Instructor Sarah Lewis helps Becky Simpson determine the right amount of headspace - room between the food and the lid - for her jars of canned meat during a food preservation class last Saturday.
From deadly toxins to dangerous explosions, the risks of pressure canning make this vital home skill sound like a stunt straight out of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. But, armed with knowledge from Sarah Lewis of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Extension Service, Wrangell residents learned that food preservation can be safe, simple and fun during a series of classes hosted by the Wrangell Cooperative Association last week.
Their mission, should they choose to accept it? Turn raw meat and vegetables into delicious canned goods that can last for years.
The pressure canning course, which was one of 10 Lewis offered over three days last week, met in the Stikine Middle School kitchen Dec. 10. After a brief demonstration on the proper tightness for canning jar lids, Lewis' nine students divided themselves into three groups - one group for canned meat, one for canned vegetable soup and another for jerky. While the students prepared recipes for the canner, Lewis moved around the room answering questions and offering guidance.
Seasonings, for example, can behave unpredictably during the canning process. "Seasonings are funny," Lewis explained. "Garlic tends to lose flavor in canning but dry herbs tend to increase their flavor. Be tentative. Except with garlic, go crazy."
The class gathered around a stovetop pressure canner while she showed them how to stagger their jars inside the canner and turn up the heat slowly to avoid "siphoning."
"That's when liquid from the jar gets pulled out," explained Lewis. "It boils a little bit more quickly than it should ... and you might get jars that don't seal." She set the stovetop temperature to medium for a few minutes before turning it up to high heat.
While the class watched for a "strong, steady stream" of steam coming out of the canners - the sign that a canner has reached correct pressure - she drew up some whiteboard diagrams to explain the science behind canning.
The canning process is different for high-acid foods, like fruit and berries, and low-acid foods, like animal products and most vegetables. Yeasts and molds thrive in high-acid environments, but can be killed through a water bath canning process that exposes them to boiling water at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. However, bacteria, including potentially fatal clostridium botulinum spores, prefer low-acid environments and can only be killed at 240 degrees. Boiling water cannot reach this temperature unless it is pressurized, which is where the pressure canner comes in.
The classes lasted from Dec. 8 to Dec. 11 and covered a variety of topics, from emergency preparedness to home energy efficiency to food preservation techniques.
Community members who were unavailable when Lewis was testing pressure canner gauges on Dec. 9 can contact Kim Wickman at the WCA to have their canners recalibrated. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends retesting gauges annually to ensure food safety.
The classes were funded through a collaboration between the WCA, the nonprofit RurAL Cap and the federal Tribes Extension program.
Lewis hopes to return sometime next year for a "Salmon-ganza," where she will teach all manner of salmon-related skills like smoking, canning and cooking.
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