wasbeing discovered and once more
of these scientificallyresearched methods became more
commonplace, those numbers wentway down so we can make those
(11:42):
delicious foods and be confidentwhile we're doing so.
So canning is not scary, Ipromise.
I've been canning for about 10years now and I've never had a
single issue with a contaminatedjar.
I follow the guidelines, I skipthe outdated and unsafe methods
(12:03):
even if they are recommended bythe people of the Internet and
we enjoy delicious home cannedfoods with zero worry.
Now hold on just one secondbecause if you're thinking,
yeah, whatever, still feeling alittle nervous, I'm not sure
it's worth the effort for me tounderstand acidity and
(12:23):
temperatures.
Let me assure you that it reallyis and the reason I love canning
so much is that it's, numberone, allows us to avoid waste
when we have a lot of foodcoming in from the garden.
It also allows us to getdiscount produce in bulk at the
(12:44):
farmer's market or the grocerystore.
You know, sometimes at ourmarket towards the end of this
season they'll have bag days atcertain stands and you can go in
and fill a bag for like fivebucks of whatever you want.
So if I'm going to go stack up,usually it's going to be in
quantities that my family is notgoing to be able to eat before
(13:05):
it spoils.
So I can use my canners topreserve that food for later in
the year.
And I also love canning becauseit allows me to make homemade
shelf-stable pantry staples withhealthy ingredients.
So I can skip the junky versionsat the grocery store.
And some of my favorite pantrystaples to make with my pressure
(13:28):
canner are things like homemadebeef stew.
I love, love, love canningbroth.
For example, I will, you know,when we have a chicken or maybe
Thanksgiving Day Turkey, I willmake broth, a whole bunch of it,
couple gallons, and that it cancan that broth in quart size
(13:48):
jars or pint-sized jars and havehomemade broth ready to go at a
moment's notice.
And it doesn't require me toclog up my freezer because you
can freeze broth.
That totally works, but it justtakes up a lot of room.
You risk the jars breaking inthe freezer.
You have to thaw it out, it'sjust a little more cumbersome.
(14:10):
Okay.
Friends, if your head isspinning just a little bit and
all of the details and numbersand processes that I've shared
today and relate in relation tocanning and being safe.
I've got you covered.
I actually created a full, verycomprehensive ebook that
contains diagrams, charts,safety tips and rules, and some
(14:35):
of my favorite canning recipesso you can get started cannings
safely without the headache.
Now, if you go tolearnhowtocan.com you can grab
all the details and some bonusgoodies as well, and that's it.
My friends, thanks forlistening.
I can't wait for you to diveinto the world of canning and
(14:58):
create those amazing foods foryour family.
If you have a minute, I wouldlove it if you could hit
subscribe and leave a reviewover on iTunes and I will chat
with you next time in that nextepisode of the old fashioned on
purpose podcast.
Welcome to the old fashion on purpose podcast.
Today's episode is absolutelycrucial if you are wanting to
start canning or maybe youalready are canning.
I've noticed a lot of reallyunsafe canning information
floating around the Internetlately and a lot of it is being
(00:22):
perpetuated because people don'tfully understand the dangers of
something called botulism.
We're going to dive deep intothis topic of botulism today and
it's actually more interestingthan you may think.
So keep listening so you knowhow to create those delicious
(00:44):
home canned foods and keep yourfamily safe.
I'm your host Jill winger andfor the last 10 years I've been
helping folks all over the worldlearn how to leave the rat race
and create the life they reallywant by taking the best of the
old ways and weaving them intoour every day modern lives.
(01:09):
When I talk to folks aboutcanning or why they haven't
started canning yet, the numberone concern I hear popping up
the most is in relation to thefear of food poisoning or
botulism.
Now this is a very legitimateconcern, right?
(01:30):
This is a not an unfounded fear.
This is a real deal becausenobody wants to get stick from
home canned foods and above all,no one wants to make their
family members sick either.
Botulism thrives in roomtemperature, oxygen deprived,
(01:50):
moist environments.
And when you think about it,that's exactly what a jar of
canned food provides, right?
It's kind of like the perfectlittle house for potential
botulism.
Now the scary part of botulismis that the health effects go
way beyond just a simple stomachache or kind of feeling woozy
(02:12):
for a day or two.
It can actually cause reallysevere health issues, paralysis
and even death.
So it is a big deal and you dowant to do everything you can to
prevent ever having to worryabout it.
