We started off making our own scoby, then we progressed to making our own batch of kombucha. We find ourselves at the glorious part of flavoring the finished kombucha and letting it ferment for a second time and get even fizzier.
Our favorite seems to be Pineapple. I prefer fresh or frozen pineapple chunks, but canned is also good in a pinch. First things first you need to find some good glass bottles. I use several different types.
The first type I use is glass bottles that are squared. They are called French Glass squared, but they don't seal well or tight enough for kombucha. They are pretty but don't get the seal as tight. The second type I like is swing top fermentation bottles. Originally I got my bottles one at a time at Sprouts. I bought a bottle of French sparkling lemonade in a swing top bottle for 1.99. Recently they raised the price to 2.99 per bottle. It is actually cheaper to buy a case now on amazon prime.
This is a 6 pack case bottles of Kevita Probiotic Coconut Kiefer that I bought at Costco for 11.99 per case. I bought it specifically for the bottles. I figured the cost and it was as good or better deal for the bottles as buying bottles. Plus I knew it would create a good tight seal. So I bought them, drank them, and cleaned the bottles for future kombucha 2nd ferments. The jars seal tightly and create a wonderful fizz. I like these kevita bottles the best and the swing top bottles the second best. As you can see from my image it is fizzing over, and that was just twenty-four hours. They are also way easier to clean with a bottle brush than any of the other bottles.
2nd Fermenting
The first thing to do is to make sure all your bottles are clean. Gather all your funnels and scoops and measuring cups as well as your completed kombucha. Clean any bottles that aren't completely clean. There is never a time that I don't find one or two bottles I thought were clean that could be cleaner. Find a GLASS jar to store your scoby in if you are not making another batch of kombucha right away. Typically I will start another batch and then do the second ferment. Make some Fresh sweet tea, set aside to cool. Place your scoby in the tea with a cup or two of starter liquid.
Prepare your fruit
Place fresh or frozen fruit in a glass jar. You can also use fruit juices. I would use organic juices, but that again is my preference. The second ferment process will eat most of the sugar present in juice and fruit. The brewing process has eaten most of the sugar present. Adding fruit gives it a 2nd sugar to eat and as it has already fermented, it will gobble the new sugar up and that is the added carbonation. When you add the brewed kombucha to the fruit it's going to start eating it right away. I put about an inch of fruit or juice in each bottle.
Fill the jar to top with the finished kombucha. Screw the lid down tightly. After placing the lid on tightly rinse the outside of jars and place on a kitchen towel to ferment for a few days until fruit sugars have been eaten and it is at the optimal taste profile for you. The longer you leave it the less sweet it will be. Do not leave longer than 2 to 3 days max or you will have an explosion in your kitchen.
I burp my bottles at least once a day to stop mild eruptions in my kitchen. When it is ready, I get a big bowl in a clean sink and I strain all the fruit out and combine all same flavors of the 2nd fermented kombucha into one bowl. I then refill the bottles before placing in the refrigerator. I do this each time with each different flavor. I always set even my unflavored kombucha aside along with the fruit flavored in tight bottles. The unflavored will also get fizzier.
They will last several months and begin to get more tart and fizzy at a slower pace in the refrigerator. At this time my favorite flavor is pineapple and honey lemon and lemon ginger. Play with the flavors and find the ones you like the best. Search for recipes on the internet. Your taste is going to determine your favorite flavors. It is very easy to play around until you find that flavor.
So now that you have spent the last three to four weeks making your Kombucha Scoby, Find my first article here. Making Your Own Kombucha Scoby Perhaps you purchased a scoby, or got one from a friend. Whatever way that you obtained your scoby, you now have all you need to make your own kombucha.
What exactly is kombucha? It is a very ancient drink, that goes by many names worldwide. The Chinese, who are said to be the inventors, call it the Tea Of Immortality. An interesting article I found when I first started researching kombucha before I started making it my self, tells the story of kombucha in the 1800s by an Australian writer. It is known in Australia as the China Story. The Tea Of Immortality
Weston A Price Foundation is an organization that was founded by Weston A Price. Weston A. Price was a dentist. He traveled the world in search of scientific data on nutrition and diet and the decay and deformity of teeth based on diet. He found in undisturbed and indigenous peoples that generations of eating whole nutrient dense foods allowed for optimal health. This didn't mean third world countries. It was also first world nations of ethnic communities following ethnic rich diets. His foundation is dedicated to the continuation of the truth in the diet. Here is an article from that website about kombucha. Kvass And Kombucha, Gifts From Russia.
