Steam canning?

Someone suggested I try steam canning, but I see they aren't recommended by the USDA, so I wondered if anyone has tried steam canning and what they thought. I haven't started canning yet and am nervous about it to begin with so I wouldn't risk steam canning, but still I wonder about the possibility in the future.

Very old-fashioned method.  Wouldn't try it today.  Stick with water-bath and cover the jars completely.

Either that or the fully Monty of pressure canning . 
 The problem with " steam ) vapour caning is that you will never know if the sterilization  temperature has been reached  any or every time .

So you'll will never be able to safely cross your heart & hope to die be able to say, " I have killed all the bacteria and toxins in that batch of food so you may now eat them without fear of getting botulism etc .  "

Far from it steam canning free of pressure is about the best way to kill yourself and family or enemies .

+1!  I'm going more & more to just pressure canning.

Well. Maybe my steam canning source was enemy instead of friend?

That's what I wondered. Thanks.

LOL!  No, I doubt that.  Maybe they're just old-fashioned...?

It's kinda like still using paraffin wax instead of sealing jar tops.  I wouldn't do it, but know folks who do.

Now, who would ever have used pariffin to seal their jams??

That was the way to go years ago.  My friend Dave still uses that technique.  But he's a cheap-skate who doesn't want to buy canning jars & lids.  He'd rather "repurpose" old mayo jars, lol.

Paraffin is not cheap. He may want to redo the math!

Yeah, you'd think...!  Sigh...  But he's been doing it that way for so long...

NHGardener wrote:Someone suggested I try steam canning, but I see they aren't recommended by the USDA, so I wondered if anyone has tried steam canning and what they thought. I haven't started canning yet and am nervous about it to begin with so I wouldn't risk steam canning, but still I wonder about the possibility in the future.

 
The National Center for Home Food Preservation is currently researching these two issues:

• Conducting applied laboratory research to compare several home canning lid systems on features of sealing rates and vacuums obtained.
  

• Conducting laboratory research on atmospheric steam canning for acid foods.
  

Hope to see a report in early 2015.

We have been canning for years and learned from a friend who cans for sales this easy safe technique we have been doing it for years and can alot with no trouble this works.  It is alot to explain so here is a blog post where Peggy cans her bread and butter pickles and explains the oven canning method they jars never fail to seal.   No steam no pressure no mess no kidding.
 http://theroundrobincajuncountrycooking.blogspot.com/2014/06/pegodys-easy-bread-and-butter-pickles.html

Cajun Cappy wrote:We have been canning for years and learned from a friend who cans for sales this easy safe technique we have been doing it for years and can alot with no trouble this works.  It is alot to explain so here is a blog post where Peggy cans her bread and butter pickles and explains the oven canning method they jars never fail to seal.   No steam no pressure no mess no kidding.
 http://theroundrobincajuncountrycooking.blogspot.com/2014/06/pegodys-easy-bread-and-butter-pickles.html

CC just read the blog quickly ,what your lass is doing is pickling in vinegar with sugar .. it's quite different for pressure canning  and quite safe for certain  things but not everything .

The now redundant  dangerous steam canning is not the same and is dangerous to process any  foods as there is no way of knowing how hot the contents of the jars in the steam will be.
Pressure canning/ bottling  temperatures are far in excess of open pan steam and  these temps kill most bacteria .

For the last few months  I've been researching pressure canning at home and have found that there are lots of foods that cannot safely be canned at home due to toxins and certain bacteria that thrive as the jars cool in a home environment .

Industrial processing/  canning  .... all types of canned bottled /preserved food that you see for sale in shops , have all manner of differences and temperatures involved in their safe processing as well as various preservatives being added .
Each batch of food is supposed to be laboratory checked before being release for sale .

We use the same technique for jellies and cooked vegtables and soups and stews and have never had a problem.  if your jars lids and rings and what you are canning are all around 200 F it is safe.
we heated up a qt of gumbo that was months old before with no problems.  BY all means though dont take our word for it we just some country folks and no way learned in preservation.

Cajun Cappy wrote:We use the same technique for jellies and cooked vegtables and soups and stews and have never had a problem.  if your jars lids and rings and what you are canning are all around 200 F it is safe.
we heated up a qt of gumbo that was months old before with no problems.  BY all means though dont take our word for it we just some country folks and no way learned in preservation.

 Sorry, I disagree on the safety of steam canning low-acid foods and oven canning any foods.
Low-acid foods must reach an internal temp. of 240 deg for a specific time to kill the bacteria that causes botulism. Steam canning does not get hot enough. As for oven canning, even jar manufacturers do not recommend it because their jars were made for moist heat conditions not the dry heat in ovens. The jars could break or splinter into the product and the temp. in ovens is inconsistent and dry heat does not heat jars as well as moist heat.
  Not using current, safe, recommended canning processes is playing Russian roulette. It only takes one jar containing C. botulinum spores that did not get hot enough, long enough to seriously threaten your health. Everyone has to decide their comfort level with the risk of using outdated canning processes but you do a dis-service to beginning canners by advocating outdated methods.

Ditto Bmoore's remarks. Steam canning in considered an unsafe practice.
you may find more information here:
http://www.pickyourown.org/cannersnotrecommended.htm

This topic should be Bumped this summer when canning season approaches.

ya'll are out of my league. but I have enjoyed reading the thread.

I gotta agree w/ BMoore & Camp!

The University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension retested steam canners in 2015. They past the test! Steam canners are safe to can high acid and acidified foods when following research tested recipes. There is one exception. The processing time must be 45 minutes or less (including altitude adjustment). That's so you don't run out of water (or steam ). You can't lift the lid to add more water, you loose all the heat. The University of California, Davis took the test report and added a handy chart showing which foods are safe to steam can. I will never boil a pot of water again (unless I'm doing quarts of tomatoes).

https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8573.pdf

Hi BMoore, How are you doing this summer with all the fires around Redding? Country Naturals had to evacuate during the Carr Fire.

I couldn't open the link but I will try again tomorrow.

Cough, cough.

Awww!  

bmoore49 wrote:Cough, cough.

I'm so sorry.

I am a fan of steam canning and wanted to provide some additional information in case.

Steam canning has be approved by the USDA.  There is lots of information available on this, but here is an article I found particularly helpful.

https://fyi.uwex.edu/safepreserving/2017/10/24/safe-preserving-using-a-steam-canner/

I have been steam canning for about three or four years (I know, probably before it was actually approved) with equal or better results (few jars with sealing failures) in far less time with less mess, less heat in the kitchen etc.  I use this canner

http://victorio.info/stainless-steel-canner.html

I paid less than $50 for mine, but it seems that now steam canning is "approved" the pricing has increased dramatically. I used mine initially for traditional water bath canning (the way the rack is designed, it can do both. It works great either way.)  With all stainless steel construction, including the rack, there is no rust.  The built-in top gauge lets you monitor it appropriately.

I do mostly peaches, nectarines, pears and pear sauce, apple sauce, salsa, stewed tomatoes and tomatoes sauces.  Note that many items still require pressure canning and this is not a replacement method for those items (green beans and soups for me).  It only applies as a possible replacement method for some items that were previously canned using a water bath method.  

Especially now that steam canning is approved, I will never go back.