What is a pressure canner? – A simple and efficient way to preserve food

In daily life with a hectic routine and work life, everyone wants to prepare and store food to last for days so you don’t have to go for grocery or cooking frequently. Well with meat and vegetable this one is quite a difficult task to achieve. Many people use boiling water to sterilize and store food or you can also cook it and preserve it, but that won’t last for more than a week or two in the freezer.

Well, don’t worry we have brought you a very efficient and feasible method of storing your food items safely and in proper condition so that the freshness and taste remain the same. With a pressure canner high pressured steam at a 240 F temperature kills all the bacteria and microorganisms, so that the foods are canned and sterilized to last for weeks or months. You can easily store low acid items that are prone to rotting like beans, meat, tomatoes, or cooked items like soup, purees, or curries.

Here is a complete guide for you so you can better understand what a pressure canner is and it’s working along with a step to step procedure for sterilizing your food with a pressure canner.

What is a pressure canner?

A pressure canner is a steel or aluminum pot that comes with a lid that locks in and has a pressure valve or pipe that is covered with a dial or gauge to apply some weight and a pressure plug to relieve the pressure before you unlock the lid.  A pressure canner is usually similar to the pressure cooker we use for cooking but the heat and pressure handling to sterilize cans containing food is different.

How does a pressure canner work

A pressure canner uses pressurized steam to sterilize the food by killing all the bacteria and microorganisms in it so that the food items are safe to keep in the fridge to be used for a long time. Pressure gauge on the lid is used to vary the temperature by increasing or decreasing the pressure.

As steam is hotter than the boiled water the sterilization of the cans is better and more effective. Pressure canner can heat up to 240 F or more at increased pressure by either the weight or by the burner flame. When the less acidic foods are sealed at this temperature they are good to go for months.

Types of the pressure canner

Based on the regulating system of the pressure on the lid of a pressure canner the pressure canner is divided into two subcategories that are:

1. Pressure canner with dial gauge

Dial gauge pressure canner has a dial on the lid that shows the pressure inside the pressure canner. You can check all the time that either the pressure is at the required PSI or not and alter it by regulating the flame of the burner.

Although the accuracy and maintaining a constant pressure all along is achievable with this type of pressure canner they require complete attention and aren’t self-regulating. So for precision-loving people, these are a good fit but they will take your hour or more for continuous monitoring that you won’t prefer usually.

2. Pressure canner with a weighted gauge

In a weighted gauge canner, you have weight available on the steam valve that applies pressure required from 5, 10, or 15 valves whatever you prefer according to your location altitude. This weight jiggle every minute and release some steam indicating that the pressure canner is at its required pressure and the food is being cooked or sterilized properly.

This kind of pressure canners are self-regulating and maintain the pressure without you watching over. With the ease of no monitoring comes a drawback of limited pressure options that are only 15, 10, or 5 PSI, contrary to the dial gauge in which you can select any intermediate pressure.

As with glass top stoves, canning is to be done with extreme care so weighted gauge canners are the best pressure canner for glass top stove due to proper monitoring and pressure regulation with no increase in pressure even if you are not there.

Benefits of using a pressure canner

You must be thinking now that why on earth you should buy a pressure canner that is not too cheap, plus with all those frozen vegetables and meat available in the market doing so at home is an extra task. Well here are some major advantages that using a pressure canner to can your foods implies. Let’s have look at them:

• Fresh and safe

With a pressure canner, the food is preserved with its original taste and texture, so you will get your meat or soups as fresh and tasty as they were canned.

• Cost friendly

All that frozen food costs you a fortune every month with a somewhat less appetizing taste, while when you pressure can your food at home that saves you a lot of money and is also tastier and healthier

• Store without freezing

Pressure canned food is good to be kept on a shelf or kitchen cupboard and won’t require you to keep them in freezers or cold boxes to prevent them from getting stale.

• Customized as per your taste

For people who are allergic or want to cut some spices or salt from their diet, pressure canning their food is great as they can add whatever ingredient they like and don’t have to read the ingredients table on each frozen product before buying.

Step by step guide for pressure canning

Now while we are now well convinced about buying a pressure canner and what great benefits it has, let us dig into the procedure of pressure canning your vegetables, fruits, soups, or steaks. Follow this step by step easy guide to pressure can your food conveniently and perfectly.

1. Pre heat empty jars

Fill your pressure canner with water and heat it to boil. Well, you must be thinking about how much water in the pressure canner should be filled? , you can only fill 2 -4 inches on the bottom of the pressure canner as it works with steam, not the boiling water.

