Steam canner

Welcome and thank you for joining us for

our second session of the fill your

pantry canning with confidence webinar

Series this week is All About Steam

canning offered by the University of

Illinois

Extension University of Illinois

Extension is the flagship Outreach

efforts of University of Illinois at

Urbana champagne we offer research-based

educational programs to residents of

Illinois in all 102 counties and

beyond my name is Christen Bonis I'm the

nutrition and wellness educator serving

Henry Mercer Rock Island and Stark

counties and I will be your presenter

today so let's first talk about the

benefits of food preservation so the

main goal is to keep our food safe while

we are extending that shelf life and

keeping it on the counter year round not

only does this help extend the life of

our food but it also helps us to reduce

food waste and with about 40% of our

food ending up in the landfill this is a

great way to keep food out of the

landfill and more money in your

pocket canning and food preservation in

general also helps you enjoy your

homegrown food or your Local Foods year

round you can also address a variety of

dietary concerns maybe you are wanting

to reduce the sodium or sugar in your

foods and you can do that when you

preserve your own food at home maybe

you've received a caner from a friend or

family that is not using their caner

anymore um maybe you were given a

variety of jars and Lids so this can all

save you money especially if you are

growing your own food at

home so just a little bit about food

safety we know that 70% of food born

illness starts in the home so it's

really important that we're practicing

um a variety of safe food practices to

keep our friends and family safe that

eat our food certain segments of the

population are a little more susceptible

to these germs so we want to make sure

that um we are protecting those that

have weakened immune systems people that

are over 65 children that are younger

than five and pregnant

women

and I'm sure I don't need to remind

anyone how to wash their hands correctly

but I just want to point out that we

should be scrubbing our hands with soap

for at least 20 seconds this is the time

that is necessary for the soap to do its

job in removing any dirt and debris that

might be

present I've also noticed lots of

outdated canning methods circulating on

social media so I wanted to talk about

some of these outdated methods today the

first one here is the open pudle method

this is when you heat Foods on the stove

put them in jars and you tighten the

lids and that's that there's no

processing um so your jars May seal at

first but then later become unsealed due

to the growth of

microorganisms so just because the jar

is initially sealed does not mean this

is a safe food preservation t technique

they must have a processing method which

we'll talk about here

shortly also processing by way of

microwave oven slow cooker dishwasher

and the Sun and believe it or not I've

received calls on all of these

techniques people are just very creative

and finding ways to can their Foods um

so again these are not approved

processing methods so we cannot

recommend these um using a pressure

cooker um people confuse these with

pressure canners and there is a

difference so to be classified as a

pressure canner your vessel must hold

four upright closed quart

jars and there are three companies that

manufacture these in the US these

include Presto, Muro and All-American so

look for one of

those. Also some people like to reuse

old jars maybe for mayonnaise or

other condiments for home canning and

this is not recommended because these

jars are not made for multiple

uses they are not heat tempered glass

like Mason type jars are which are very

thick walls and those types of jars can

withstand repeated um use in your water

bath and your pressure canning so make

sure you are using the correct types of

jars so you don't have lots of breakage

going on using one piece lids instead of

two-piece these are some outdated

practices as well and also all of the

recipes that you will find on the

National Center for Home Food

Preservation have tested their recipes

using two-piece lids so we recommend

using these as

well also using paraffin wax it does

look nice to have you know the wax it's

very pretty but this is not a safe way

to can your Foods um because of mold

contamination so just make sure you are

using two two-piece lids for all of your

jams jellies and fruit

preserves so now we're going to take a

look at some approved canning methods

and you have several options depending

on whether you want to do your high acid

or low acid foods so the first one here

is the boiling water bath caner and

you'll see two pictures the one on the

left this is your typical boiling water

bath caner that comes with a rack in the

bottom the other one on the right that

is the electric water bath caner this is

a newer item on the market that you can

find both of which you can safely use to

can your high acid

foods the next one down is the steam

caner you can also use this for your

high acid foods um and the foods are

processed in pure

steam so anytime you would want to

maybe do Jam jelly salsa whatever you

do in your boiling water bath caner you

can safely use in a steam caner and we

will take a look at this more in depth

here momentarily and then lastly here is

pressure canning so this is for any low

acid foods and the reason why we have

two different types of canning methods

is because of um the possible risk of

botulism so in order to kill the spores

that are produced by the botulism toxin

we have to get the temperature up to

