Canning course back by demand

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — The University of Maine Cooperative Extension will be offering two food preservation workshops. They are “hands-on” classes and will cover water bath and pressure canning, freezing and drying. Response was so good to the classes held in July, that administrators are offering them again this month due to requests. Participants will each take home one high pressure canned product and one hot water bath canned product.
    The first class will be held Friday, Oct. 23 from 5-9 p.m. in Presque Isle. The second class will be held Friday, Oct. 30, at the Houlton Regional Hospital, also from 5-9 p.m.
    Pre-registration is required, class size is limited and the cost for the workshop is $12.50 per person. Registration is by phone: 800-287-1421.
    Linda Trickey, nutrition associate for the university, will teach the classes with Lisa Fishman, the university’s nutrition education professional. Trickey says it is important for home canners to know how to can foods safely. For example, additional acid is needed to ensure safety when canning today’s tomatoes that do not have the higher levels of acidity as they did years ago since acidity was reduced to accommodate the public’s desire for sweeter tomatoes. Bottled lemon juice, not fresh, must be added to prevent food-borne illnesses like botulism which can be dangerous, even life threatening.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
WHEN CLASS IS IN SESSION — Linda Trickey, University of Maine Cooperative Extension nutrition associate, will give residents hands-on experience at a canning workshop at Houlton Regional Hospital on Friday, Oct. 23 and in Presque Isle at the University on Friday, Oct. 30. Here she is shown putting a Ball jar into a hot water bath canner. A high pressure canner with a pressure gauge is in front.
    When canning low-acid vegetables and meats, a pressure canner must be used, according to Trickey, because hot water can only kill some bacteria and not the dangerous bacteria that can cause severe neurological damage or death. A pressure canner reaches temperatures well above boiling in the range of 250 degrees and higher to kill dangerous bacteria.
    Over the years, she said, there have been changes in scientific expertise as well as canning equipment, so there is new information on the best methods, canners, jars, and seals to use to ensure a safe result.
    Trickey, also emphasized the importance of using “tested, research-based recipes that have been proven and not just something you find on the Internet.” She said “grandma’s recipes may not be appropriate for today’s products and problems. Trickey’s recipe book recommendations: “So Easy to Preserve” by the Georgia Cooperative Extension or the “Ball Blue Book.”