20200909: Online Expert Article

Canning for the Next Coronavirus
Peace of Mind One Jar at a Time

Believe it or not, but the internet trolls were wrong. They were wrong on January 1^st, 2000 when Y2K didn’t crash computers around the world. They were wrong again in 2012; it turns out long-abandoned Mayan cosmology isn’t the best predictive model. Danny Boyle was close in the film 28 Days Later, but all the zombies and flesh-eating distract from the true menace. The world ended on March 11^th, 2020 when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic (Rolling). Of course, this is an (debatable) exaggeration, but one consequence of the current global struggle has been the re-evaluation of certainty and control. These illusions have been exposed and average people are coping the best they can.

An easy way to reclaim some lost tranquility is food preservation. There is quiet beauty in carefully making and executing a plan, whose end product actually serves some unavoidable future need like hunger. Successful canning boils down to the Holy Trinity: Picking, Preparing, and Partying!
 

Picking: Leave Your Nose Alone, It’s Part of Canning

Mankind has long sought to subdue the forces of decay and prolong the longevity of food. Dehydration, salt rubs, and acidic brines are some early favorites. There are many more techniques and each one is best suited to a specific food type (Home). But, since this is an article about canning, we’ll limit our focus there.

After the conservation method has been selected, the second question you need to consider has already been alluded to: what are you going to can? Many factors affect this seemingly simple question. Time of year and what’s in-season are critical. Typically, my mother and I do most of our canning in late August and early September. Summer vegetables and fruits will soon disappear and capturing that essence feels like a primal need as much as a practical one.

We like tomatoes. They are cheap, easily harvested, and juicy; a lot of liquid is helpful in canning. Additionally, tomato derivatives form the base of many delicious dishes; look at all the variation in Italian cuisine! Over the years, my mother has preserved salsa roja picante, tomato juice, stewed tomatoes, vodka sauce, marinara sauce, and lecsó (Hungarian ragout with a lot of spicy paprika).

We like tuna fish too. It swarms the Oregon coast during August and September, so the timing couldn’t be better for canning. Only preserve freshly caught tuna. Our fish is easily added to any dish for a quick protein injection or slight flavor adjustment. For example, I’ve added it to lentil stew, borracho beans, and Pizza Margherita.
 

Preparing: The Devil Is in The Details So Stretch Before Exorcising

Often, people will want specific flavors to accompany the preserved food. We add Bird’s Eye Chili peppers and crushed garlic cloves to our tuna fish, but if you’re pickling cucumbers, you’ll also need to add dill, peppercorns, and other spices. Crushing, cutting, and peeling takes a lot of time, so it should be finished before the actual canning starts.

Canning takes hours and hours, but most of that time is spent waiting for the temperature and pressure to reach the sweet spot. While many people prefer the precision controls of a stovetop, I suggest doing it outdoors over a propane stove. Being outside helps keep the house cool and is the best setting to encourage a festive mood.

During the early hours on Canning Day, take the foodstuff out and let it sit. It needs to reach room temperature before filling the jars with it. When you start heating the jars (Step 10 below), too large of a temperature differential between the food and the jar will cause the glass to fracture. For many years we suffered the heartbreak and waste of broken jars. We solved this problem by smoking the fish at 180° F for 45 minutes first. However, the experts disagree and suggest a longer precook time (Selecting). But, our method has an added benefit: a subtle Apple wood flavor dancing alongside the clean taste of never-frozen fish!
 

Partying: It Can Be 1999 Every Year!

Like sex and playing cards, canning just isn’t as fun by yourself. Make a Facebook group and invite a group of socially distant people over and make an hours-long chore into a party: think of an Amish barn-raising. My group is called Doomsday Preppers for Tomorrow. The only thing that rivals sewing circle gossip is canning gossip.

Once the ingredients are prepared, follow these simple steps (Doyle):
0.) Pour a glass of your finest, chilled box wine
1.) Boil enough jars to fill your pressure canner
      Of note: a pressure canner is not a pressure cooker, but a large pot for canning
2.) Begin boiling enough lids to fit your number of jars
3.) Place food inside jars leaving 1” of space clear at the top – don’t get food residue or oil on the rim
4.) Wipe down the edge of each jar as a precautionary act just in case
5.) Use a spoon to compact the foodstuff – air bubbles can cause glass breakage
6.) Once sterilized, place a lid on the jar’s mouth and tighten down with a metal band
7.) Stack the jars inside a pressure canner half filled with warm water
8.) Once the pressure canner’s lid is secured, slowly raise the heat
9.) Watch for the pressure gauge to reach 10 PSI
      Of note: it may take over an hour to reach this target pressure
10.) Cook the jars for 45-60 minutes at 10 PSI
11.) Bleed the pressure off using the canner’s pressure release value
12.) Safely remove the jars from the canner using a “canning jar lifter”
13.) Allow finished jars time to cool
        Of note: look for broken seals and lids that are convex vice concave
14.) Open another box of vino and repeat this list

I hope you too can find joy in canning your own food. It’s the rare activity that combines socialization, science, and utility. Those are some nice “byproducts” to the tastiest Tuna Tomato Pasta (Spaghetti al tonno) you’ll ever have!

 

Works Cited

Doyle, Veena. Personal Interview. 5 Sep. 2020

"Home Food Preservation - 10 Ways to Preserve Food at Home." Common Sense Home. https://commonsensehome.com/home-food-preservation/ (11 April 2019).

"Rolling updates on coronavirus disease (COVID-19)." World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen (11 March 2020).

"Selecting, Preparing, and Canning Meat: Tuna." National Center for Home Food Preservation. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/tuna.html (February 2018).