Scientific Data
So as always, when I want information, I go out and look what is out there. The first thing that amazed me on articles on Making Kombucha, or is Kombucha Safe, that there is a glorious regurgitation of each others information. The general articles are mostly giving you their opinion based on other articles out there. I have gone out of my way not to do this and to push you to do your own research.
I have learned over time that one article is not enough. I read 100s of articles on any subject I am studying. I actually have found a pretty good scientific article on kombucha. Actual studies over a span of years. It begins with what is kombucha, and later in the article actual studies. You can find it here. Wiley Online Library The second set of articles I found was a medical conference. In the sidebar of the website are tons of gastrointestinal subjects covered at the conference. I started reading them based on a search on kombucha and gut health. Reading articles from the leading doctors and researchers of the gastrointestinal system seems like heavy reading, but if you have gut problems and issues it is more than worth your time and effort to educate yourself on options that are nonprescription.
Journal of Gastrointestinal & Digestive System When you make the decision to make kombucha, base your decision on sound research you have done your self. Don't stop looking for or reading articles till you feel you have learned as much as you can about kombucha.
Health Benefits
There are frankly some crazy articles out there on the health claims of kombucha. I stuck to the facts when I was researching. Fact: kombucha will help with gut health. Kombucha is jam-packed with probiotics. Good, healthy, natural probiotics. Gut health in our society is bad. More and More research is pointing to the gut as the clear controller of our bodies, our endocrine systems, as well as autoimmune inconsistencies. Recently they have found that the gut controls serotonin in the brain. There are too many articles to link. Do a google search for the gut and brain connection and you will find articles from the leading research hospitals in the world. Harvard, John's Hopkins among a few. Seriously your stomach tells your brain what to do? A sick gut is a precursor to many health issues suffered by just about everyone we know, if not ourselves. A good set of articles I found, were on our ancestral microbes and gut flora.
Recently I have been following research on vitamin D, gut health, and insomnia. One night when I couldn't sleep......... I found a video on your tube about Vitamin D, Gut health, and sleep. Perhaps I am weird, but I found it fascinating. But I have gut issues and insomnia. Much of what this doctor says has to do with probiotics and of course the gut. I also felt I had been struck by a Mandela effect or something when most everyone I knew was coming up extremely low in vitamin D around the same time.
So many things are pointing to the gut that it is mind-blowing. Hippocrates lived over 2000 years ago, and even back then he said two things that resonate today. Two loosely quoted statements most of us are aware of are: all disease begins in the gut, and let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food. So what does all this have to do with Kombucha? Probiotics Which Kombucha is full of naturally through the process of fermentation.
Probiotics For The Win
Kombucha has many probiotic strains in it, as well as the B vitamin profiles. The longer your kombucha goes, the larger the chance you have of more probiotic strains appearing in your kombucha.
In an article on the Cultures For Health website, they talk about different strains of probiotics in kombucha. They do sell kombucha making supplies, but if you were going to go that route I think a better website would be, Cultured Food Life This companies products are always going to be fresh and never dehydrated. They are shipped live in airtight packaging and only sent once a week for optimum freshness and viability. If I was purchasing that would be the route I would go. When I start to make Kefir, this is where I will go to get my grains. It again goes back to do your reading, your research. Fact check and then fact check again.
here is the link to the article where this information is quoted from. Cultures For Health
Probiotics: Bacteria & Yeast
QUOTE
The specific bacteria and yeast strains in the kombucha are what make it act the way it does, and what produce the fizz and flavor of kombucha. Not all kombucha cultures will contain the exact same strains, but these are some that have been recorded in studies:
Acetobacter [2] is an aerobic (requiring oxygen) bacteria strain that produces acetic acid and gluconic acid. It is always found in kombucha. Acetobacter strains also build the scoby mushroom. Acetobacter xylinoides and acetobacter ketogenum are two strains that you might find in kombucha.
