Canning is an easy and rewarding process, but most people don’t know where to get started. Let us help you get familiar with the canning process by showing you a few helpful tips on the equipment and process.

Prepare Your Canning Equipment

Gather together your large stock pot, fresh produce and common kitchen utensils.  Wash jars and lids in warm soapy water and rinse well. Keep your jars warm to avoid jars from breaking. You can do so by placing them in a larger pot of warm water.  Fill your stock pot with water and heat to a simmer.

Create Your Recipe

Find a canning recipe you want to start with for your first canning experience. There are many great tried and true recipes to try in a canning cookbook. Fill each can with food and follow the canning recipe in the cookbook.  Remove air bubbles from the jar by sliding a spatula in between the food and the jar wall. Clean off the rim of the jar and place the lid on on top of the jar.  Next, twist on the jar lid until it is tight.

Start Preserving

Place the filled jars into the rack and lower the canning rack into the stock pot.  You will want the jars covered with 1 inch of water above it. Heat and boil jars to the instructions listed in your recipe.  Altitude is a factor in Truckee, so you’ll want to make sure you are adding more time to the boiling process. Generally, you would want to add about 10 more minutes of boiling since Truckee is around 6,000 feet in elevation. Once the jars reach the desired cooking time, carefully remove the cans from the pot.  Wear an oven mitt and be cautious of the hot water.