Does botulism scare you away from canning your own food?

[Anonymous]

I've never canned food before. Is it dangerous to can your own food if you follow the USDA online guide for canning non-acidic foods? Is it also a bad idea to give foods you've grown in your own garden and canned to people as a gift? Am I worrying too much about botulism?

[Anonymous]

Botulism is very rare. If you follow guidelines you’re fine.

[Anonymous]

No. Laziness is. I only make an effort if it's going to be cheaper or significantly tastier than something I can find at Whole Foods. So no canning.

[Anonymous]

As long as you are following USDA, Ball, or a trusted source for guidelines you'll be fine. Low-acid foods usually require a pressure canner, so special equipment, but you can water bath can many with a loooooong canning time with no special equipment. I've been canning for years, self-taught, and have not had issues.
Regarding growing your own and canning for gifts, my only caution would be to make sure the people you are giving it to will actually use/want it. I know many folks who wonn't use (or don't think to use) home canned goods and end up throwin gthem away.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it scares me, so I pickle instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As long as you are following USDA, Ball, or a trusted source for guidelines you'll be fine. Low-acid foods usually require a pressure canner, so special equipment, but you can water bath can many with a loooooong canning time with no special equipment. I've been canning for years, self-taught, and have not had issues.
Regarding growing your own and canning for gifts, my only caution would be to make sure the people you are giving it to will actually use/want it. I know many folks who wonn't use (or don't think to use) home canned goods and end up throwin gthem away.

I don't have a pressure canner so I only can certain things that can be water bath canned, but I've never had an issue. I don't really have any interest in canning fish or meat so I have no issues.

I can a bunch of tomatoes and candied jalapenos every year, and I always say I'm going to can my own applesauce this year and then get lazy. Maybe if I had a food mill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As long as you are following USDA, Ball, or a trusted source for guidelines you'll be fine. Low-acid foods usually require a pressure canner, so special equipment, but you can water bath can many with a loooooong canning time with no special equipment. I've been canning for years, self-taught, and have not had issues.
Regarding growing your own and canning for gifts, my only caution would be to make sure the people you are giving it to will actually use/want it. I know many folks who wonn't use (or don't think to use) home canned goods and end up throwin gthem away.

Correct. I have thrown away home-made food from other people I don't know well. It's not worth the risk.

[Anonymous]

I am afraid of it and won't do it and I consider myself really competent in the kitchen.

But I regularly pickle lots of things: cucumbers, carrots, jalapeños, beets, celery, cauliflower, etc...

Oddly enough, I have botulinum toxin injected into my forehead every 3 months. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't give home-canned food to non-family members.

[Anonymous]

How often do y’all eat these pickled foods?? Or do you give them away as gifts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How often do y’all eat these pickled foods?? Or do you give them away as gifts?

I eat pickled foods almost every day probably!

Pickled veggies with sandwiches or cheese and crackers or cottage cheese...

Pickled veggies with rice, mediterranean, bbq, pizza...

[Anonymous]

I pickle things occasionally like cucumbers and mixed veggies. I can jams in the summer. But I’m not canning anything that has a botulism risk because 1) I don’t have pressure cooker and they scare me anyway 2) low acid canned foods aren’t appealing to me. I don’t want to eat canned green beans, asparagus and such whether it is home or store canned.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I pickle things occasionally like cucumbers and mixed veggies. I can jams in the summer. But I’m not canning anything that has a botulism risk because 1) I don’t have pressure cooker and they scare me anyway 2) low acid canned foods aren’t appealing to me. I don’t want to eat canned green beans, asparagus and such whether it is home or store canned.

I don’t pickle anything — just jams and peaches and tomatoes strictly following the recommended processing times. Botulism terrifies me so I’m very conservative and won’t do anything that hasn’t been tested/approved — that stuff gets eaten immediately or goes in the freezer.

[Anonymous]

Farmer here-I can things often, including meat. Canned beef is actually a terrific way to empty out the freezer on an annual basis when the next side of beef is coming back from the butcher, and the canned meat has a very robust, deep flavor which is great for Bolognese sauce, beef stew, vegetable beef soup, etc. I brown ground meat first, but raw pack other cuts.

Things to be careful about: know how to use a pressure canner (not hard), process at 10lb pressure for 90 minutes, use new, name brand lids, and if anything is questionable about the seal in any way, stick it in the fridge and use it right away as it isn’t worth risk. I canned about 50 quarts of beef last year and had 2 fails.

These products taste really great and are lovely to have on hand for nights when you have half an hour to make dinner but want it to taste like you simmered the sauce/stew all day.