Heat the jars for 3- 4 minutes and then take them out

2. Fill the food items in the jars tightly

Now fill the jars tight with anything you want to store like beans, peas, soups, or meat so that the container is filled completely

3. Use a spatula to remove any air bubbles

With the help of a rubber spatula moved along the walls of the jar or press down the food a little to remove any air bubbles in the jar.

4. Wipe the rim and lid of the jars

Now wipe the rim and the lid of the jars to remove all moisture and lock them tightly onto the jar that it’s not openable easily.

5. Place in the heated up pressure canner

Now with 2 to 3 inches of simmering water place all your jars to be pressure canned carefully and lock the lid of the pressure canner with no weight on the pressure vent.

6. Let it heat for 10 minutes without a pressure gauge

Without any weight let the water steam up and leave through the vent pipe for 10 minutes

7. Place the gauge and steam for the required time

Once the pressure is created place the regulator and let the jars steamed for a suggested time at the proper pressure to seal the jars completely

8. Depressurize and unlock the lid

Keep in mind to first open the vent pipe to relieve pressure, then remove the weight or dial gauge and then unlock and open the lid.

9. Let the jars cool down

Now let the jars cooled down for 12 to 24 hours outside in the air.

10. Check the lid for proper seal and store

Check with fingertips that either the lid is sealed or not and if there are complete seals then you can safely place them on the shelf or fridge as you like.

What foods are good for pressure canning?

Although any kind of food item can be pressure canned it is more preferable for items that are low in acidic value and can be kept in an acidic preservative like vinegar in pickles. Here is a list of some products that are good to be pressure canned

• Meat and meat stocks/ broth
• Vegetable soups or broths/stocks and beans, tomatoes or potatoes, etc.
• Baked beans or cooked chili
• Pasta or pizza sauce that contains onions, tomatoes, or mushrooms in them
• Any soups or cooked stews

Which items you should avoid using in a pressure canner?

While you aim to pressure can your food here are some items that you should never put in a pressure canner, as they won’t get preserved and also will cause a mess. These items to be avoided are:

• Any kind of dairy products be it milk, yogurt, cream, or butter
• Starchy foods like pasta, spaghetti, or rice
• Eggs and egg dishes
• Thickeners like flour or cornflour
• Coconut or almond milk.

FAQs

1. How much water can you put in a pressure canner?

There are only 2-3 inches at max water requirement in a pressure canner to create steam for canning jars.

2. Is pressure canning better than boiling water?

As steam is more pressurized and hotter than boiling water the process is better and more effective

3. How much a pressure canner cost?

On average, a pressure canner costs a thousand dollars and more depending on the capacity and quality.

Summing it up!

Hopefully, you found this article helpful in getting the know-how about what is a pressure canner and it’s working and canning procedure.

Pressure canning is for sure one of the best way to preserve you low acid content food items so that you can enjoy your favorite vegetables off-season or have a homemade can of soup available after you came back on a chilly evening to the home

Follow our easy guide to can your food to perfection.

Stay connected for more information and guides like this

Best of luck with your first canning session at home!

Smoothies Shakes

Looking for how to make Smoothies and Shakes? You should know that they are the easiest and fastest way to maintain a healthy diet. These provide us with the nutrients and vitamins that our body needs, and help us stay active throughout the week.

So if you follow the tips that we will tell you below, they will be super easy to do and best of all, they are delicious.

Taking shakes and smoothies brings us many benefits to our daily life. Among them we can highlight that: they are a nutritious and healthy food; They are a good option to consume the number of daily fruits and vegetables that our body needs and improve the condition of the skin.

In addition, they help us to hydrate the body; they are very easy to digest; they will help you reach your ideal weight; They are perfect to camouflage those fruits and vegetables that we do not like to consume and contain high vitamins.

Do you have the mixer ready? Learn how to do them with these 5 easy steps.

How to make a smoothie or fruit shake?

Next, we are going to teach you how to make smoothies and fruit shakes in a simple way and in a short time, with which you will achieve delicious and very healthy results.

They are the ideal way to start the day and are also perfect for a snack when the “bug” hits us.

The word Smoothie comes from the English Smooth which means smooth, and they were invented in California in the 60s. In recent years they have become the reference drink thanks to its many benefits.

It is a preparation based on fruits and/or vegetables generally mixed with dairy products such as milk or yogurt and some sweetener such as sugar or honey.

Making Smoothies is very simple, you only need your favorite fruits and vegetables and your  Blender or Smoothie Maker.

