Jenny Gomes

About your hosts, Jenny Gomes (that’s me!) and Anna Cash

In this episode, you’ll hear the story behind Jenny and Anna, your hosts, how they got started canning and how they became friends!

Jenny Gomes learned about canning from her mom and grandmother where they lived on a cattle ranch at the top of California. She learned how to can as an adult when she was pregnant with her first child 10 years ago and has been canning ever since. She took the Master Preserver course in Utah with Anna as her mentor in the summer of 2021. She blogs at www.thedomesticwildflower.com and is most active on Instagram @thedomesticwildflower 

Anna grew up in rural Alaska surrounded by nine siblings and a whole lot of wildlife. Her childhood was spent swimming in the nearby lake, foraging for berries, and helping to preserve salmon with her family. It wasn’t until she moved to northern Utah that she really caught the bug for preserving food.

After completing the master Food Preserver Class in 2018, she felt a pressing need to share. She started smart home Canning in 2019 teaching classes locally and sharing information online. You can find her at @Smarthomecanning on Instagram and on her website smarthomecanning.com where she has events, classes, and retreats to learn food preserving. 

You’re on my blog right now- click around to find amazing canning recipes, free courses, and more!

Are you following me on social media? I’m most active on Instagram @thedomesticwildflower

Find Anna at www.smarthomecanning.com and follow her on Instagram @smarthomecanning

Join my Free Canning Basics Course here to learn more about canning!

In this episode, The Canning Process, we will teach you the canning process, what happens when, and how to do it correctly! 

The canning process includes preparing your preserves, putting them into warm or hot jars, putting on a lid, and submerging them in a hot water bath or a steam bath (via a steam canner). Then, once the water is boiling again OR once steam has filled the steam canner and the dial indicates the processing is “ready”, every canning recipes has a processing time that must be followed. Don’t forget to add 5 minutes of processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level you are preserving. Download my free elevation adjustment printable here: 

Listen in to hear each step explained in detail. This is both a great refresher for those who have canned and excellent for those who have never canned before.

Anna mentions an excellent canning book, So Easy to Preserve, and we highly recommend it.

Acid is a keystone element in canning. Anna and Jenny dive deep in this episode to explain exactly why acid is so important in safe home canning practices.

All foods have an acid value. Lemons are highly acidic, for example, and area about a 2.2 on the pH scale. Veggies like green beans are around 6.6. Water is about a 7. Recipes that are safe for water bath canning are 4.6 or MORE acid, which is a LOWER number (a little confusing, I know!). That means that all water bath canning recipes are somewhere between a 2 to 4.6 in acid value. If a recipe is MORE alkaline/LESS acid/HIGHER number, that means the MUST be pressure canned.

Water bath canning is done at the temperature of boiling water. That heat coupled with the acid present in a high acid water bath canning recipe makes the environment inside the jar of preserves inhospitable to spoilers that could make us sick. That means that a jar of raspberry jam (very high in acid!) would NEVER grow the botulism toxin, which requires a LOW acid environment (among other things) to survive. You simply do not have to worry about food poisoning when you water bath can water bath canning recipes- because of ACID!

Download the free Acid and Canning Chart that lists all the pH values of foods you’d possibly preserve here!

Water bath canning equipment doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In this episode, Water Bath Canning Equipment, we’re explaining every item you need to start canning. 

This page contains affiliate links.

The items you need to begin water bath canning at home include: 

A pan to cook your preserves in. This doesn’t have to be expensive, can be a pot you already own, and should be wide and shallow, especially for jam making. A saucepan works well. This is a great one below.

The water bath canning processing pot can be a large stock pot you already own with a rack or trivet at the bottom

OR the large black and white speckled pots with the wire rack. 

Alternatively, all water bath canning can also be done in a steam canner (read this post for more info on why I love steam canners). 

Canning jars that can be used, but need to be free of chips. I like wide mouth pints (read more about my favorite jars here). 

Metal rings/bands. These can be used, but need to be free of rust and dents. 

NEW canning lids that fit the size of jar you’re using. 

A ladle (listen in to hear which of us doesn’t use a ladle at all!) will make it easier to keep the food from preventing a seal from forming on the edge of the jar. 

A funnel is really helpful- this is the one that Anna loves! 

A jar lifter. This is so important for safe canning.

This episode explains in detail the gear you need to get started preserving at home, safely and easily. To learn even more, you can join my Free Canning Basics Course!