Saccharomyces [2] includes a number of yeast strains that produce alcohol and are the most common types of yeast found in kombucha. They can be aerobic or anaerobic (requires an oxygen-free environment). They include Saccharomycodes ludwigii, Saccharomycodes apiculatus, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Zygosaccharomyes, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Brettanomyces [2] is another type of yeast strain, either aerobic or anaerobic, that are commonly found in kombucha and produce alcohol or acetic acid.
Lactobacillus [2]: A type of aerobic bacteria that is sometimes, but not always, found in kombucha. It produces lactic acid and slime.
Pediococcus [2]: These anaerobic bacteria produce lactic acid and slime. They are sometimes, but not always, found in kombucha.
Gluconacetobacter kombuchae [2] is an anaerobic bacteria that is unique to kombucha. It feeds on nitrogen that is found in tea and produces acetic acid and gluconic acid, as well as building the scoby.
Zygosaccharomyces kombuchaensis [3] is a yeast strain that is unique to kombucha. It produces alcohol and carbonation as well as contributing to the mushroom body. END QUOTE
You can do single batch brews of kombucha, or you can set yourself up with a process they call continuous brew. My thought is, gaining probiotics naturally through a natural product that I control is way better than taking a pill from a bottle. If I am already taking probiotics, and I know they help why not take control of where my probiotics are coming from. More and more doctors, mine included are telling their patients to take probiotics. They encourage you to take the best brands out there. At least mine does. So a probiotic that I make, and control, is the way I want to go. These are all facts.
I began my search as I have a sluggish liver and gallbladder. I do not want to have my gallbladder removed so I set off on a search for ways to help and or heal my gastrointestinal issues, What I came up with over and over again was fermented foods. I found much on how kombucha can heal and detox the liver and gallbladder. This had my interest, so I kept reading. Of all the fermented foods kombucha seems the easiest for me to keep up with and also get my husband to take seriously.
Since starting to drink kombucha, we both notice a difference with our reflux and way fewer issues of constipation. I decided to make kombucha myself because of the inflated cost to buy it. So began my journey to making my own! My advice to you is read, read, and read more articles. You also will begin to see a correlation between repeated and regurgitated info. but if you keep digging the truth of the health benefits will begin to present itself. I have made sure I have not called out a bunch of crazy claims. Just because someone has said it or wrote it down, doesn't make it so. I in no way want to be lumped in with all the others who are regurgitating other articles. I have tried to point you toward some truth in writing, and encourage you to do more research. Something made you start looking at Kombucha. Keep looking!!!
Making Kombucha
Gather your ingredients and tools.
Never brew, or store your kombucha in anything but glass containers or bottles. When you get your scoby, place it in a glass jar with its liquid. Place out of direct sunlight on the counter until you are ready to make your kombucha. When your kombucha is finished, store it only in glass jars. If you must break your brewing cycle, store your scoby in a glass jar with a good amount of fresh tea and starter. Place a paper towel or kitchen towel with a rubber band and set in a place out of sunlight. Periodically dump off a bit and add a room temperature cup very sweet tea to feed your scoby. When you are ready to brew kombucha again make a throwaway batch just to wake up your scoby. Unless you fed your scoby periodically your scoby is going to be hungry. Making a throwaway batch is not necessary, but I find the second batch to taste better after you restart brewing after a pause.
Never store your scoby in the refrigerator. There are articles, blogs, and videos that advise you to do this when not brewing kombucha. Over time, it will weaken if not kill your scoby. Store it on the counter, out of the way, out of sunlight. Here is what you will need to make kombucha:
One to two cups starter liquid.[previously brewed kombucha, or liquid that came with your scoby]
A healthy scoby
Six organic black tea bags or 6 tablespoons of loose leaf tea. For your first batch of kombucha using all black tea. In later batches, you can use green and black. Always make sure black is in the highest ratio. Both green and black tea make first different taste profiles, but also nutrient profiles. Later you can take a baby scoby and begin to do green tea if you prefer. The main thing is letting your new scoby get strong with your home, water, tea, and sugar environments.
