Preserve Food Safely
See trusted resources that help you preserve foods safely and provide best quality. In addition to popular foods and methods found on this page, find more free information, recipes and directions at OSU Extension Home Food Safety and Preservation Publications web page.
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Keep home-canned Cranberry Sauce in your pantry for all kinds of special meals. Once opened, try blending the Cranberry Sauce with some of your favorite barbeque sauce to serve with a pork roast.
If you need a green and red hostess gift, try Tomatillo Salsa and Spicy Cranberry Salsa!
Cranberries
Heated and sweetened cranberries are long known as a perfect sauce for sliced turkey. Make canned Cranberry Sauce and other cranberry-based condiments such as Cranberry Orange Chutney and Spicy Cranberry Salsa to have on hand for your special meals. Canned Spicy Cranberry Salsa adds a delighful kick to your turkey sandwiches. These are also great condiments for other poutry, meat, game and plant-based proteins. All three of these canned products can be made from fresh or frozen cranberries. Eat dried cranberries as a snack or add to oatmeal.
Find easy to use, safe, tested recipes and directions from Oregon State University Extension below.
Home made summer sausage is easy to make. These were rolled by hand. No casings required. Use up-to-date recipies or commercial mixes for safe products. Measure carefully.
Shape summer sausages into 1-inch to 3-inch diameter rolls. Oven dry at 200 degrees F on a cooling rack over a baking sheet for 3 to 5 hours.
Sausages need to reach in internal temperature of 160 degrees F in the oven. When thoroughly cooled, wrap sausage in foil or plastic and refrigerate or freeze. Cooked sausage can be stored in the refrigerator up to three weeks or frozen for a year.
Summer Sausage and Deli Style Meats
Home canned dry beans (Cannellini, baby Lima, black, red kidney, cranberry, and great northern beans and navy beans in molasses sauce). In addition to OSU Extension food preservation resources, other reliable resources are the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and So Easy to Preserve from University of Georgia Extension.
Dry beans for our nutrition and food preservation public workshops were donated by Bob's Red Mill.
Canned great northern beans.
For best quality, fill jars with dry bean solids to 2-inch head space, then add liquid to 1-inch head space.
Home canned dry beans in molasses sauce. This recipe calls for the quick soak method to hydrate the dry beans.
Dry Beans
Try pressure canning beans and using them to make chili, refried beans, dips, or add to soups, casseroles and stews. Canning Tips: Dried beans must be hydrated and boiled for 30 minutes prior to pressure canning to allow for save, adequate heat penetration. For best quality, fill jars with dry bean solids to 2-inch head space, then add liquid to 1-inch head space. "Dry-canned" beans and other low-acid foods are at risk for botulism. Try making refried beans from pressure canned pinto beans or hummus from garbanzo beans. Hummus and refried beans cannot be home canned due to their density.
Find easy to use, safe, tested recipes and directions from Oregon State University Extension below.
Pumpkins ready to preserve! Will you pressure can, freeze or dry them? Beware of unsafe processes. It is not safe to can purreed or mashed pumkin or winter squash.
Pressure canned pumpkin. Canning cubed pumpkin and winter squash assures proper heat penetration for a safe product. Remember to make altitude adjustments by increasing pressure for your elevation. See the Canning Vegetables publication for the chart.
Pumpkins and Winter Squash
Try pressure canning cubes for a side dish or add to soups and stews. Puree canned cubes to make pie fillings and soups. Note: Spaghetti squash should not be canned because the flesh does not stay cubed when heated. Rehydrate dried pumpkin and winter squash to use as a side dish or puree to make pumpkin pie and soup. Pumpkin leather with pie spices makes a sweet treat the whole family will enjoy. Freezing is an easy way to preserve pumpkins and winter squash to enjoy all winter long.
Find easy to use, safe, tested recipes and directions from Oregon State University Extension below.
Meat is canned using the hot pack or raw pack method. Meatballs (left) made from ground meat, poultry or wild game (no extra ingredients) must be hot packed. Stew meat (right) is easy and quick to get in the canner for processing using the raw pack method.
Examples of raw pack (l) and hot pack chicken breasts (r).
Avoid freezer burn with proper freezer packaging methods and materials.