Now all of that being saidbefore you sell all your mason
(02:34):
jars and vow to never touch ajar of home canned food., again,
hear me out, because as scary asbotulism may be, it's also very,
very simple to mitigate therisks of botulism, all you have
to do is follow a few easyguidelines.
(02:56):
Before we dive into thoseguidelines, I want you to
understand the mechanisms ofbotulism just a little bit more
so you can understand where itcomes from and why it can be an
issue.
Clostridium botulinum, I think Isaid it right, you can correct
(03:16):
me if I'm wrong, but that's theofficial name of the bacteria
that causes botulism.
The spores are actuallyeverywhere.
They're floating around rightnow.
They're in the soil.
They might be on meats, theymight be on your vegetables,
especially, you know, vegetablesthat are coming straight out of
(03:37):
the soil like a potato or acarrot.
However, just because thesespores are floating around or on
something doesn't mean they'regoing to cause issues in that
form.
They don't start becomingdangerous until they have a
chance to be in those oxygendeprived damp environments.
(04:03):
Now, once they're in that sortof environment, that's where
they get really happy and thespores have the potential to
grow into the active bacteriaand produce the neurotoxins,
which can make us very, verysick.
So in and of themselves, thespores are a complete non-issue
until they're given the properenvironment.
(04:26):
Here's the part about botulismthat's always bothered me or
made me a little extra cautiousbecause when we think about wild
food, usually it's moldy,stinky, fuzzy, fizzy, or just
overall unappealing, right?
Smells bad, we're not going totouch it, you know, no matter
(04:47):
what.
The tricky part with botulism isthat it doesn't always cause
food to have an off taste or abad smell.
So it can be kind of difficultto know if your food is actually
contaminated.
Now again, I'm not saying thisto make you scared and you know,
keep you from ever canning athome because I'm going to say it
(05:08):
again.
As long as you follow testedrecipes and approved techniques,
you don't have to worry aboutit.
It's not like a sneaky villainwho will, you know, come in and
contaminate your foods at anygiven time and you never know.
We can absolutely prevent itfrom even perpetuating in our
canned foods as long as we'refollowing the rules.
(05:31):
The way that we prevent botulismfrom becoming an issue is with
two secret weapons.
And those weapons are high heatand acidity, right?
And those are the two thingsthat we bring into canning
techniques and processes thatensure that we never have to
(05:52):
worry about our foods beingdangerous.
Botulism cannot survive intemperatures over 240 degrees
Fahrenheit and it can also notsurvive with acidity that is
lower than 4.6 the Ph.
Okay.
(06:12):
Those are really important foryou to know.
High Heat and acidity.
So let's talk a little bit aboutthe importance of acid in home
canned foods.
You'll hear a lot in the worldof canning, you'll hear people
refer to, oh this is the lowacid food, this is a high acid
food.
And the reason this is referredto so frequently is because the
(06:35):
acidity content of a given foodwill determine what canning
methods should be used topreserve it safely.
Just to underscore it again, incanning a high acid food is any
food with a Ph of less than 4.6so this is going to include
(06:57):
things like pickles, you knowthey have vinegar in them,
relishes, most fruits, you know,peaches, apples, they have acid
in them, jams, jellies, thingslike that.
They are high acid.
And so when we take the naturalacid content of those foods or
foods that are, you know, madewith additional vinegar or lemon
(07:20):
juice, we combine that with theboiling water temperatures of a
water bath canner, then that is100% efficient to keep that
particular foods safe andprevent botulism from forming.
And that's why you canabsolutely use a water bath
canner for jams, jellies,chutneys, pickles and so on.
(07:45):
Now the difference comes in withlow acid foods.
Things like most vegetables, youknow, green beans, carrots,
whatever, meat, soups, broths,and so on.
Now these foods obviously don'tcontain really enough acid,
hardly any acid and that is notgoing to be able to stop the
(08:06):
growth of botulism.
And you know, in some of theseinstances, like for example, we
can add acid to green beans andmake pickled beans.
That's great.
But in other foods, let's say ifwe want to canchicken, we don't
want to add cups of vinegar tothe chicken because that's just
going to be a little bit gross.
(08:27):
We want to be able to leave thatchicken as is and still be able
to can it.
And in order to do that, we mustuse a pressure canner.
High acid foods think water bathcanner, for low acid foods,
think pressure canner.
(08:48):
Now the magic of pressurecanning is that it has the
ability to heat the foods in thejars to high enough temperatures
to kill any and all lingeringbotulism spores without the
presence of extra acid.
