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Home canning for one or two
I've had a request for "any sources or links for preps or canning that are scaled back for a family of one or two?" Not every family or individual needs to can 18 bushels of applesauce at a time like my Amish friends. Three bushels in a day is about my limit and that's pushing it. While I will not recommend anything I am willing to review some sources I used with a few cautionary notes.
I started canning years ago using Ball's Blue Book and USDA pamphlets with canning recipes and instruction. I still use a Ball book but have shelved my original copy and now use an updated version (Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving) I purchased new last fall. Why? Food Safety! First it is my understanding Ball makes sure the food preservation and canning instructions and recipes contained in its publication are up to current home canning standards and recommendations published by the USDA. These have changed over time. Just recently while canning chili I noticed an older publication had significantly shorter times for pressure canning than the updated Ball publication. Secondly vegetables have changed over the last few decades. One example is tomatoes (even if they say heirloom!). Many tomato breeders have breed their varieties to be sweeter. This has lowered the acid content of the fruit (tomatoes are actually considered a citric fruit). Only foods with a high acid content such as fruits and pickles are relatively safe candidates for water bath canning. Pressure canning has been used to safely preserve some (not all) lower acid foods. So these sweeter tomatoes may require additional acid for safer canning, usually in the form of citric acid (lemon juice is the source I use) or ascorbic acid. I don't use ascorbic acid. There are many other reasons to use a canning book with up to date USDA standards and recomendations but I will not attempt to inumerate them here.
Most of the canning recipes in this book provide instructions for pint or quart jars. For smaller families of one or two people pint jars may be more appropriate than quart jars. Not everyone has a large extended family to prep for. Some may still want to consider putting up some quarts of fruit if they are partial to things like: cobbler, apple pandowdy or pie. My one criticism of this book and many other canning books is that they, in my humble opinion, do not provide enough information on the minor details that could cause some potentially dangerous problems. These little "oh-by-the-ways" could fill volumes and still some would be missed. They also do not elaborate enough (again my opinion) on why each step of the canning process is done the way it is and why it is important to food safety.
For free online Ball recipes:
Canning classes are also listed at this site. I have not taken any of these canning classes so I cannot recommend them as I have no personal knowledge or experience with them.
Jellies, jams and fruit preserves:
Many recipes for jellies, jams, chutneys and fruit preserves include pectin*. The small boxes of pectin I use contains a list of simple recipes for freezer and home water bath canned jellies and jams made from many different types of fruit. They also have simple instructions on how to step by step water bath can jellies and jams. The brand I use list dextrose, citric acid and pectin as its ingredients. IMHO it is important to read the ingredients because some brands can and do change their ingredients.
*Pectin is a fruit enzyme that helps things like jellies and jams to thicken or jell. It can be disappointing to follow the recipe, do everything according to the instructions and end up with fruit syrup instead of jelly. It happens.
I started canning years ago using Ball's Blue Book and USDA pamphlets with canning recipes and instruction. I still use a Ball book but have shelved my original copy and now use an updated version (Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving) I purchased new last fall. Why? Food Safety! First it is my understanding Ball makes sure the food preservation and canning instructions and recipes contained in its publication are up to current home canning standards and recommendations published by the USDA. These have changed over time. Just recently while canning chili I noticed an older publication had significantly shorter times for pressure canning than the updated Ball publication. Secondly vegetables have changed over the last few decades. One example is tomatoes (even if they say heirloom!). Many tomato breeders have breed their varieties to be sweeter. This has lowered the acid content of the fruit (tomatoes are actually considered a citric fruit). Only foods with a high acid content such as fruits and pickles are relatively safe candidates for water bath canning. Pressure canning has been used to safely preserve some (not all) lower acid foods. So these sweeter tomatoes may require additional acid for safer canning, usually in the form of citric acid (lemon juice is the source I use) or ascorbic acid. I don't use ascorbic acid. There are many other reasons to use a canning book with up to date USDA standards and recomendations but I will not attempt to inumerate them here.
Most of the canning recipes in this book provide instructions for pint or quart jars. For smaller families of one or two people pint jars may be more appropriate than quart jars. Not everyone has a large extended family to prep for. Some may still want to consider putting up some quarts of fruit if they are partial to things like: cobbler, apple pandowdy or pie. My one criticism of this book and many other canning books is that they, in my humble opinion, do not provide enough information on the minor details that could cause some potentially dangerous problems. These little "oh-by-the-ways" could fill volumes and still some would be missed. They also do not elaborate enough (again my opinion) on why each step of the canning process is done the way it is and why it is important to food safety.
For free online Ball recipes:
Canning classes are also listed at this site. I have not taken any of these canning classes so I cannot recommend them as I have no personal knowledge or experience with them.
Jellies, jams and fruit preserves:
Many recipes for jellies, jams, chutneys and fruit preserves include pectin*. The small boxes of pectin I use contains a list of simple recipes for freezer and home water bath canned jellies and jams made from many different types of fruit. They also have simple instructions on how to step by step water bath can jellies and jams. The brand I use list dextrose, citric acid and pectin as its ingredients. IMHO it is important to read the ingredients because some brands can and do change their ingredients.
*Pectin is a fruit enzyme that helps things like jellies and jams to thicken or jell. It can be disappointing to follow the recipe, do everything according to the instructions and end up with fruit syrup instead of jelly. It happens.