One chicken makes 2 jars of light meat, 1 jar of dark meat and 4 jars of stock (broth).
Heat meat strips in boiling marinade before loading them into a dehydrator in the pre-cook method.
Meat, Poultry and Wild Game
Try pressure canning strips, cubes and chunks of meat. Ground or chopped meat can also be pressure canned and used to make quick meals. Canned meat can be used for tacos, burritos, added to soups, stews, pasta dishes and casseroles. Jerky is a nutrient-rich, portable and lightweight source of protein. Home freezing is a quick way to preserve your meat and be prepared for delicous meals throughout the year. Find easy to use, safe, tested recipes and directions from Oregon State University Extension below.
Harvest greens from your garden early in the day. If you are in an area impacted by wildfire smoke, rinse off any ash before you bring them inside with a gentle spray from your hose or as soon as you bring them in your kitchen. Give them a second rinse under cool running water rubbing them to loosen any dust or mud between your palms or with your fingertips.
Remove tough stems.
Blanch greens in boiling water or steam. This short heat treatment stops enzymes that can cause undesireable changes in flavor, texture, color, and nutritive value during storage.
Cool greens immediately in ice water for the same length of time used for blanching. When cool, drain, and pat dry.
Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard and other greens
Potatoes may be canned safely when peeled and cubed. Add hot water to 1-inch headspace. Then, process in a pressure canner. Remember to make altitude adjustments!
Potatoes
Boil cored tomatoes for 30 to 60 seconds, then plunge in ice cold water to help remove skins easily.
An option to enhance flavor of canned salsa is to broil peppers until they blister. Roasting over open flame works well, too.
Remove the brown papery outer layer, then rinse green tomatillos before you chop them. Pepper should be rinsed well before chopped fresh or broiled for salsa.
Tasty Tomatillo, Peach and Chili Salsa! Try some!
We recommend removing the tomato core before blanching. Larger tomatoes can benefit from an "x" cut on the bottom so the skins slip off more easily.
Salsa!
Before canning, visible air bubbles trapped in apple pie filling when filling canning jars should be removed. Gently slide a commercial "bubbler" or a clean, sterilized wooden chopstick or corndog stick along the inside of the jar to an air pocket. This will release the air.
These apple slices were pre-treated to prevent browning with an ascorbic acid solution, then blanched and kept hot until gently folded into the pie filling mixture for canned apple pie filling. Keeping the ingredients hot and filling the jars quickly prevents spoilage and extends shelflife of canned pie fillings.
Pretreating to prevent browning is also recommended when canning, dehydrating or freezing apple slices. Blanching is an optional step for drying apples, but may help reduce browning that occurs in storage for some apple varieties.
Pretreated apples, that have been peeled, halved or quartered, and cored are then sliced flat have been loaded into an electric dehydrator tray. "Flats" are easier and safer to slice on a cutting board and may dry more evenly. "Turn the cut-side down."
The same tray of apple "flats" dried.
Apples
Reputable pectin companies provide many traditional and trendy recipes that have been tested for safety and quality AND consumer hotlines or contact links to address problems specific to their products. See their products or web pages for more information.
Canned Oregon peaches and pears are popular in pantries. How about adding something with a twist to liven up your winter menus? Try canning pears in mint or cinnamon flavored syrups or orange juice.
Syrup blanch sliced pears in mint or cinnamon syrup, or heavy simple syrup before dehydrating.
When preserving peaches choose freestone (flesh readily separates from the pit). Good varieties for canning include Veteran, Early Elberta, Elberta, Rochester, hale, Alamar, Redglobe, Redhaven, and Sun Crest.
Peaches and Pears
We have all been waiting for the exceptional summertime flavor of sun-ripened tomatoes. Preserve them now!
Tomatoes
Has your neighbor been leaving bags of zucchini on your porch?
Zucchini
Preserve award-quality green beans now while they are abundant and economical.
Green Beans
Boost health benefits with berries!
Berries
Cherries can be in season all year when preserved.
Cherries
Freezing and Drying Directions
A tray of sliced, dried Roma tomatoes.
Food Safety and Preservation in Central Oregon
Learn more about home food safety and preservation in Central Oregon.
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