I had so many questions and unknowns, that I found a video that recommended a book all about kombucha. I do not regret buying it. The book will teach you different flavor profiles, different teas, and also general knowledge. There are tons of photos that show you how your kombucha should and could look during and after the brewing process. The Big Book Of Kombucha
One cup of organic sugar. [I recommend both organic tea and sugar. It is not required, but I think it makes for a better-tasting kombucha.]
One gallon jar.
One rubber band.
One paper towel or clean kitchen towel.
One gallon of filtered water. Remove one to two cups of water. This is so you can add your starter tea at the end of making your kombucha. [In your very first batch and in all your batches if you prefer, add two cups. The two cups add an assurance that your PH will be low enough for safety. Also depending on your eventual taste profile preference, your kombucha may brew a bit faster. ] If you only have one cup of starter, that is fine. You can always buy a bottle of plain kombucha with raw cultures and add another cup of that. 1 cup is enough only do this if you feel better doing it.
PH levels, if you are really worried about your kombucha being safe, you can always buy PH strips and test your kombucha after adding one cup of starter to make sure the PH is low enough. If it is not the correct color you can always add the cup of raw strain kombucha from the store. Once you have established your own kombucha you could add 2 cups from your own. Never add white or apple cider vinegar as some websites might advise. They are different things and it will compromise your scoby health and future brews.
Here is a link for test strips on Amazon. PH Test Strips
This year for Mother's Day We bought Mom a kombucha kit. It has the one-gallon jar, scoby, starter tea, test strips, and everything else you would need to get started. Here is the one we bought. Kombucha Brewing Kit
Making The Tea.
Take half of your filtered water and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat. Then add your tea and sugar to the water. Stir well so that all the sugar is dissolved. Brew this 20 minutes. Then strain the tea or remove the tea bags. I love this strainer. I usually do 3 gallons at a time or use my 3-gallon jar.
As I am brewing a tea concentrate this strainer allows me to strain a larger amount of tea than a regular tea filter. I make larger amounts of kombucha because so many are drinking it in my home. Most of the time I put the tea in the strainer and place it in with the hot water. I use it like in the photo if I got lazy and just put the tea directly in the water.
Pour the remaining water and the brewed tea into the one-gallon jar. This will cool the brewed tea down closer to room temperature. Allow the tea to sit until you know it to be room temperature, or use a food thermometer to test the temperature mid 70 degrees to 80 degrees is perfect. Any more than 80 degrees and let it cool some more. I actually love these temperature strips for the outside of my booch brew jars. I strongly recommend the ten pack as over time you have more and more jars rotating into your kombucha making. 10 Piece temperature strip pack
Once the tea is cooled to the optimal temperature so as not to kill your scoby, add your starter tea and your scoby. Place your paper towel or kitchen towel on the top of the jar and place the rubber band to secure. Place the kombucha out of the way in an area out of direct sunlight. It does not need to be in a dark corner. It does need to be in an area that the temperature will stay between 70-80 degrees. 69 is ok but lower than that and there is a potential for mold to grow. Rare, but it can happen.
Let The waiting Begin!
Now all you do is wait five to ten days until the flavor is what you like. Don't fuss and worry and poke at it. Just wait for it buttercup! Try and leave your kombucha undisturbed for around five days. Then begin tasting it for the flavor profile that you like. I prefer mine at around five to seven days. The easiest way to taste without disturbing the scoby growth is to stick a straw in, put your finger over the end and draw out a taste. I like my kombucha to still retain some of the tea flavors. Now that your kombucha is to the flavor you like, you can bottle it up somehow or start the second ferment process. I drink both plain kombucha and flavored second ferment kombucha. Part three I will show the second ferment. Remember to make and store all your kombucha only in glass jars. Wood, plastic, or ceramic could leach into the kombucha causing harm to you.
Always, always. always use glass to make and store your kombucha
Kombucha is a fermented black tea, or a black and green tea combination. It is brewed strong with cane sugar and then has an item called a scoby added. The tea, sugar, and scoby work together to begin the fermentation process. The time brewed and the final flavor is up to the home brewmaster. Many find that kombucha is an acquired taste, yet others find it is the long-lost drink of their soul. The taste is described by many if not most as tart, vinegary, or similar to apple cider. The taste is tangy and fizzy. If you do the second ferments with flavors and fruits and seal the smaller bottles tight, it becomes very fizzy. At times it will remind you of soda pop. The second ferment below is only twenty-four hours. I usually leave the second fermenting for two to four days. I think this will be done tomorrow on day two, based on the fizzy going on. I brewed the kombucha from August first till August seventh. I estimate it to be in the refrigerator by the ninth.