How to make Smoothies and Shakes in 5 steps

There are a thousand combinations and varieties, so our recipes are always open to modifications, according to the taste of each one. Let your imagination fly and tell us your best recipe in the comments!

The most recurrent questions in these cases are what should I put in a smoothie? The answer is very simple, basically whatever you want! as long as you follow a few simple rules.

Do not hesitate to use your favorite fruits and vegetables, especially taking advantage of those you have at home, to never waste any food.

Here are the essential steps to get your perfect smoothies and shakes.

Step 1: Choose your liquid foundation

You should always start the recipe with 1-2 cups of your preferred liquid ingredient. There are thousands of options such as plain yogurt or flavored yogurt, natural fruit juice, coconut water or milk in all its varieties (cow, soy, almond, coconut …).

Add it always first in the blender, before entering the fruit, vegetables or ice This will prevent damage to the blades and lengthen its life.

Step 2: Choose your favorite fruits and/or vegetables

Now it is the turn of the fruit and/or vegetables and for this, there are innumerable combinations. The most popular ingredients are Strawberry, Raspberry, Kiwi, Banana, Banana, Watermelon, Melon, Mango, Apple, Avocado, Spinach, etc. Do not hesitate to let your imagination run wild and use your favorite ingredients or others that you find interesting! As for the quantity, it is about trying little by little.

Some fruits such as Watermelon contain more water, so you will have to add little by little until you achieve the desired creamy texture.

Step 3: Add thickeners

Add somebody to your Smoothie and adjust the creaminess based on thickeners to achieve the ideal texture. Depending on the water content of the fruits or vegetables chosen, we will add more or less amount of thickener.

For this, you can use ingredients such as Oats, Peanut Butter or other nuts, seeds ( flax, Chia ”/]…), Coconut, Oats, Ice, Yogurt, Kefir, etc.

Step 4: Sweeteners and Flavorings

Next, it’s time to add that different touch to our shakes. It is always advisable to use seasonal fruits that will be sweeter and cheaper. Even so, many times we will have to correct the degree of sweetness of our preparation.

To this, we can add a sweetener such as honey, Maple Syrup, Cinnamon, Mint, Sugar brown or cane, dates, figs, nutmeg, etc.

If you want your shakes to be healthier, choose fruits that already have a high natural sugar content and that way you will start from a good base.

Step 5: Enhance the nutritional properties

Finally, we have the option of adding ingredients that help us enhance the nutritional properties of our recipes. This part is optional but highly recommended.

Among the ingredients, we can include Royal Jelly, protein powder, flax, sprouts, probiotics, Fish Oil, Cocoa powder, Goji Berries, etc. All these ingredients will turn your Smoothie into a Super Smoothie!

Now you know how to make Smoothies, finally, once all the ingredients have been shaken, you can store it in the fridge and enjoy your rich and healthy Smoothie.

If you also want to learn a couple of tricks to make your Smoothies and thus reach another level, don’t forget to visit Smoothie Tricks, where you will learn all you need.

Do you need more reasons to join the Smoothie trend? Now you know the great nutritional importance they bring you and that they are very easy to prepare and are ready in less than 5 minutes. Get down to work with our simple steps and enjoy the best Smoothies with the whole family!

Food

“You should eat healthily”, we have all heard this sentence before. But what is actually behind it? What influences the food in the body that we eat? Or have you ever wondered why we have to eat at all – and by that, we don’t mean the desire for a piece of chocolate that you eat as a snack in the afternoon? In this post, you will find out everything you need to know about your body, the utilization of nutrients and the relevance of food.

WHY DO WE EAT

We eat because we have to eat. That doesn’t sound like a credible explanation at first – just wait and see.

Our body consists of a wide variety of structures, such as muscles, organs and tissues. All of these must be supplied with nutritional ingredients so that they can function and a wide variety of processes can take place. Some of these ingredients cannot be produced by the body, which is why they have to be taken in through food. These so-called essential nutrients are, for example, certain vitamins or amino acids. Another reason we need to eat is the ability to get energy from food. By generating energy, important restructuring, building up and degradation processes that constantly take place in the body can take place.

WHAT DOES THE BODY USE FROM FOOD?

Your body cannot process a serving of pumpkin soup or a salmon wrap right away. To do this, the body breaks down food into individual components (molecules) – digestion begins.

The nutrients can be divided into 2 main groups. The macronutrients (large molecules) and micronutrients (small molecules).