Keep in mind, remember we saidbotulism cannot survive past
(09:10):
temperatures of 240 degreesFahrenheit and a pressure canner
will go to that point andbeyond.
So it's got it covered.
We're a hundred percent safe.
Now we contrast that with waterbath canning.
Boiling water is about 212degrees Fahrenheit, right?
(09:30):
So that's way below that safepoint, which is why the acid is
required there.
Now that's really all you needto know as long as you're using
a pressure canner for low acidfoods and making sure the foods
that you're canning in yourwater bath canner have enough
acid, you're all set.
Now a little side note here,cause I hear this a lot on the
(09:52):
internet, you may have had agreat grandma or a relative or a
friend who cans low acid foodson her homestead with a water
bath canner and she never had asingle issue.
Right?
I've heard stories of folksduring the Great Depression
canning meat on an open flame,you know, pot with water on an
(10:13):
open flame, putting some wax inthe top of the jars and that
meat was fine.
Okay, so can you get away withthat even today?
Yeah, you probably can.
Some of the time.
The question is is do you reallywant to be playing Russian
roulette with your canned foods?
(10:33):
I know for me that's 100% a no,that is not worth the risk for
me.
I'm going to advise you thatthat is not worth the risk for
you either.
So stick with the approvedprocesses and guidelines and the
ones you can trust.
One of my favorites is thenational center for home food
(10:55):
preservation.
The ball blue book is a greatresource and also the USDA has
some canning recommendations.
Now I like to just reassurepeople these rules and methods
are not there to try to limityour liberty in the kitchen and
it's not the government tryingto come in and control your food
(11:17):
storage.
It's really just to lower theseinstances of botulism because
the home canned foods were avery high source of these in
these cases where botulism wasbeing discovered and once more
of these scientificallyresearched methods became more
commonplace, those numbers wentway down so we can make those
(11:42):
delicious foods and be confidentwhile we're doing so.
So canning is not scary, Ipromise.
I've been canning for about 10years now and I've never had a
single issue with a contaminatedjar.
I follow the guidelines, I skipthe outdated and unsafe methods
(12:03):
even if they are recommended bythe people of the Internet and
we enjoy delicious home cannedfoods with zero worry.
Now hold on just one secondbecause if you're thinking,
yeah, whatever, still feeling alittle nervous, I'm not sure
it's worth the effort for me tounderstand acidity and
(12:23):
temperatures.
Let me assure you that it reallyis and the reason I love canning
so much is that it's, numberone, allows us to avoid waste
when we have a lot of foodcoming in from the garden.
It also allows us to getdiscount produce in bulk at the
(12:44):
farmer's market or the grocerystore.
You know, sometimes at ourmarket towards the end of this
season they'll have bag days atcertain stands and you can go in
and fill a bag for like fivebucks of whatever you want.
So if I'm going to go stack up,usually it's going to be in
quantities that my family is notgoing to be able to eat before
(13:05):
it spoils.
So I can use my canners topreserve that food for later in
the year.
And I also love canning becauseit allows me to make homemade
shelf-stable pantry staples withhealthy ingredients.
So I can skip the junky versionsat the grocery store.
And some of my favorite pantrystaples to make with my pressure
(13:28):
canner are things like homemadebeef stew.
I love, love, love canningbroth.
For example, I will, you know,when we have a chicken or maybe
Thanksgiving Day Turkey, I willmake broth, a whole bunch of it,
couple gallons, and that it cancan that broth in quart size
(13:48):
jars or pint-sized jars and havehomemade broth ready to go at a
moment's notice.
And it doesn't require me toclog up my freezer because you
can freeze broth.
That totally works, but it justtakes up a lot of room.
You risk the jars breaking inthe freezer.
You have to thaw it out, it'sjust a little more cumbersome.
(14:10):
Okay.
Friends, if your head isspinning just a little bit and
all of the details and numbersand processes that I've shared
today and relate in relation tocanning and being safe.
I've got you covered.
I actually created a full, verycomprehensive ebook that
contains diagrams, charts,safety tips and rules, and some
(14:35):
of my favorite canning recipesso you can get started cannings
safely without the headache.
Now, if you go tolearnhowtocan.com you can grab
all the details and some bonusgoodies as well, and that's it.
My friends, thanks forlistening.
I can't wait for you to diveinto the world of canning and
(14:58):
create those amazing foods foryour family.
If you have a minute, I wouldlove it if you could hit
subscribe and leave a reviewover on iTunes and I will chat
with you next time in that nextepisode of the old fashioned on
purpose podcast.
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