Editor's note: These instructions are excerpted from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard. They originally accompanied the following recipes:
Ingredients
Directions
Partially fill a boiling-water canner with hot water. Place the number of clean canning jars needed to hold the quantity of finished food prepared in the recipe into the canner. Have a kettle with boiling water handy to top up the water level in the canner after you have put in the jars. Cover and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Boil for at least 10 minutes to sterilize jars. This step generally requires 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of your canner.
Approximately 5 minutes before you are ready to fill the jars, place lids in hot or boiling water according to manufacturer's directions.
Remove jars from canner and pour or ladle the foods into hot jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top rim (head space). If the food is in large pieces, remove trapped air bubbles by sliding a clean small wooden or plastic spatula between glass and food; readjust the head space to 1/2 inch (1 cm). Wipe jar rim to remove any stickiness. Center lid on jar; apply screw band just until fingertip tight.
Place jars in canner and adjust water level to cover jars by 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm). Cover canner and return water to boil. Begin timing when water returns to a boil. Process for 5 minutes.
Remove jars from canner to a surface covered with newspapers or with several layers of paper towels and cool for 24 hours. Check jar seals (sealed lids turn downward). Label jars with contents and date and store in a cool, dark place.
