Free Online Canning Class: This Canning QuickStart is a tour to sort through all the most important information. You found Simply Canning. It’s helpful, it’s encouraging, it’s just what you need… but oh my, there is so… much… information!
Are you lost? Don’t know where to start?
Let me guide you through all the things you need to know….even when you didn’t know you needed to know. 🙂 This simple free canning class is delivered through e-mail and gives you a track to follow through the pages on Simply Canning. Gives you a quick head start.
THIS 7 PART E-MAIL SERIES INCLUDES:
- Welcome – Canning Safety
- Waterbath canning.
- Pressure canning.
- What about Tomatoes?
- Canning books and courses.
- Tips for canning day success. And your first project! (you can do it!)
- Conclusion and What’s next?
One e-mail a day for 7 days. Each email focuses on a different aspect of home canning.
And it’s free! No charge. This along with our regular newsletter and you’ll be moving right along in no time.
Or if you know you want to jump into a full online canning class with video tutorials. Check out our full Simply Canning School – Online Canning Classes.
How to Finally Get Your Canner Off the Shelf
and put an End to the Fear and Confusion
Canning Instruction designed for the beginner.
I wish all of your classes could be free
Thank you Martha, I’ll take that as a compliment. I’m glad you liked the course. The paid courses are my living and I support our family with that income. Plus websites come with many expenses to keep them running. I do provide many many articles and tutorials with advertising for free. 🙂 I hope you enjoy!
I have trouble getting my jam to set successfully even when I follow the directions to the letter? Any tips?
Hi, Geri! Hmmm…good question. Are you making jam with commercial pectin? Are you using the cold plate or temperature test (see https://www.simplycanning.com/jam-without-pectin/)?
Rachel (Sharon’s assistant)
Can an instant pot be used? I don’t have a pressure canner. Or a water bath?
No, an instant pot is not suitable for canning purposes. A canner is not the same as a pressure cooker. I write more about this on here… Canner or Cooker?
You might also like this article for some more information on electric pressure canners.
I followed your helpful advice and water bath jar canned 12 jars of San Marzano tomatoes. Your instructions are very clear, Thank you. The only thing I was confused about is whether when you take jars out of water bath, and put in a dish towel, as jars are cooling down in a towel, do you cover them with a towel? That is what all my Italian relatives & Nonna did. I guess it was to prevent a draft getting to jars and cracking them? But will covering result in ‘flat sour’ or is that rare? Should I not cover… Read more »
Hi Mary, good for you! And no you should not cover them with a towel. It is likely that your family was protecting the jars from a breeze. Just try to have your jars where they are not in line with an air conditioner or cooler. I have never had issues with flat sour but I do know that covering them is one way that can cause trouble.
Thank you. Your tutorials are so helpful. I also want yo order your book…is it in Amazon?
Never heard the term ‘flat sour’ before. I have always covered my newly canned tomatoes with a towel. Please explain flat sour. Thank you
Jan, sorry it took so long to get back to you on this. I’m going to add the topic to my ‘articles to write’ list. 🙂 but in the meant time, flat sour is basically where your food ends up tasting really bad because it was kept a warm temperature for too long. I have not had it happen in my home canning. I’ve read that it is harmless but I’ve also read it as ‘spoilage’ which in my mind would not be harmless. So just be sure you are not keeping the jars warm for longer than needed. A… Read more »
How much headspace for a jar of fermented sour cabbage ready to can?
Hi Viola, check this page for full instructions for canning sauerkraut. It has the headspace and other instructions.
I only use a pressure cooker for all canning, would it be better is I got a pot for water bath also?
A couple things I want to mention. First a pressure cooker is not the same as a pressure canner. People interchange the terms all the time so it could be you mean a canner but I need to make sure. 🙂 Cooker VS Canner Then not all things really need the pressure. So if you want to preserve fruit or jam and jelly items then a waterbath is all that is needed. The good news is you don’t really need a new pot. If you want to use a pressure canner to do a waterbath it is not hard at… Read more »
Hi, I’m new to this site.
I’m wanting to can sheppards pie in individual meals.
Can I get your input. PLEASE
Hi Jeanine, What I would do personally is can the mixed veggies in quarts. Here is a recipe that is from a reliable resource. Then can the meat (like chicken or beef) in pints. When you want to make your supper open the two jars, mix them together, season with salt and pepper, thicken with a little cornstarch and add your mashed potatoes on top. Pop in the oven and you’ve got sheppards pie. 🙂
Ooops Jeanine I just noticed that you are looking for individual meals. Which would be much smaller than my quart and pint scenario. You could just can in smaller jars. Do pints for the veggies, half pints for the meat (you’ll need to process as if they were pints).
The only other option is to mix the veggies and meat and can it as a soup (directions here). You’ll just have some extra broth when you open the jars. The benefit of this plan is the meat and veggies can be mixed together in one jar.