240° and we can only do that Under

Pressure so that's why all of your low

acid foods must be pressure canned and

the webinar next week which is the third

webinar of the series will go in depth

about pressure canning so make sure you

tune into

that all right so the acid the acidity

level of your food will determine which

type of canner you are going to use so

in this chart here on the right you can

see that all of our high acid foods fall

between three and

4.6 on the pH scale so you see your

citrus fruit around three and then the

lower you go around 4.6 you'll see

tomatoes and figs so anytime that you are processing

Tomatoes you want to make sure you

are adding extra acid whether that's

vinegar citric acid or lemon juice

because there's so many different

varieties of tomatoes it's kind of hard

to know the specific acidity of the

Tomato variety you have so it's always

recommended to add acid no matter if you

are processing your tomatoes and a

boiling a water bath

Canon or pressure

Canon other high acid foods um would

include pickles so any pickled products

fruits jams jellies and also the figs with extra acid

added um you can use either the boiling

water bath caner the electric water bath

caner or the steam caner to process

these foods safely and with the low acid

foods that you can see here these are

all of your vegetables um you can even do pumpkin if

as long as it's cubed and not pureed

your Meats poultry Seafood soups um

those types of foods would need to be

processed in a pressure

C now most foods that are high acid can

be safely canned in a steam canner

including acidified foods like salsa and

pickles however there are some

situations when a steam caner should not

be used so you do not want to use a

steam caner if you are processing figs

in quart jars and this goes for all

elevations if you are doing Tomatoes

packed in tomato juice or packed without

added liquid for all jar sizes and

elevations and of course your low acid

foods and you want to use caution when

processing figs in Pint jars

tomatillos Other Tomato products like

tomato sauce and tomato juice and the

reason is because of the processing time

it's going to be longer than 45 minutes

and this is one of the safety guidelines

when using your Steam caner and we'll

take a look at more of those safety

guidelines

momentarily um but just if you're going

to do any kind of tomato or fig product

I always remind people to check your

tested recipe um for your elevation and

make sure you are within those

guidelines um if it's over 45 minutes it

could potentially boil

dry the great thing about steam canners

is that they take a lot less time to

heat up compared to your boiling water

bath caner so for your boiling water

bath caner you know you're adding that

16q of water in there and this could

take up to 30 minutes which you would

have to add to your processing time so

that's quite a bit of time whereas your

steam canner only requires two quarts of

water to be heated up so it takes less

than 10 minutes so it's very lightweight

you don't have to worry about pouring

out of lot a lot of hot water after your

your um canning project and this is

something that I've really enjoyed using

over the

years now the University of Wisconsin

under the leadership of Dr Barbara Ingam

they conducted research on the

appropriate use of steam canners for

home canning and this was done in

collaboration with the national Center

of home food preservation so a steam

caner may be used to safely can high

acid foods as long as all of the

following conditions are met so first

you want to make sure you are choosing

an up-to-date research tested recipe and

we'll look at where you can find some of

those recipes um at the end of this

presentation you want to prepare your

jars and food according to your tested

recipe preheating is optional since it's

so quick you don't really need to worry

about um getting that water up to

temperature um to ensure that that you

are processing at the correct

temperature you want to make sure you

are venting for one full minute before

the processing time and this just

ensures that you get all of that cold

air out before you start the timing

process there are two small holes on

either side of the caner lid so when you

see Steam funneling out about 8 to 10

inches this is when you start your

processing time and your steam should

flow freely from the caner during the

entire process and remember to never

remove the lid during this time or add

additional water if for some reason um

your caner should boil dry or um the

power goes out then you have to restart

the process all over

again and again remember to adjust your

processing time for elevation as you

would for a boiling water caner and you

can um find any elevation for any

address with a quick quick online search

here on Rock Island we are at about 610

ft so if you are over 1,000 ft that is

when you start um adjusting for

elevation so again check with your

tested recipe and ensure that your

processing time along with the elevation

is less than 45 minutes because if it is

longer your caner will boil dry which is

a safety concern not only for your food

product but also your caner and your

stove

top mixing jar sizes is okay with a

steam caner but stacking jars is not so

this is one of the differences between

the Steam caner and the boiling water

bath caner because you can stack jars in

the boiling water bath caner your steam

caner should hold 10 half pints eight

pints or S quart

jars and after processing time is

complete you just remove your jars put

them on a counter with a towel or on a

cookie sheets um like a cookie sheet

drying rack and just allow them to cool

