Question about home-canned vegetables

[HilltopDaisy]

I know that all the books say to boil your home-canned veggies for 15-20 minutes before eating, but I wonder if you actually do this? Of course I'm referring to pressure canned stuff, like green beans, corn and beets. TIA

[Freeholder]

Yes, with vegetables or meat you do need to do this. If it's pickles, fruit, mincemeat, tomatoes (high-acid kind) you don't need to boil them, but the others definitely. There's no way for you to tell by just looking if your canned goods have botulism in them. Boiling everything is probably why our family has survived a hundred years or so of mostly home-canned food with no incidents of illness from it.

Kathleen

[Kmac15]

I boil mine for a min of 10 minutes.

The whole time I was growing up my mom boiled any canned veg for at least 10 min, even store bought ones. When I asked her why she just said that is the only safe way to eat them. Now I know it is because she grew up with home canned veg, and just continued doing it even when she was serving commercial canned stuff.

[StaceyS]

I don't. Sometimes I eat them straight out of the jar. JMO

[Freeholder]

Originally Posted by StaceyS

I don't. Sometimes I eat them straight out of the jar. JMO

That's okay with fruit or pickles, but not with vegetables or meat. Better get to know the symptoms of botulism poisoning if you are going to do this, so you can get help quickly in case you do get sick. It's not anything to fool around with -- every so often in one of the villages in Alaska, where they still eat a lot of home-canned food (meat and fish especially) there will be a botulism outbreak and someone dies. (An 'outbreak' because usually several people eat from the bad jar of food.)

Kathleen

ETA: We drink raw milk with no fear, but there's no way I'd eat home-canned vegetables or meat without boiling them!

[Tiempo]

Doesn't cooking them that long make them mushy?

[wwubben]

Canned green beans have killed more people than you can shake a stick at.We eat pickles,fruit, and maters right from the jar but the other stuff gets boiled as stated in an earlier reply here.

[cindy-e]

I am scared to can green beans. I just freeze them. But yes, I tend to cook my canned food 15 to 20 min. This is just because I have only been canning a couple of years, and I figure it would be *all* too easy for me to mess up!

Cindyc.

[DQ]

all the books DON"T say that. the older ones do. the one put out by the usda (I think) says that as long as you do it right (right times pressures and tested recipes) then there is no reason to. either its safe or its not. if we have to depend on boiling the home canned foods than we shouldn't be canning them.

"But, if you are uncertain that you followed such procedures, it is best to boil home-canned vegetables and meats for 10 minutes before tasting"
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extnews/ask...nning/4572.htm

I guess I don't really get it. if it is so easy to "detoxify" spoiled foods than why do we even pressure can? when you see that somwhere I think of all the weird warnings on things like. "danger, knives are sharp" or "do not iron your clothes while you are wearing them" .....basically they are for stupid people.

[MELOC]

i think the CDC recommends boiling for 10 minutes. i always bring a canned product to a boil before i eat it whether it is store-bought, pressured canned or my own water bath canned food.

[MELOC]

Originally Posted by wwubben

Canned green beans have killed more people than you can shake a stick at.We eat pickles,fruit, and maters right from the jar but the other stuff gets boiled as stated in an earlier reply here.

i know i have been involved in several heated debates on this website concerning botulism, so i won't say too much. i do want to say that not as many people get botulism as the public may think. statistically, you have an equal or better chance of getting hit by lightning. from my research on the CDC website, i found that foil wrapped baked potatoes, especially those on a buffet that are warm and not steaming hot, sicken more people with botulism than nearly any other food. the conditions are perfect...a skin that touches soil wrapped in aluminum foil where the skin stays moist and warm but not hot temperatures.

any canned food will be safe if you boil it for ten minutes as the actual toxin that makes you sick will be destroyed at boiling temperature. if you don't plan to boil your food before you eat it, you need to pressure can the food so that it will reach a high enough temperature to prevent the toxin from developing during storage.


meloc <------- has been eating water bath canned green beans all his life but is here to bother you today because he boils them before he eats them.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I don't boil any of my home canned food before eating it. I figure if I put it up right & according to my canning book then it's safe. My Mother or Grandmother never boiled any of there's either & no one that I know of has ever got sick from any of our home canned food.
I too sometimes eat my beans cold right out of the jar. When heating them I nuke them for 2-3 minutes, Yummy!

[Oldcountryboy]

Never boil ours either. We just warm them up for a few minutes in the microwave and serve. Aint kill us ye.......acchh. Aint killed us ye.....achhh! Aint kil.....acchch! Acchhhhe!

[Bonnie L]

Originally Posted by Tiempo

Doesn't cooking them that long make them mushy?

Nope. Somehow the pressure canning cooks things in a different way. You'd have to cook them for a lot longer than 15 to make them mushy.

I'm another one that brings my canned veggies & meat to boil & simmers for 10-15 minutes. Sometimes it's just part of the recipe, like making stew. I don't heat things separately then add them.

It's hard to say "oops" if botulism has paralyzed you. Not that I think my canned foods are so poorly done, but mistakes happen. It's like wearing my seat belt. A hassle, but worth it "just in case."

[Sawmill Jim]

I know i saw one southern person post on this Way i like em is way my grandmaw use to cook em .She would dump them in a iron pot a bunch bacon grease slice hogs joul an cook em on the wood cook stove till they cooked down Pan cornbread white beans an big old onion Yum Yum Yuall drop in

[Wendy]

I don't. I will make chicken salad from my canned chicken right out of the jar. If it is properly processed there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

[chickenista]

Better safe than sorry.

[Bramble]

i think it depends on how you process them- salt is a preservative, freezer canning i believe requires no boiling, etc. for the most part tho unless its a high acid fruit or veggie i'd boil it.

[travlnusa]

We open the jar, heat them up and eat away. Been doing this for years. I never knew that boiling for 10 mins was suggested/required.

We will stick with the Heat and Serve.

If I stop posting, you will know now why.

[Wolf mom]

My concern is when boiling them for 10 minutes, don't you boil all the vitamins out?

I freeze veggies, but am considering canning. Maybe not now.