Realizing The Cost
So now you have found the drink of your soul. You are buying and drinking it on a regular basis. Then you start to add up the cost. Then you start to do research and realize it is just Black tea, sometimes with green tea, and sugar and a scoby.
What is kombucha really? It is a fermented tea. The fermentation creates a probiotic-rich drink that can help you establish a healthy gut balance. The foods that we eat today in the (SAD) ... Standard American Diet has robbed our guts and bodies of their natural biomes. Kombucha can help rebuild balanced gut flora based on the probiotics that establish themselves in the brewing of kombucha. Probiotics, amino acids, the B vitamin spectrum, and many more beneficial things are present in Kombucha. Unlike Kiefer, a very healthy probiotic drink made from milk, without grains, you are not making Kiefer. You must literally get the grains from somewhere because you can not make them. Kombucha Scoby's can be made. You can not make kombucha without a scoby. You must literally buy, beg from a friend, or make your own scoby.
Scoby? What is a scoby?
Scoby is actually an acronym. It means the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. A Scientific mouthful explanation is best served by Quoting Wikipedia.
ASCOBY(forsymbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) is asyntrophicmixed culture, generally associated withkombuchaproduction whereinanaerobicethanol fermentation (by yeast), anaerobic organic acid fermentation (by bacteria), andaerobicethanol oxidation to acetate (by bacteria) all take place concurrently along an oxygen gradient. A gelatinous, cellulose-based biofilm called apellicleforms at the air-liquid interface and is also sometimes referred to as a SCOBY. Either samples of this pellicle or unpasteurized kombucha can be used similarly tomother of vinegarto begin fermentation in pasteurized sweet tea.[1]
End quote. Scientific mouthful Right?
As the picture from the Wikipedia quote and the three pictures from my scobies above illustrate, a SCOBY is as the wiki says: "a gelatinous, cellulose-based biofilm." It is a film that floats on the top of the sweet tea most often. Although, sometimes the mass does sink. Often people mistakenly call the scoby a mushroom. This is wrong, as a mushroom is a fungus. The scoby is a combination of bacteria and yeasts. It is rightly called a mother. When you start your first batch of Kombucha you will use your scoby. Your scoby is now the mother of all your future batches of kombucha. Eventually, you can give the babies to your friends. Babies! What Babies?
Making Babies!
Each time you brew a batch of kombucha, the scoby will form a new scoby. Depending on the length of time you brew your kombucha will depend on the thickness of your baby scobies. Every single time you brew kombucha, your babies will be of different sizes and your kombucha will taste different. Now it is a matter of getting your hands on a scoby. Later you will have too many scobies and will end up making a Scoby Hotel. More on that in part three kombucha second ferments.
There are several ways to get a scoby. Find a friend and get one of their babies. Buy one. Make one.
There is also a very good book by Hannah Krum from Kombucha Kamp. She calls herself The Kombucha Mamma. She wrote a book of all her knowledge. I found it very helpful in the beginning when I started making kombucha myself. I go to it now to troubleshoot when I have problems.
You can always get a kit. We bought one for our Mama for Mother's Day. I loaned her my Big Book Of Kombucha and she made her first batch of kombucha. Here is the kit we bought her.
In a way, it seems scary to begin concocting experiments in your kitchen. With Kombucha you must always use GLASS. Never make your kombucha, store Kombucha, scobies, or starter tea in plastic. Always use glass to make. store and bottle up your Kombucha. Kombucha can leach chemicals from the plastic and be harmful to you. Fermentation is safe simply because of the ph balance created by the brine. In the case of kombucha, it is the scoby and the starter tea of already finished kombucha that creates a low ph and safe environment. Also, maintaining a temp not lower than sixty-nine degrees, Depending on your house the temperature is going to fluctuate. If you maintain lower than sixty-nine degrees more than a few days you can develop mold. The mold is probably not going to happen. The mold that is worrisome is black and green mold. Not white film mold. A white film mold on top is ok.
