What do you do with all of those peaches that come from your backyard tree? Try home canning. Home canning is a simple way to preserve otherwise perishable food items and store them for months, or sometimes even years. This guide on how to can food gives you tips and specific instructions on how to can fruit, salsas jams, jellies and marmalade using the boiling water method. On the right of the pages are canning times for different foods and tips that will help you can food perfectly. It is also recommended that you see the featured video on home canning and read Using Boiling Water Canners before actually beginning the canning. There are good references on this page as well for canning and canning blogs for more information that you can use to help you preserve your food by this method.

The following instructions illustrate for you how to do the simplest method of home canning. This is the easiest for beginners and it is perfectly suited for certain types of foods. There are other, more complicated ways to can, but this simple boiling method will get you started, and can be used for a many, but not all, foods.

Please note that the boiling water bath method is best for foods with a high acid content, such as fruit, marmalade, fruit butters, jellies, jam, pickles, salsa or tomatoes. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art2816.asp

Other resources that you will find on this page include the tips to the right and the links provided in the Google and Related Mahalo Pages sections. If you have any questions regarding how to can food, there is a space provided on the upper right of this page. You can also view answers to previous questions below.

You will need:

1. A large cooking pot or dutch oven, with lid
2. A small saucepan
3. A wire rack that fits in the bottom of your pot
4. Canning jars with two-part lids
5. A jar lifter or very sturdy tongs
6. Small towel
7. Plastic spatula or wooden spoon
8. A jar funnel for filling the jars

1. Wash jars and lids well.
2. Place rack in bottom of large pot if you have one.
3. Fill with the pot water and turn on the stove burner to boil the water.
4. Place jars and lids (you can boil separately in a saucepan) in the water.
5. Boil the jars and lids of jars for 10 minutes at altitudes less than 1000 feet, add 1 minute for each 1000 ft. in altitude.
6. With tongs or jar lifter, remove the jars and lids.
7. Fill with your jam, jelly, fruit, pickles or tomatoes using funnel. Leave about 1/4 to 1/2" of space.
8. Remove any air bubbles with a spatula or spoon.
9. Wipe the edges of the mouth of the jar clean with towel.
10. Place the lids on the filled jars.
11. Apply band and tighten securely but do not overtighten.
12. Place jar back in pot of boiling water, and repeat process with another jar
13. When they are all full, place them in the pot of water, making sure there is at leas 1" of water over the jars, and bring to a boil
14. Boil according to recipe directions
15. Turn off heat and let jars sit for a few minutes
16. Remove jars from pot
17. Let sit for 8-12 hours.
18. Test lid seal. Sealed lids will be indented and you will be able to pick up the jar (with the screw ring removed) by the edges of the lid. If you find that some are not sealed, check the lid seal, change jars if necessary or clean it and reprocess in boiling water. Do not use canned products without sealed lids.
19. Store in a cool, dark area. This will help preserve the nutrients and vitamins in the food. http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/step_by_step_high_acid_foods/34.php http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_01/sterile_jars.html

For all fruits, use only fruit in good condition. You should wash them thoroughly before doing other preparations. Leave 1/2 inch of head space (air space) at the top of each jar. This is important for forming the vacuum seal on the jar. Sugar syrup recipes for cold packs are given below, where raw fruit is put into the jars and hot syrup is poured into the jar to the head space level. Cherries are processed by the hot pack method as described at the bottom of the table. http://farmgal.tripod.com/CanningBoilingWaterCanner.html

• 
  
  
• *The sugar syrup recipes are as followed: for every 4 cups of water, you will need 2, 3, 4 3/4 cups of sugar for (1) light, (2) medium and (3) heavy syrup preparations. Choose among 1, 2 or 3 for the amount of sugar you want in your canned fruit.
  
  
• **The cherries should be dipped in a vinegar/salt/water solution containing 2 tablespoons each of vinegar and salt in 1 gallon of water. (This helps them keep their color). Then rinse the cherries with water and measure the number of quarts and add 1/2 cup of light, medium or heavy sugar syrup, apple or white grape juice, or water and bring to a boil. Put this into the jars for processing in the boiling water bath.

• Chutneys, Salsa - 15 min. (pints)
• Sweet Pepper and Onion Relish - 20 min. (pints)
• Sauerkraut - 20 min. (quart)
• Pickled Beets - 30 min. (quart)
• Jams, Jellies - 10 min. (quart)
• Apple Butter - 10 min. (pint)
• Apple Pie Filling - 20 min. (quart)