Putting Food By - Janet Greene [40]
At county and state fairs, canned foods are entered with all screwbands off, thereby proving faith in the seal.
Label each container with the name of the food, the date it was canned, and any special treatment you gave the food (the last information will be mighty handy if the product is notably good or notably bad when you come to serve it).
Storing
Storage for all canned food must be cool and dry and—if the food is in jars—dark. Even when home-canned foods are adequately processed, they will lose Vitamin C, carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin at temperatures above 50 F/10 C; and light hastens oxidation of fats and oils, destroys fat-soluble and light-sensitive vitamins, and fades the color of the food.
“Cool” means 32–50 F/Zero–10 C. Containers must not freeze, lest the food expand and break the seal. Canned food that is held in storage too warm can still spoil, because certain thermoduric bacteria can reactivate and grow at room temperature or higher. Therefore keep canned food away from heating pipes or cozy nooks behind furnaces, etc.
Damp or humid storage can corrode or rust the metal of cans and closures, and thereby endanger the seals.
Berries and fruits are especially likely to bleach in jars exposed to light, but other foods, too, can become pale and unappetizing if stored in the light. “Cool” and “dry” have priority over “dark,” so you may have to protect jars of food from light by wrapping them individually in paper, or putting them in the cartons the jars came in (be sure to put cardboard dividers between the jars).
Put any containers with suspect seals in a special place so you will use them first or be able to keep an eye on them easily.
Arrange your food on the storage shelves so “last in” is “last out”—this way you’ll keep a good rotation.
And do check your canned food periodically for signs of spoilage that have developed during storage.
Signs of Spoilage and What to Do
Before a container is opened, you can see signs of spoilage that indicate the food is unfit or actually dangerous to eat:
• Seeping seams, bulging ends on cans.
• Seepage around the seal, even though it seems firmly seated.
• Mold around the seal or visible in the contents.
• Gassiness (small bubbles) in the contents.
• Cloudy or yeasty liquid.
• Shriveled or spongy-looking food.
• Food an unnatural color (often very dark).
When the container is opened, these are additional signs of spoilage:
• Spurting liquid, pressure from inside as the container is opened.
• Fermentation (gassiness).
• Food slimy, or with too soft a texture.
• Musty or disagreeable or downright nasty odor.
• Mold, even a fleck, on the underside of the lid or in the contents.
If any such signs are evident in unopened or opened containers DESTROY THE CONTENTS SO THEY CANNOT BE EATEN BY PEOPLE OR ANIMALS. Burn the food if you can—it is sometimes not safe from animals if you bury it. If you can’t burn or bury the contents, dump them into a large kettle, adding water to prevent scorching, and boil the spoiled food hard for 15 minutes to destroy toxins, and then flush down the toilet whatever will not clog the plumbing. Soak all metal cans, lids, jars, and closures in the very strong disinfecting solution of 1 part household chlorine bleach to 9 parts tepid water for at least 15 minutes. Discard the sterilized metal cans and closures, and all sealers. Sterilized jars and glass lids may be used again if they are perfect and undamaged. In a fresh 1:9 solution of chlorine bleach and water, wash all utensils, cloths, and surfaces that might have come in contact with the spoiled food.
Before tasting any canned low-acid food: you must be unshakably certain that your Pressure Canner was operated correctly—pressure gauge accurate and/or deadweight gauge signaling properly—and that requirements for times and corrections for altitude were followed.
Unless you are sure that these safeguards were observed, a margin of protection is added by boiling the