{"id":8888,"date":"2026-10-02T01:58:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/?page_id=8888"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:58:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:58:49","slug":"guide","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/preserving\/guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"pgamo-hero\" id=\"top\" style=\"min-height:26vh;background-color:#877373;\">\n<div class=\"pgamo-hero-side pgamo-hero-side--left\">\n<span class=\"pgamo-hero-side__label\">New Here?<\/span>\n<h3 class=\"pgamo-hero-side__heading\">Start Free Today<\/h3>\n<p class=\"pgamo-hero-side__text\">Enroll in the Ministerial Bible Study Series &#8212; 66 books, 251 lessons, completely free forever.<\/p>\n<a class=\"pgamo-hero-side__btn\" href=\"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/courses\/bible-study\/\">Enroll Free &rarr;<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pgamo-hero__inner\">\n<h1 class=\"pgamo-hero__heading\">Preserving Basics<\/h1><p class=\"pgamo-hero__subheading\">Water-bath and pressure canning, freezing, drying and cold storage \u2014 and the simple rules that keep your family safe.<\/p><div class=\"pgamo-hero__buttons\">\n<a class=\"pgamo-btn pgamo-btn--primary\" href=\"#guide\">Read the Basics<\/a>\n<a class=\"pgamo-btn pgamo-btn--ghost\" href=\"\/ceb\/homestead\/calculators\/#preserving\">Canning Calculators<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pgamo-hero-side pgamo-hero-side--right\">\n<span class=\"pgamo-hero-side__label\">From Our Authors<\/span>\n<h3 class=\"pgamo-hero-side__heading\">Meet Our Contributing Authors<\/h3>\n<p class=\"pgamo-hero-side__text\">Read devotionals and Bible studies shared by members of our community.<\/p>\n<a class=\"pgamo-hero-side__btn\" href=\"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/groups\/contributing-authors\/forum\/\">Read Their Articles &rarr;<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"guide\" class=\"pgamo-hs-anchor\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"pgamo-hs hs-guide-page\"><section class=\"hs-card hs-guide-section\"><h3>Water-bath canning \u2014 high-acid foods<\/h3><ul><li>For fruits, jams and jellies, pickles, and tomatoes with added lemon juice or citric acid.<\/li><li>Jars sit on a rack covered by 1\u20132 inches of boiling water for the full process time.<\/li><li>Add time at higher altitude \u2014 the calculators do this for you.<\/li><\/ul><\/section><section class=\"hs-card hs-guide-section\"><h3>Pressure canning \u2014 low-acid foods<\/h3><ul><li>Required for vegetables, beans, meat, poultry, broth and fish. Boiling water can\u2019t reach the 240\u00b0F needed to destroy botulism spores.<\/li><li>Vent the canner 10 minutes before adding the weight, and let it cool down on its own.<\/li><li>Have a dial gauge tested every year. Use more pressure at higher altitude.<\/li><\/ul><\/section><section class=\"hs-card hs-guide-section\"><h3>Rules that keep your family safe<\/h3><ul><li>Use only tested recipes and times \u2014 from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, the National Center for Home Food Preservation (nchfp.uga.edu), Ball, or your extension office. Old family recipes and online guesses are not tested.<\/li><li>Never can mashed squash or pumpkin, flour-thickened sauces, wild mushrooms, or garlic or herbs in oil at home.<\/li><li>Use new lids each time, leave the headspace the recipe gives, and wipe the rims before closing.<\/li><li>After 12\u201324 hours, check every lid has sealed. Store sealed jars without rings in a cool, dark place and use within a year.<\/li><li>If a jar is bulging, leaking, spurting or smells off, don\u2019t taste it \u2014 throw it out where children and animals can\u2019t reach it.<\/li><\/ul><\/section><section class=\"hs-card hs-guide-section\"><h3>Freezing<\/h3><ul><li>Blanch most vegetables first to stop the enzymes that dull colour and flavour, then cool quickly in ice water.<\/li><li>Pack in freezer bags or containers with the air pressed out, and label with the date.<\/li><li>Keep the freezer at 0\u00b0F. Most produce is best within 8\u201312 months.<\/li><\/ul><\/section><section class=\"hs-card hs-guide-section\"><h3>Drying<\/h3><ul><li>Vegetables dry at about 125\u00b0F, fruits at 135\u00b0F, and herbs at 95\u2013100\u00b0F.<\/li><li>Dried food should be leathery or crisp with no moisture when cut. Condition fruit in a closed jar for a week, shaking daily.<\/li><li>Store in airtight jars in a cool, dark place.<\/li><\/ul><\/section><section class=\"hs-card hs-guide-section\"><h3>Root cellar &amp; cold storage<\/h3><ul><li>Potatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage, apples and winter squash keep for months in the right spot \u2014 cool and humid for roots, cool and dry for squash, onions and garlic.<\/li><li>Store apples apart from potatoes and other vegetables \u2014 the gas they give off makes others sprout or spoil.<\/li><\/ul><\/section><p class=\"hs-calc-links\"><a class=\"hs-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/homestead\/calculators\/#preserving\">Canning &amp; freezing calculators<\/a> <a class=\"hs-btn hs-btn-ghost\" href=\"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/homestead\/garden\/?tab=pantry\">My pantry<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<section class=\"pgamo-text-image pgamo-text-image--left pgamo-text-image--dark\" id=\"community\">\n<div class=\"pgamo-text-image__inner\">\n<div class=\"pgamo-text-image__media\" style=\"background-image:url('https:\/\/pgamo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/homestead-canning-pantry-1024x683.jpg')\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pgamo-text-image__content\">\n<h2>Share What You Put Up<\/h2><div class=\"pgamo-text-image__text\"><p>Have a question about a recipe, a seal that didn&#8217;t take or how long something keeps? Ask in the Food Preservation group \u2014 and please share tested recipes so everyone&#8217;s pantry stays safe.<\/p>\n<\/div><a class=\"pgamo-btn pgamo-btn--primary\" href=\"\/ceb\/groups\/food-preservation\/forum\/\">Join the Food Preservation Group<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n    <div class=\"xs_social_share_widget xs_share_url after_content \t\tmain_content  wslu-style-1 wslu-share-box-shaped wslu-fill-colored wslu-none wslu-share-horizontal wslu-theme-font-no wslu-main_content\">\n\n\t\t\n        <ul>\n\t\t\t        <\/ul>\n    <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":8885,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8888","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8910,"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8888\/revisions\/8910"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgamo.com\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}