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The Ready Brief #236
Practical preparedness for uncertain times
FROM THE DESK
Today’s issue covers pressure canning for beginners: why low-acid food needs a pressure canner, how venting and gauges work, and what to check before your first batch. The lead story is a federal lawsuit over prices at Dollar General. One habit from it is worth starting now: compare your receipt to the shelf tags before you leave the store.
THE BRIEF
Pressure Canning for Beginners
Water bath canning works for high-acid foods such as jams, pickles and fruit. Low-acid foods, including meat, poultry, vegetables, beans and soups, must be processed in a pressure canner, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP). Boiling water reaches only 212°F at sea level. At sea level, a canner run at 10.5 pounds of gauge pressure reaches an internal temperature of 240°F, and the tested processing times for low-acid foods are built on that temperature.
Botulism is rare but can be fatal. The risk comes from low-acid food sealed in a jar and stored at room temperature, which is the setting where the bacterium Clostridium botulinum can grow. A water bath canner does not make low-acid food safe, and there is no shortcut.
A pressure canner is not a pressure cooker. NCHFP does not recommend pressure saucepans for canning. Modern canners are lightweight kettles with a jar rack, a gasket, a dial or weighted gauge, a vent port and a safety fuse, and NCHFP advises using only canners with UL approval. The Presto 23-quart in WHAT WE’RE RECOMMENDING holds 7 quart jars or 20 pint jars per load, per Amazon’s listing. You will also need canning jars with new flat lids (screw bands are reusable), a jar lifter and a tool for removing air bubbles.
Use a tested recipe. Fill hot jars, leave the headspace the recipe specifies, remove air bubbles, wipe the rim, then apply the lid and screw band fingertip tight.
Put the rack in the canner and add hot water. If the recipe does not give an amount, NCHFP says to use about 2 inches, then adjust so the water is 2 to 3 inches deep with the jars inside. Lock the lid with the vent port open and heat on high until steam flows freely. Let it vent continuously for 10 minutes, then close the vent or place the weight. The canner pressurizes over the next 3 to 5 minutes. Start timing when the gauge reaches the pressure in your recipe. NCHFP says all pressure canners must be vented for 10 minutes first, because trapped air lowers the temperature and leads to under-processing. When the time is up, turn off the heat and let the canner cool and depressurize on its own.
First rule: use tested recipes only. Good sources are NCHFP, whose pages cite USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, and your state’s Cooperative Extension office. Family recipes and recipes from sources that do not publish tested processing times may not be safe.
Second rule: adjust for altitude. Internal canner temperatures are lower at higher elevations, so the pressure has to go up. Above 1,000 feet, NCHFP says weighted-gauge canners must run at 10 PSI instead of 5, or 15 instead of 10. Dial-gauge canners use the pressure in your recipe’s altitude chart. Look up your elevation on NCHFP’s Find Your Elevation page.
Check the gauge. NCHFP says to check dial gauges for accuracy before use each year. A gauge that reads high can cause under-processing, and NCHFP says to replace one that is off by more than 2 pounds. Many county Cooperative Extension offices check gauges. Per NCHFP, weighted-gauge canners need neither watching nor accuracy checks.
What to can first? Pick one recipe with a published NCHFP process, such as stock or cubed or ground meat from the poultry and red meat section of NCHFP’s canning index, and follow it exactly. Plan for a long first session. NCHFP’s timeline for a loaded canner is 12 to 15 minutes of heating before it vents, 10 minutes of venting, about 5 minutes to pressurize, the process time, then 20 to 60 minutes of cooling. Penn State Extension says most canned goods keep their quality for up to one year when stored at 40 to 70°F, away from heat and light.
ONE THING THIS WEEK
Read NCHFP’s pressure canner instructions before you buy or use a canner.
The NCHFP page on boiling water and pressure canners covers venting, gauges, altitude and the full step list. If your canner has a dial gauge, call your county Cooperative Extension office and ask whether it tests gauges.
ON THE RADAR
About 36,000 Flee Ethiopia Into Kenya After Moyale Border Clashes
First reading. UNHCR in Kenya says about 36,000 people have crossed from Ethiopia into Kenya after clashes in and around the border town of Moyale, per a report dated Oct. 27. Kenya’s human rights commission puts the number who sought refuge in Moyale at about 40,000. The two figures count different groups and are not reconciled. On Oct. 23, Reuters reported “hundreds” had crossed. The report ties the fighting to a flag dispute between regional security forces that intensified after a 13-year-old was killed on Oct. 18. No reliable casualty total has been published. Next check: the next UNHCR or Kenya Red Cross count. No date has been announced.
LESSON FROM: THE BALL COMPLETE BOOK
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (Robert Rose, 2024 edition, 448 pages), edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine, costs about $24 in paperback. According to the publisher’s description, it has 400 recipes, directions on safe canning methods, equipment lists and instructions for beginners.
Our takeaway, not a claim from the book: its recipe list leans toward jams, pickles and salsas, so it is a practical way to learn jar handling and headspace in a boiling-water canner before you move on to low-acid foods.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Dollar General Overcharged at the Register for Years, FTC and 20 States Allege
On Oct. 26 the Federal Trade Commission and 20 states sued Dollar General in federal court in Middle Tennessee. The complaint alleges the chain routinely charged more at the register than the prices on shelves, tags and ads. It says thousands of the company’s more than 21,000 stores overcharged customers by millions of dollars, that Dollar General knew and did not fix it, and that the company received tens of thousands of complaints. Dollar General denies the claims, says it cooperated with regulators and says it will defend the case. The suit seeks an injunction and money, with no amount stated, and none of the allegations has been proven. What to do: compare your receipt to the shelf tags, and ask the cashier to correct any difference before you leave.
Source: FTC press release, FTC case page, Newsweek
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WHAT WE’RE RECOMMENDING
About $180. Amazon’s listing shows a 23-quart canner with a dial gauge that holds 20 pints or 7 quarts per load and works on regular and smooth-top ranges. Per NCHFP, a dial gauge can be adjusted for altitude more precisely than a weighted gauge, but it needs an accuracy check every year.
Budget alternative: If you only plan to can high-acid foods such as jams and pickles, a boiling-water canner is enough. NCHFP does not recommend small pressure saucepans for canning, so there is no safe cheaper substitute for low-acid foods.
OVERRATED / UNDERRATED
Overrated: Canning something complicated on your first try. Start with one tested NCHFP recipe and follow it exactly.
Underrated: Testing your dial gauge. NCHFP says a gauge that reads high can cause under-processing, and many county Cooperative Extension offices check gauges.
THE LINK DUMP
NCHFP: The National Center for Home Food Preservation, based at the University of Georgia.
NCHFP: Boiling Water and Pressure Canners: Step-by-step use, venting and gauge guidance.
NCHFP: Find Your Elevation: Look up your elevation for pressure adjustments.
Penn State Extension: Storage Guidelines: How to store home preserved foods.
NC State Extension: Why Gauge Checks Matter: Why dial gauges need testing.
FTC: Dollar General Press Release: The agency’s announcement of the lawsuit.
COMING UP
Box breathing. A four-count breathing technique for managing stress, with how to practice it and when to use it.
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PS: If you buy a dial-gauge canner such as the Presto 01781, put a reminder on your calendar to have the gauge tested before each canning season.
THE READY BRIEF is published for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing here is professional legal, medical, financial, or tactical advice. Preparedness looks different for every household. Use your own judgment, consult qualified professionals when the stakes are high, and adapt what you read here to your actual situation.