Storing Homemade Sauces, Jams and More

Image by Patrick Q via Flickr

Making your own canned goods is good for the soul. There's something about putting your time and effort into making something for your friends and family that brings a sense of pride and accomplishment, and of course, the compliments don't hurt the ego either!

Once you have created the best sauce or jam and enjoyed the first batch over a warm plate of pasta or spread out on a steaming hot biscuit, you are left with one dilemma; how should you preserve your precious prize? One way would be to toss it in a zip-lock bag and hope that it tastes as good as when it was made. But really, there's no need to take chances with your marmalade in a snap-seal bag; canning is the way to go!

Canning is a great way to store your savory sauces and other tasty treats for later use. Canning works because it heats food to kill bacteria while sealing them in a glass or metal container, which prevents them from spoiling. Have canning supplies handy when you make your sauces or jams, and you can keep more of your food fresh for use during the off-season.

Let’s take a look at some of the common supplies needed to start canning:
• Boiling-water canner - Basically just a big pot, mainly used for canning jams, preserves, jellies and marmalades.
• Pressure canner - Similar to a pressure cooker, the lid locks down to keep steam in. This canner is great for thick sauces that are full of fresh vegetables.
• Canning jars - Commonly called Mason Jars, these are the glass jars that usually come with metal screw on lids. They create very tight seals and are perfect for canning just about anything.
• Lids and bands - Lids, sometimes known as "flats," should be new and never reused because they may not seal properly the second time. Bands are the screw on portions that go around the lids to help them stay locked in place.

Once you have all of those supplies, it is time to start making use of the vacuum effect that is so commonly used by large canned food distributors. When the jars are heated up in the canner, they become airtight and lock in the same flavor that was present before the canning took place. This is the best way to preserve your preserves and to store your sauces.

If there is usually not enough left to worry about going through the canning process, but you still want to save some for a use later in the week, just make sure that the container you are using can achieve an airtight lock. The best thing to do is to invest in a vacuum sealer. These gadgets will act the same way as a canner does, by extracting out all of the air, but can be used more efficiently on smaller amounts.

The most important thing, and this cannot be stressed enough, is to make sure that there is an airtight seal on whatever container you are using. This will keep the flavors of you goods locked in while keeping the flavors of all the other food in the fridge, locked out. Because the last thing you want is your grandmother's grape jam tasting like the fried catfish you made the day before. Practice Safe Storage!