Macronutrients:

• carbohydrates
• Fats
• protein

Micronutrients:

• Vitamins
• Minerals

DIGESTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL MACRONUTRIENTS

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates – some prefer to avoid them in a low-carb diet – others cannot get enough of pasta and bread. But carbohydrates are very important for the functioning of your body. The body gains energy from these for other processes. All of the carbohydrates you eat are broken down into the smallest carbohydrate unit: the sugar molecule glucose. The more “work” your body has to break down a complex molecule, the longer you are full and your blood sugar level only slowly rises and falls again (complex carbohydrates). In comparison, the simple sugar from white bread, for example, is absorbed directly into the blood and causes the blood sugar level to rise quickly. After the increase, your blood sugar level falls back into “a hole”. This can lead to food cravings and an unsatisfactory feeling of satiety.

PROTEIN

Proteins are made up of various individual amino acids. During digestion, the long amino acid chains are broken down into their individual building blocks so that the body can reuse the individual essential amino acids. This allows the body to create new chains with a different amino acid combination. These new amino acid chains are used on the one hand for the formation of body structures (example: muscles) and on the other hand for the control and regulation of cell activities.

FATS

Fats must also first be broken down into their basic components with the help of enzymes: glycerine and fatty acids. Depending on the length of the chain, digestion is faster or shorter. The individual fatty acids can then be distributed to the necessary places in the body. For example, the brain needs a large number of fatty acids. In general, however, the body can synthesize the necessary fatty acids relatively well itself. For this reason, fat should make up the least part of your diet (about 15% of the calories consumed per day).

For these reasons, it is important to eat daily. How much food you should eat depends on your gender, age, size, activity level, etc. We have instructions on how to calculate your daily calorie requirement.

• Nutrients and energy for the body
• Perception, taste, and emotions
• What shapes our eating habits

Nutrients and energy for the body

Healthy Meal

The food ingredients are necessary to supply all structures of the body (such as muscles, tissues, organs, etc. ) with what they need and to allow various processes to take place. Certain substances are considered to be essential (vital) nutritional components. They are particularly important for the body because they cannot be produced by themselves, but must be taken in with food ( e.g. certain vitamins, Fatty acids, and amino acids).

The building, dismantling and remodeling processes are ongoing in the body. The body needs energy for these processes and the related functions (such as growth, maintenance of body temperature, breathing, or muscle work). This is ensured by breaking down certain nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins).

NoteAnyone who in the long term supplies more energy with food than the body consumes increases. Those who consume less energy with food than they consume in the long term lose weight. In both situations, an unbalanced diet can lead to deficiency symptoms. It is therefore important that, in addition to the energy-supplying components, sufficient vitamins, minerals and trace elements are taken in with food.

Perception, taste and emotions

Eating and drinking have a lot to do with perception, different senses and emotions. How something tastes – sour, salty, bitter, sweet or umami (tasty, full-bodied) – is what humans perceive through the taste buds of the tongue. Science is also researching whether “fatty” is possibly the sixth flavor. The taste buds on the edge of the taste papillae are supplied by so-called sensory neurons, which pass on taste information to the brain and thereby trigger taste sensations. Sour, salty, sweet, or umami are perceived with varying degrees of sensitivity in almost all regions of the tongue. The “bitter” taste quality is mainly found at the rear end of the tongue, the base of the tongue.

The sense of smell also plays an important role in the sense of taste. The olfactory mucous membrane of the nose contains around ten million olfactory cells, which are connected to the olfactory center in the brain via the olfactory nerve. There is also a connection with the so-called limbic system (part of the brain that is responsible for emotional reactions) via part of the nerve fibers. As a result, smell sensations can lead to pleasant and unpleasant emotional reactions ( e.g. to change facial expressions when enjoying, but also to nausea when tasting unpleasant sensations).

Other senses also contribute to the taste experience. For example, the “look” of the food and drinks plays a role. In addition, there are papillae on the tongue that are responsible for tactile, temperature, and pain sensation (filiform papillae, thread-shaped papillae).

What shapes our eating habits

Consciously or unconsciously, influences, learned things, habits and role models play an essential role in our eating habits.

The diet of adults often reflects what has been learned in childhood, the family (social) environment and experiences in kindergarten, school and reflected in the circle of friends. (Instilled habits ate the dish must be empty) are often difficult to relearn again. They shape our eating behavior and can lead to overweight or obesity be involved. Various psychological aspects such as uncontrolled eating, eating to compensate for stressful situations, or eating out of boredom also have an influence on the choice and quantity of food.

Diet is also related to social status and level of education. A lack of knowledge about a balanced diet can lead to behaviors that also lead to obesity – for adults as well as children.