The Amish Canning Cookbook Read Online Free PDF Page A

the jar to dislodge bubbles. Don’t neglect this step even if you think there are no air bubbles present. If you forget this step, don’t worry—your food will still be safe, but occasionally bubbles will cause jars to not seal or, worse, to break in the canner and then you’ll have a mess on your hands. Generally, I’ll insert the knife along the side of the jar and then gently press toward the middle. I do this about 3 or 4 times, inserting the knife at a new spot each time.
d. Clean jar rims . A wet paper towel works great for cleaning jar rims. Run the wet paper towel or a wet washcloth around the top of the jar. You want to make sure there are no pieces of food or spices clinging to the top edge because the sealing compound must be in contact all the way around the jar top in order for the jar to seal properly.
e. Screw on lids and bands . Place the lid on the jar, sealing side down in contact with the jar rim, and then screw on the band. You want to screw it on quite snug, but don’t overtighten it—there’s no need to crank down as hard as you can. The general rule is to tighten the band “finger-tip tight.”
f. Place filled jar in canner, making sure the rack is in place . Using the jar lifter, place your filled jar into the canner on the rack. You always need to use a rack because it lifts the jars off the bottom of the canner so they don’t break.
5. Prepare the canner for processing. When your entire load is in place, put the lid on the canner, making sure that the handles line up so the lid can lock. (The instruction manual that came with your canner will guide you to properly closing the lid on your particular model.) Turn the heat to medium-high. Do not yet put the pressure regulator on the vent pipe!
6. Exhaust the air from the canner. Heat the canner and contents until a steady flow of steam escapes from the vent pipe in the lid. You can’t always see the steam escaping, but you can hear it and feel it. But be careful! Putting your hand too close to the escaping steam will burn your hand. Let the steam escape through the vent pipe for 7 to 10 minutes. It’s okay to reduce the heat, but make sure the steam continues to vent during those 10 minutes.
7. Place the pressure regulator on the vent pipe. Once the pressure regulator has been placed on the vent pipe, you can turn the heat up fairly high. As pressure builds inside the canner, you will see the pointer in the gauge start to move. When the pressure registers the correct psi, you can lower the heat to maintain the correct pressure as follows:

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8. Processing. When the correct pressure has been reached, set your timer according to the recipe directions. Check your gauge often to verify that the pressure never goes down below the correct psi. If it does, you’ll need to begin the timing all over again. Once the psi reaches the correct level you can turn down the heat a bit to maintain the psi. Make small adjustments to see what happens to the pressure instead of turning the burner way down all at once.
9. Cooling period. When the processing time is complete, turn off the heat and move the pressure canner to another burner to cool. Do not remove the weighted gauge from the vent pipe or unfasten the lid! Allow the pressure inside the canner to come down to zero on its own. When the pressure reads zero, wait another 5 minutes before you remove the weighted gauge and then carefully remove the lid, making sure to lift in such a way that the steam escapes away from your face. Use oven mitts and work carefully.
10. Remove jars from canner. Using oven mitts and your jar lifter, place the jars on a towel or wooden cutting board, spaced about an inch apart so the air can circulate around them. Do not tighten the bands. Let the jars continue to cool naturally until they are completely cool.
Note regarding use of Tattlers: If using