Was too tired to cook and can the bushel of tomatoes I prepped yesterday and today they have started fermenting a little! Help! Right now they’re boiling away. Are they still safe to can
If they are fermenting, then I’d say no you shouldn’t can them. I’m not clear on what you mean when you say “prepped” them. Does that mean peeled and put in a pot to simmer? Or mixed with other veggies? How did you store them from one day to the next? I’ve often peeled tomatoes one day, put them in the fridge, and then heated them up and canned them as sauce the next day with no issues. For this batch, if you have any doubts you could easily freeze them. Consider it a learning experience! Here are some freezing… Read more »
Ty for yr reply! By prepping I meant coring, blanching and skinning. Cooked the mirepoix before adding to the 18 gallons of tomatoes.
Then left it. Next morning a tangy smell and a few bubbles.
I went ahead and boiled all of for about 20 minutes on a hard boil.
I did taste and decided to can.
What do you think? Throw out 11 quarts?
Can I use my frozen vegetables for canning soup?
Yes as long as they fit the parameters for home canning. In other words, any vegetable that can be canned alone can be used in a combo for soup. Cabbage won’t work as it can’t be canned alone. (sauerkraut is a pickle and doesn’t count.) If you haven’t seen it check out this page for more details on canning soup. Canning your own soup recipe.
that is wonderful of you! thank you so much! I am looking forward to your course!
How do you open a can of peaches?
It’s really easy to open jars of any food. They do sell can openers for the purpose but it is not needed. I just use the edge of a metal spoon and pry the lid off. It works best if the edge of whatever you are using is thin.
I followed the instruction on canning red potatoes but the water in my jar went down quite a bit so there are some potatoes not in the liquid…question..will that hurt the potatoes? I did fill the jar 1 inch from the top covering the potatoes and there wasnt any cloudiness in the canner water…I put in seasonings so the water wasnt colored from that.
If you are sure you followed proper methods then they might be just fine. I talk more about liquid loss here. See if this post helps.
Sharon,. I have some vegetables that I believe are freezer burnt. If I canned them with broth do you think that would help the freezer burnt taste or should I just toss them?
Randy, I’m not sure it would really help at all. The canning process won’t fix any issues with the food itself so I don’t think you’d be happy with the result. But having said that… I haven’t tried it myself. You might be interested in this quick video I did on canning things from the freezer.
Used a delicious new Italian Tomato Sauce recipe this year and water bath canned 12 qts yesterday. Today realized the recipe has 3 sticks of BUTTER total and dairy is NOT able to be canned🤦🏻♀️
Guess I have to toss all 12 qts???😭
Unfortunately I would not trust it. And it has to do with more than just the butter. It is the combination of tomatoes and other vegetables that must be correct as well. It is that ratio which will make up the ph level of your sauce. When you are using your own recipes you’d be better off freezing it. (sigh, I hate being the bearer of bad news.)
I finally had to break down and buy a new pressure canner. According to my dear, dear husband, my grandmother’s old school pressure canner needed to be retired. While that kind of negativity is not necessary, ai MAY have to begrudgingly admit he is right. I saw your website on one of the homesteading Instagram profiles I follow. I was so excited and I can’t wait to start canning again with the vegetables from our garden. Between water glassing our multitude of eggs and now canning all our veggies, maybe I can feed these feral kids of mine and this… Read more »
How much water do i need when canning venison in a canner; also does age of deer come into account on canning time?
The age of the deer does not affect the processing time at all. You’ll process the same for any deer you harvest.
And here are full directions on using a pressure canner…. . I’ve got information on how much water and lots of other details.
And directions on canning meat here… I’ve got several directions on how to can venison depending if you want to do a raw pack, hot pack, or ground. Each will have slightly different methods.
New to steam canning. Canned pints of taco sauce. (It’s not as thick as tomatoe sauce). I noticed there’s no bubbling in the jar when I remove from canner like there is when I do a hot water bath. I followed directions. Is this normal? They sealed ok. But I’m concerned that maybe they didn’t get hot enough.
As long as you followed tested recipe then it will be fine
hi how are you today, i try to porchas your Canning book, and it wont work, can you please help me on that, i am from Israel, thanks a lot
Hi, Dalia, Were you trying to purchase the spiral bound? I”m not sure that they will ship to Isreal. I do have a printable format. This page is where you can purchase that. After your purchase you will get an email with access to the file that you can download and print. I would recommend doing this on a desktop computer. Not a mobile device. It is a large file.
Let me know if that doesn’t answer your question.
I am a newbie. Bought a Nesco 9qt. Smart Canner. Having never done anything like this before, I think I made a mistake. Put up 4 qts chicken stew, (raw pack) and used the “pressure cooker”, no “pressure canner”. One jar leaked a lot of liquid out. Should I just toss this first batch? No need to get sick.
I’ve got more on using a cooker not a canner here. And unfortunately I would not trust a product processed in a cooker like you have there. (I hate bearing bad news!)
I’ve just started canning food. It’s addicting really quickly 🙂 And I stumbled upon your podcast episode with Melissa Norris about converting recipes. Now I’m scouring the internet for your books, but most are out of print and not available. Any chance all of your out of print books will make their way to kindle editions in the near future?
Hi Ang, I’ve updated my books and have a current canning guide available here… Sorry but I do not have a kindle edition.