um

undisturbed okay and now for a very

quick video um this is

using the Steam caner and how to process

um a low sugar strawberry

J you can easily make low sugar

strawberry jam at home using a steam

caner keep watching for a step-by-step

process to make four half pint jars you

will need 2 and 2/3 cups crushed

strawberry

2/3 cup unsweetened fruit juice Tha

concentrate or water 3 tbsp low or no

sugar added pectin and up to one cup of

sugar I'll be using the full cup for

this recipe the recipe in this video is

a research tested recipe from ball using

low or no sugar pectin do not try to

reduce the amount of sugar in

traditional recipes two little sugar

prevents jelling and may allow yeast and

molds to grow other things that you will

need include A pounder to crush

strawberries your steam caner jars a jar

lifter and a towel for the counter first

we need to prepare our food since I'll

be making four half pint jars I will

need 32 oz of fresh strawberries after

washing and Hing your strawberries Crush

one layer at a time depending on how

many strawberries you have you can make

as little as one jar or up to 10 jars

per batch your jam may not set in larger

batches to adjust the amount of jam you

wish to make use the calculations table

in the description below to prepare the

steam caner fill the base of the canner

with water to the level of the rack and

place the caner on the stove cover and

turn on the surface unit to heat preheat

the water in the base to just below

boiling make sure your jars have been

washed in hot soapy water just before

use and warm them prior to filling I

like to sanitize my jars in the steam

canner while the jam ingredients cook

this also ensures the jars are warm

prior to filling while the steam caner

heats up combine fruit and fruit juice

in a large saucepan over high heat

gradually stir in the low sugar pectin

bring the mixture to a full rolling boil

that cannot be stirred down and make

sure you keep stirring to prevent the

fruit from scorching on the bottom next

you will add your sugar if using and

return to a full rolling boil keep

stirring and boil hard for 1 minute

after 1 minute remove from Heat and grab

your Ladle this is the final step before

processing the jars keep your warm jars

on a towel while filling Ladle the hot

jam into each jar leaving a/4 inch of

head space remember to wipe the rims

with a damp paper towel to remove any

sticky Jam that may have dripped while

filling apply your lids and screw the

bands to fingertip tight if the bands

are too tight the lids will Buckle

during processing place your filled jars

on the canac as they are filled most

steam canners will hold 10 half pints

eight pints or seven quart jars arrange

your jar so that steam can freely

circulate around your jars and place the

lid on the caner now it's time to

process your jars increase the stove top

temperature to high and wait for steam

to vent from the holes on either side of

the caner lid near the base then to

purge the air from the caner allowing a

column of steam about 6 to 8 in to vent

for one full minute minute before you

start the timing process once venting is

complete set the timer for 10 minutes

when the processing time is done turn

off the timer if desired you can wait 5

minutes before carefully removing the

Dom lid use caution as Steam will pour

from the caner and jars will be very hot

after processing allow Lids to seal

naturally and let your jars cool

undisturbed label your jars and store in

a cool room protect it from sunlight

store your jars with out ring bands to

make it easier to detect if your jars

become unsealed during the storage time

for best quality used within a year and

I hope you enjoy your homemade jam for

more food preservation resources and

recipes visit the University of Illinois

Extension food preservation

website all right so just a very quick

video on watching the steam caner um you

notice too that um there was some foam

on the jam before I put the lids on if

you would like to reduce the amount of

foam in your jam or jelly you can um add

like a half a teaspoon of butter or

margarine and this really helps to

reduce the foam that is on there but

otherwise it is completely safe to leave

if you don't mind so this is the low

sugar strawberry jam recipe that I used

in the video so you would need your

strawberries any type of fruit juice I

actually used pomegranate juice for this

recipe your low no sugar pectin and up

to a half a cup of

sugar so wheat spreads are a class of

foods with many textures flavors and

colors and they all consist of fruits

preserved mostly by means of sugar and

they are thickened or jelly to some

extent um you have long cook jams and

jellies this is where your fruit and

sugar um is cooked to a jelling point

and these tend to be darker in color and

you also have your quick cooked jams and

jellies which uses added pectin these

tend to have a bright color and a sweet

crisp flavor pectin is a substance in

fruits that forms a gel if it is in the

right combination with acid and sugar

and the use of commercial pectin just

simplifies this

process so you just want to make sure

you follow the directions that come with

your pectin um and do not interchange

liquid with the powdered varieties other

fruit products that are preserved by

sugar but not jellied would include your

Butters Honeys and

syrups so for proper texture jelled

Fruit Products again require that right

combination of fruit pectin acid and

sugar it's best to purchase new regular

pectin whether it's powder or liquid

each season because using old pectin can

result and a weak gel

formation you want to prepare only a