I had a white film on my very first attempt to grow my own scoby and I tossed it out. After reading the big book of kombucha I realized I did not have to toss it and it was actually safe. Newbies right! If you have a black and green mold toss it out scoby and all and start over. If you have black mold you will know, The odds are actually slim that it will get too cold in your house. Most homes are not that cold on a regular basis for a long enough time for mold to occur. Even in the winter, most homes are not that cold. If your home is that cool find a place that is warmer. On top of the refrigerator is sometimes good as it produces heat to run. Find a place that runs warmer. That is the place you want to make science happen! If it turns out that your home is that cool, they do make heaters designed to brew kombucha.
This is why I made my own scoby versus buying one. I was new at it, was unsure, and did not want to spend money I might have to toss, It is simply the cost of a bottle of originally flavored kombucha. No flavors, no additives. Every post I read and probably every single one you will read recommends, GTS, Original organic raw kombucha. It is easy to find in just about every store these days. It is also a trusted source.
Making The Tea.
Start with a jar around the size of one quart. Remember always use GLASS to make and store your finished kombucha. Bring one quart of water to boil. Add three organic tea bags or three tablespoons of loose tea. Organic is not necessary but is probably just good practice. I use organic loose leaf tea from Arbor Teas.
It is a matter of preference. I love the flavor. I am a big hot tea drinker. Once the water is boiling add the tea bags and 1 cup sugar. One cup of sugar may seem like a lot, but the raw live strands need food for three to four weeks it takes to grow a decent-sized scoby mother. Let the tea brew for around twenty minutes. After twenty minutes remove the tea bags and allow the tea to come to room temperature. GTS kombucha is a raw and live bacteria with strings and strands of a mother floating in the tea. It is the raw culture in the bottle of kombucha that is going to let you grow a scoby over time. It can not be too hot when you add the bottle of kombucha or you will kill the raw culture that is going to grow your mother scoby.
Making A Mother
Now that your tea is at room temperature, pour the bottle of kombucha into the quart jar. The picture below looks bigger but is a quart jar. Add the cooled tea and sugar mixture. Stop at the shoulder of the jar. Just before it narrows toward the top. You do not want it all the way to the top as your scoby needs room to grow. The last thing you want is your scoby to poke out of the jar if it grows happily high. Discard any tea you have leftover. Cover this with a paper towel or kitchen towel on the top. Hold it down with a rubber band. The tea, sugar, and bottle of kombucha need to breathe. Covering with a paper towel or kitchen towel securely will stop any bugs from getting in. Place your jar in a quiet place and forget about it for three to four weeks. It needs to be in a place where it will maintain a temperature of 70-85 degrees. Remember the warmer the area the faster it may brew. After this time you will discover that you have a scoby that has grown on the top of your sweet tea mixture. After three weeks you can see it evaporates down from the lip. Now the Magic can begin.
Now you can brew Kombucha. Stay tuned for part two Making Kombucha!
Having home-canned items on your shelf is a boon. Controlling what is in your food is a must these days if you are on the path to becoming food conscious. We eat green beans often, so having them canned on our shelf is something I love. I replenish my home-canned shelf based on the season. Fresh if they are in season, or frozen if they are not. "They" the food commentators do advise that although you "can" can green beans that have previously been frozen safely, it is not recommended. They will be too tender. I grew up with my Mom making what she called; six-hour green beans. Perfectly southern seasoned, melt in your mouth green beans. So I do not mind them going from frozen to home-canned. Once seasoned they taste as if I cooked them all day like my mom used to, I especially go out of my way to can frozen as all of Costco's frozen vegetables are organic.
Canning can be and is a lot of work, so when I can items I try to have enough to run a complete canner load. I use an All American 921. Here is a link.
If you have Prime on Amazon with free shipping it is cheaper to buy on Amazon. The storefront is the actual manufacturer of the canner and is the same price as on their website.
