Important: Safety Warning
This page describes home-canning methods from before the causes of botulism were understood. Canning low-acid foods without a pressure canner, as described here, can allow the growth of Clostridium botulinum, whose toxin is among the deadliest known. Follow current USDA home-canning guidelines instead.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
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Points to Remember in Canning
The food itself and everything with which it comes in contact must be sterilized by heat; then this sterile food must be sealed at once to exclude all organisms from without.
Only young, tender vegetables may be canned successfully.
Almost any food substance, - save corn and shell-beans, - cooked in the can, will turn out successfully, or keep, if the cooking or process of sterilization continues until the article is in the condition for immediate serving, providing the jar be then filled to overflow with boiling liquid and covered hermetically with a sterile cover.
Rubber rings should be new each season.
The addition of a small quantity of sugar to canned fruit does not add to its keeping qualities; just the same care to sterilize jars, covers, and all utensils that come in contact with the cooked fruit must be observed as if no sugar were used.
To open a glass can of food easily, immerse the end of the jar on which the cover is fitted in warm water, then gradually add boiling water, and let stand a few minutes, when the cover may be separated from the jar with ease.