Understanding how to prevent food spoilage and deterioration is the trick or key to canning safety and success. All around us are tiny microorganisms, like mold,yeasts and bacteria. Don't get me wrong many of these are beneficial to us, while others can be very harmful under certain conditions. These " bad micro's" live and multiply on the surface of lots of types of foods.Foods that have bad spots, bruises and disease tend to have more of these ' bad micros". Enzymes are responsible for changing the color, flavor and texture of food, and are found throughout the tissue of each food type. Loss of Quality means in simple terms do not use. If you cannot use the food that you are going to can at it's peak, then don't.
There are a few ways to reduce the conditions which encourage the growth of " bad micro's".Washing, Peeling and blanching greatly reduces the conditions of enzyme activity. Washing is important to the whole process of canning for not only the foods, your equipment, yourself and any tools or equipment that you may use.
Canning sort of interrupts the normal spoilage cycle of food by heating the food in a jar that has been closed with a sealing cap. When heat is applied for the correct amount of time and temperature not only is the " bad micro's destroyed, at the same time air is allowed to escape from the jars. Upon cooling the jars lids "pop" and seal. The vacumn that has formed prevents other things from entering the jar and contaminating the food.
As i share canning techniques please excuse any misspelled words or grammar mistakes along the way, I'm not a rocket scientist, just a woman with a passion for trying to preserve traditional recipes and trying to make the science aspect of canning simply available, until next time....remember...What "Can" you do..
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