This canner will allow me to bottle up 19-pint jars or 7-quart jars at one time. I chose this canner as I wanted a sturdy nonrubber sealed canner that I felt would be safe, which would also allow me to can food anywhere I needed too. The big lockdown screw bolts went a long way to calming my irrational fear that home canning isn't safe because it will explode and kill you. In reality, if a canner explodes it is more likely the Person doing the canning did something wrong, not the canner. In the event the Home Canner does do something wrong, there is a pressure release valve on the top of every home canner to bypass mistakes. If the pressure gets too high the relief valve will blow, and not the canner.
I am long since over that irrational fear as I have become more experienced home canning foods.
Size Matters!
I mostly can pints and I mostly can single ingredients and put meals together myself. I can some soups and sauces, but most of my canning is single-ingredient foods and I combine upon cooking. Like beef, potatoes, and carrots. I make five minutes Stews. Drain the carrots and potatoes, add beef as is and add carrots and potatoes. Add a thickener and heat till thick and serve with green beans. Supper in Five! With it just being my husband and me, we really do not need quart items. I also typically try and serve two vegetables per meal. I even can my soup in pint jars.
Green beans I can in my favorite jar The Ball pint and a half or 24-ounce jar. When canning the jar is treated like a quart jar in the way it fits in the canner and the time that you would choose for the individual food item.
The jar is wonderful for green beans, asparagus, and whole carrots. Sadly Ball replaced the jar with a 28-ounce jar that I do not care for, They sell four jars for the same price as they used to sell nine jars. When I heard Ball was discontinuing the 24-ounce jar I set out to find and buy as many as I could. I ended up buying nine cases over a few weeks time as I found them. You can find them in the canning isles of most big box stores, and even the grocery store. You can still find them both on Ball's website and stores.
Nine Cases!!!!! It seems a lot but when canning on a regular basis you would be amazed at how quickly you run out of jars. Let us say I did the green beans, carrots, and asparagus. That would be only one canner load each of 7. At just seven each, that is twenty-one bottles. and only twenty-one meals with vegetables. You think it is a lot, but it actually goes fast. It is only fourteen meals if you serve two vegetables as I do. Once you start home canning you will find you give a lot away. You are so proud you want to share your babies. Rarely do you see the empty jar or bottle return home.
Preparing your environment for canning
My method is simple. First I wash and sterilize my working environment. I wash my jars based on how many I think I will need. *
I gather all my items at the ready so I don't have to go looking for them. I also sterilize many of my utensils inside my water bath canner.
I wash and drain my green beans. In this case, they were frozen. I set them in the fridge the night before; then on the counter to thaw on the morning I was going to can.
I used what would be called the raw pack method for preparing and canning my beans.
Once the jars are filled, you would then add salt. I put a quarter teaspoon per jar. Salt is not required, but it adds to taste and clarity of jar and color when your items are canned. I do not always add salt to vegetables, but I do green beans.
I then added boiling water to each jar to the proper level, then I used a wooden skewer to stir and remove any air bubbles that have settled in the jar. You want to remove air bubbles so you have a proper seal. I then checked jars for nicks or chips, wiped the jar for any debris that might impede sealing in the canner, and added the new canning lid and screwed down the top fingertip tight.
Once the jars are ready, place in the canner, make sure your canner is filled to the manufacturer's recommended depth of water in the canner, add vinegar to assist if you have hard water. A quarter cup will help the jars not be cloudy with lime at the end of canning. It isn't necessary, it just helps with the overall look of the jar afterward.
Remember to always check the vent area is free of debris.
Once the canner is full, place the lid on and in my case I line up the arrow on the lid to the groove on my canner.
Once the grooves are lined up you would then alternately tighten the screws down catty-corner from each other all the way around
Let us get the fire going!
Turn on the fire and bring it up to temp to begin venting. Eventually, you will get used to your stove and know at what setting will bring your canner up to temp. I no longer put mine on high. I know to keep my canner at ten pounds of pressure I need it to be on medium. I just set mine there and do other tasks or read while I wait. I'm never far from my kitchen and canner when canning.