single batch at a time um also recipes

are developed for specific jar sizes so

if you are using two large jars or you

are making a double batch this can um

lead to excessively soft spreads um that

may not gel for a long cook recipe that rely on

pectin and acids present in the fruit to

develop that gel structure remember to

use a small amount of under ripe fruit um

but no more than 25% um and this will

help with the jelling so these are some options for

sugar and other sweeteners when making

your jelly products cane and beet sugars

work equally well in their granulated

form corn syrup and honey can can be

used to replace part of the sugar in new

recipe but too much can mask the fruit

flavor and alter the gel structure also

um sometimes a combination of sweeteners

is used if you want to change up the

flavor profile again always use tested

recipes for replacing sugar with honey

and corn syrup and do not try to reduce

the amount of traditional or sugar in

your traditional recipes again because

too little sugar will prevent jelling

and may allow yeast and molds to corrupt

sugar substitutes can also be added um

if you just want it for flavor when

using special modified pectins um the

package insert that comes with these

pectins will give instructions on when

to add the sugar

substitutes do not try to substitute

artificial sweeteners for required sugar

in your regular liquid and powder pectin

recipes if aspartame which is a type of

low calorie sweetener is used just keep

in mind the sweetening power of

aspartame may be lost within 3 to four

weeks so a different type might be more

suitable low and no sugar fruit spreads

are really increasing in popularity as

people are changing the way they eat and

reducing their sugar intake I personally

think that these taste a lot better

because that fruit flavor is more

pronounced and not masked by all of the

sugar that isn't traditional jam and

jelly recipes and you have several

options available if you want to try

this at

home there are special modified pectins

so these are not the same as regular

pectin look for packages that say light

less sugar or no sugar needed on the

label these are able to set without any

added sugar due to the addition of

dextrose in the product the package

insert um will come with recipes that

give you options for using less sugar no

no sugar or even alternative sweeteners

such as

sucus a typical 5.4 o canister of this

type of pectin can make up to 22 half

pints of jam the other lowth oxal pectin listed

here requires a source of calcium for

gelling um these uh create a gel

actually in the absence of sugar and

acid to create a good quality product

one drawback

is that the color of the fruit spread

May darken over time in storage but

otherwise this is a great alternative to

using um those special modified pectins

Penn State has a great video on how to

use this pectin and you can find it on

their extension.ps.psu.edu

website regular pectin with special

recipes um these special recipes have

been formulated so that no no added

sugar is needed however each package of

regular pectin does contain some sugar

so just keep that in mind also with

these artificial sweetener is often

added to improve the flavor some recipes

use unflavored gelatin as a thickener

for the jell or Jam but these do not

actually produce a gel so when gelatin

is used in the recipe the jars of spread

should not be processed for long-term

storage at room temperature how however

these should be refrigerated and used

within four weeks there's also long boil

methods this is when you boil fruit pulp

for extended periods of time and

eventually it will think in and resemble

a jam preserve or fruit butter

artificial sweetener can be used with

these recipes um but do not try to substitute

Splenda and long boil or no pectin added

jams and jellies intended for room

temperature storage if you want to

experiment with making these kinds of

fruit spreads we recommend freezing or

Refrigeration for

storage if you are looking for um some

really good reduced sugar recipes you

can check the national Center for home

food preservation these are this is the

list of what is available on that

website

also some additional resources for you

to check out um the first one listed

there at extension. illinois.edu that is

our new food preservation website and

here you can find lots of great

information in the form of handouts

recorded webinars videos so I definitely

encourage you to check that out whether

you are wanting to can ferment freeze or

dryer Foods the second one listed there

is the national Center for home food

preservation they have lots of great

tested recipes along with um

troubleshooting so maybe something

didn't work out quite as well with your

canned product and you want to find out

why you can find a lot of those answers

in on this

resource if you would rather have it in

print form you can purchase the sixth

edition of so easy to

preserve

the USDA complete Guides of Home canning

also has some great resources and

recipes fall Blue Book is a good

resource as well as other state

extension

sites and if you are wanting to learn

more about pressure canning remember to

tune in for the final webinar of the

series which will be taking place next

week and we really appreciate you taking

the time to be with us today if you have

a few moments you can scan that Q our

Cod to take a short survey but otherwise

we wish you well in all of your canning

projects this summer and Beyond and to

reach out if you have any questions or

are looking for a specific

recipe that

you may not be able to find and we just

thank you for attending and to take care

bye-bye