Pensacola Can Can Club

Promoting the art of canning & preserving food using the barn-raising or quilting-bee style of social gathering.

The following was borrowed from the "Home Canning" facebook site
"In North America, home canning is usually done in Mason jars, which have thicker walls than single-use commercial glass jars. Unless the food being preserved has a high acid (pH <4.6), salt or sugar content (resulting in water availability <0.85), such as pickles or jellies, the filled jars are also processed under pressure in a canner, a specialized type of pressure cooker. Ordinary pressure cookers are not recommended for canning as their smaller size and the reduced thickness of the cooker wall will not allow for the correct building up and reducing time of pressure, which is factored into the overall processing time and therefore will not destroy all the harmful microorganisms. The goal in using a pressure canner is to achieve a "botulinum cook" of 121°C for 3 minutes, throughout the entire volume of canned product. Canners often incorporate racks to hold Mason jars, and pressure canners are capable of achieving the elevated temperatures needed to prevent spoilage.

The most common configuration is a Mason jar with a flat lid and screw ring. The lid is generally made of plated or painted steel, with an elastomeric washer or gasket bonded to the underside of the rim. The lid also incorporates a slightly dimpled shape, which acts as an indicator of the vacuum (or lack thereof) inside a sealed jar. The ring threads onto the top of the jar over the lid to hold it in place while the jar cools after processing; the ring can be removed once a vacuum has been established in the jar. Jars are commonly in either pint or quart capacities, with two opening diameters, known as "standard" and "wide mouth"."

We don't care if you have money, a big job, political contacts or the biggest boat in Pensacola. What we are impressed by is a full pantry of clear glass mason jars filled with a rainbow of colors and an appitizing look! A good recipe will gain you a lot of prestige in this club! We also don't care why you want to can food. If your a Libratarian hording food, an organic idealist, a gardener with too many crops or just a cheap skate wanting to can it while it's cheap. Nothing bad can come from canning so get at it! The reason is your issue. It's like a tent revival, we get em into the tent, its up to you, if you choose, to convert them (to your way of thinking).