When the canner begins to heat up inside it will begin venting air out of the vent hole. At first, it is light. You want the venting to become a very strong vent out. Once you know it is a strong vent, set your time and let vent for 10 minutes. This is very important. Venting pushes out all the air from the canner itself and from the jars also. This will allow for your jars to eventually set a proper seal. The heat is also building in the canner, which will kill bacteria and other bad microbes. I did not post a picture as it is very hard to show the canner venting in a photo. Below are three videos that show a canner venting, another under pressure and how to use an All American in general. I chose Starry Hilders as she actually cans outside on fire as she lives off the grid in Idaho
Once the canner had vented for ten minutes I add the weighted gauge and wait for the canner to come up to pressure. When it begins to make a jiggling sound the canner is now up to pressure. I set my timer for the time recommended for green beans in a quart jar. In my case at sea level, I would can with ten pounds of pressure for twenty-five minutes in a quart jar. At the end of twenty-five minutes, turn off your canner and let it come down off pressure. This can take a while. Do not become impatient and try and make it come down faster as it could cause your jars to break, or spew out some of the liquid in the jar. This could cause your jar to lose its seal or not form one at all. Once the canner has come down off pressure, remove the lid carefully away from your face so that any steam left in the canner will push out away from your face. Set beans to cool on the counter for twelve to twenty-four hours. Then wash the outside of your jars in hot soapy water. Dry them off to write with a sharpie the date of canning and the items you canned. Now you can put them up in your cabinet.
Always research any canning recipe for yourself.
As always when following someone else's directions for home canning, ALWAYS do your research on home canning techniques and times. Never trust anyone else to be your authority. Always check and double-check yourself. I have watched many canning videos where someone decides to do a how-to. I have actually seen videos on water bath canning food that should be pressure canned. A good rule of thumb is pickles and foods in brine, and foods very high in PH can be water bath canned. This includes most fruits, as well as jams and jellies. All vegetables, meats, and beans are pressure canned. Again the exception with vegetables is if you are making them into pickles. These have vinegar and sugars which change the ph. Why, what is the difference? The Ph level that controls the acidity level that stops bacteria and microbes!
Books, Books, and More Books. Does one ever have enough books?
Balls books are trusted immensely. They test all their recipes in test kitchens and labs for precise times and temps. I have many of their books. The one listed below is a good one. It is good to have on hand. It is very in-depth and covers more than canning. It is recommended that after a canning publication by an accepted authority is ten years old to replace with an updated version. This book was originally published in 2006 and is now over 10 years old, but it is full of almost anything you might ever want to can. I think it is a must on your shelf if you plan to start home canning. It has classic recipes from the past. Whereas the newer one is more hip for our Foodie society of today. One should always have a classic! You can always look up times and anything else that may have changed by cross-referencing with newer versions.
The National Center For Home Food Preservation is probably one of the most trusted how-to sites all around. I use this website often. I have also bought their latest book from an extension service, publisher. That information is on their website, How to buy the Bound version. You could save time and money and print the PDF on their website and put it in a binder.
There is a learning curve to becoming a home canner. Society today has taken away from us home food preservation as it was in the past. Things we used to learn growing up are no longer taught to us. Why bottle up your food when you can go to the store and buy it. I take this step by step, but there are many, many things you need to know and understand on home canning that ensures you have canned the food item at the proper temp, in the proper canner, for the proper amount of time. With the time spent canning, you want to make sure that while you are canning you are safe and ultimately your food is safe for you to eat. You want proper seals and long shelf life. I watched many YouTube videos learning how to can. Honestly, I still watch them and I still learn something I did not know. For Example, Why do my beef cuts sometimes have a metallic taste after it is canned and sometimes it does not. When browning in cast iron pans the food item sometimes takes on the taste of the iron. Eureka! I only use stainless steel pans now to brown and par brown meat items for home canning. No longer have that problem and curiosity of taste.
Two home canners that do excellent how-to canning videos are:
2leelou Preserves 2leelou is a professionally trained Master Food Preserver. She gives precise and proper instruction. She is an instructor at her local state extension service.
imstillworkin is very, very, thorough and by the book as a canner. With these two you will get the best hand and visual instruction there is out there. Neither of the two deviates from proper and safe canning instruction. If you are new to canning that is exactly what you need. Keep your eye out for more canning articles.
Happy Canning!!
*Note I take all my own photos. Crooked at times on purpose. Some photos are generalized and not the actual canning session. Washed jars at the ready are not the size used in this article.
