Need Help With Canning?

Question

Can anyone please tell me what I need and how to do the canning process so that I may contain my tomato plants into tomato juice?

Answer 1

First of all, you need a cook book on how to can. You will need a canner that comes equipped with a jar rack. This rack will hold your canning jars in place while the water boils. You will need canning jars, either quart or pints depending on how much juice you want to use at one time. You will need lids to fit over the jars and rings to hold the lids in place. I have gotten almost all my canning equipment at yard sales. People get tired of canning and sell all these things dirt cheap. A box of new jars will cost about $10 and the box will contain rings and lids and usually recipes for canning. A canning pot will cost anywhere from $18 to $50 (if you go first class) I use a juicer to make tomato juice. It is far easier than crushing and cooking and crushing and cooking. A cheap juicer will run you about $30 or lower. You don't need a fancy one. Canning can sound like it is hard but once you've done a round, you might really enjoy it. I am about to make elderberry jelly. I will be canning salsa, tomato sauce, tomato juice when more of my tomatoes start turning red. You can buy most of this canning equipment new at the large grocery stores, WalMart, KMart, or hardware stores. However, right now people are selling most of this stuff at yard sales for dirt cheap money. I bought my canning pots for around $2 at yard sales and people practically give away jars.

Answer 2

My grandparents used to can a lot of tomato juice, so I know the answer to this one really well.

First, you'll need a large pot to boil water in to sterilize your jars and lids. You may want to sterilize your lids in a smaller pot to be able to get them out easier. Then you'll need a pair of tongs to remove the jars out of the water.

You'll also need a tomato juicer. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to sterilize the parts of the juicer either. Any bacteria can make the juice go bad. Also wash the tomatoes good, and it's vitally important to cut out any bad spots. If the tomato has a bad spot it may be better just to throw it out than cut out the bad spot and still try to use it.

You'll need a bucket at the end of the juicer to catch all of the discarded guts of the tomato and a sterilized container to catch the juice coming out of the juicer.

My grandparents used a hand cranked juicer that just clamped on to their kitchen table. There are electric ones out now, but I think a hand cranked one does the job pretty quickly enough.

Once you pour the juice into the jar, all you have to do is put the sterilized lid on. Leave at least a half inch to an inch at the top of the container to provide a vacuum to form when the jar cools.

You will from time to time have a few cans go bad. You can tell if a can has gone bad by whether the lid pops from releasing the vacuum when you open it. If the tin lid can be popped up and down and the can has yet to be open, the canned jar has gone bad. If the jar is holding a vaccuum, the lid shouldn't be able to pop up and down when unopened. Sometime you can also see mold growing inside if it is bad.

Answer 3

You can buy simple books on canning at stores like Home Depot in their magazine section. It shows you how to take care of your canning equipment too.

Answer 4

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