Shelf life of home canned food

In order for preservation to be stored for as long as possible, it is important to protect it from light and sunlight. Therefore, in the case of storing blanks on the balcony, you need to take care of a niche into which sunlight will not penetrate, and to make it easier to find the right jar, provide lighting. For winter preparations, there are different ways to pickle vegetables and fruits.

Some apartments, especially large ones, require several bathrooms. If you think that you can get by with one, you can equip the second one as a pantry and store preserves there for the winter.

What is the maximum shelf life of canned food?

Comments: 1 5 dangers of homemade preparations. But do not forget that they can harm your health.

The experience of some enterprises in introducing new domestic spicy-flavoring plants in the production of vegetable and fruit marinades is noteworthy. Dill, parsley, celery, coriander, and red capsicum are widely used in canning factories; the use of hot pepper (peas) and cloves is reduced.

To maintain quality, products must be frozen at a temperature no higher than -12...-18°C.

The most optimal temperature for storing stewed meat is from 0 to + 15 degrees. If you want to increase shelf life, you should store it in colder conditions. A refrigerator with a temperature of +2 to +6 degrees, or a cellar, is best suited. If stored under such conditions, the shelf life will be 3 years.

How to choose canned tomatoes in the store

For those who buy canned vegetables, you need to know that the law “more expensive means better quality” does not apply here. How to choose salted tomatoes in the store. There are various cans on the shelves with a wide range of prices, and it is not clear which product is better among them. The first thing you should pay attention to is the brine. If it is cloudy, then it is better to put this jar aside. Also, the lid of the jar should not be swollen; if so, then the expiration date has already passed, or the preservation went wrong somehow. The next thing you should pay attention to is the fruits themselves; they should not be cracked. The more cracks, the lower quality the tomatoes.

As a rule, both home-canned and homemade tomatoes have the same shelf life. The shelf life of canned tomatoes is from 1 to 2 years.

What is the shelf life of stewed meat and what the consumer needs to know

The seeds contain the glycoside amygdalin, which breaks down to release hydrocyanic acid, a powerful poison. That is why seeds are removed from fruits during production, and products of this kind are stored for no more than 12 months. Violation of the temperature regime leads to darkening of the fruits or sugaring of the syrup.

If home preservation is hermetically sealed on all sides, and all standards for its closure and sterilization are met, everything will be fine. It should be stored at room temperature, but it would be even better to store it at a temperature from 0 to +15 degrees, so it can last you up to a year.

Designer Svetlana Belova gives very interesting and practical tips for storing jars of homemade ingredients.

Cunning manufacturers have long learned to play on the lack of education of the population and often put some Soviet GOST, for example 1979, on the label.

To prevent botulism - preserve correctly! Doctors do not recommend canning at home: mushrooms, meat, fish, herbs. It is important to use only fresh, unspoiled fruits and vegetables for canning, without signs of rotting or disease. You cannot preserve long-picked fruits or vegetables.

When the jam is well boiled and sterilized, you can store it at home for several years. The same can be said about vegetable preparations. In this case, the jars must be sealed with glass or metal lids.

Still, it is best to keep pickles and jam in cabinets out of direct sunlight - this is one of the conditions for long-term storage of canned fruits.

There are swarms of strawberries, raspberries, peaches, apples and other fruits at the market. The preserving season should be used to its fullest, and you should also prepare beet salad, vegetable salad with carrots and peas, homemade ketchup, pumpkin puree and pickled mushrooms. There are still many possibilities! Home goods have a decisive advantage over store products.

How to understand that a product is spoiled

Before consuming canned foods, it is advisable to inspect them carefully. What if during storage the delicacy managed to deteriorate? To avoid accidentally getting poisoned or poisoning your household, be sure to pay attention to the presence (or better yet, absence) of the main signs of damage:

deformation of the lid (if the lid is swollen, it means that microorganisms got inside the jar at some stage of canning or storage, which began to multiply and as a result led to bombing);
the presence of a purple tint in the syrup;
loss of transparency by the brine, its cloudiness;
the occurrence of mold inside the container;
the appearance of a white coating on the fruit.

If at least one of the signs of spoilage described above is found inside the container (or outside - in the case of a bulging lid), do not take risks: refuse to eat the product. The most harmless thing that threatens you is intestinal upset. But in this case, botulism can become a reality for you. This serious disease appears due to the influence of anaerobic bacillus on the human body. As a result, the nervous system is affected. The disease often ends in death. This is not the most pleasant fact in the history of home canning, but forewarned is forearmed.

Rules for storing homemade products

The composition of such canned food may include chemical components, various E, stabilizers, etc., identical to natural ones.

Formally, the maximum shelf life for “rolled” home canned food prepared without the use of vinegar, other food acids or large amounts of vegetable oil is 10-12 months from the date of seaming. With use - plus up to 4-6 months. Any violation of the rules for preparing or storing canned food reduces their shelf life.

And it’s not just that glass jars with pickled cucumbers and tomatoes placed in different places do not fit into the interior. If you keep the preparations in the wrong place, vegetables, fruits and berries may spoil or their shelf life will be significantly reduced. It’s good if you have a country house with a cellar or a garage, in which case you don’t have to think about where to store canned food in your apartment.

If it's not, throw it away. Even in the absence of the above-mentioned disadvantages, it is better to sterilize mushroom “rolls” by heating (at least 80°C).

Every housewife, making preparations for the winter, knows that making jam or twisting cucumbers is only part of the job. It is very important to properly store home preserves.

Heating to 100°C and higher (usually up to 120-130°C), called sterilization, leads to the death of both vegetative microflora and heat-resistant spores and has universal application for most products.

You cannot buy home-made canned mushrooms, vegetables, and herbs in the markets in jars with rolled-up lids. Children who are particularly sensitive to the effects of butulinum toxin should not be given home-canned foods without first being cooked for minutes.

Canned mushrooms undoubtedly last much longer than mushrooms preserved by other methods. But they have a big drawback, since the preservatives they contain can cause great harm to the human body.

To extend shelf life, tin cans are treated with special compounds inside and outside:

Inside they are coated with varnish, enamel or a thin layer of tin (half-tin), which protects the products from contact with metal and oxidation.
On the outside, technical Vaseline, grease or modern lubricants are applied to prevent corrosion of the tin can.

Long-term canned goods include canned meat and stewed meat. If you follow the storage conditions specified by the manufacturer, the contents of the containers will be suitable for consumption for 3-5 years:

Products packaged in cans made of hot tinning tin of class I and II, with a welded seam, are stored for no more than 5 years;
A similar container with a welded seam will preserve its contents for 4 years;
Canned meat sealed in other containers, including glass, can be stored for no more than 3 years.

Appertization for the benefit of civilization But the main “father” of canned food was the French chef Nicolas Appery from the town of Chalons-en-Champagne. As you can see, they were not only into champagne. The French government, trying to provide soldiers with non-perishable food, promised to pay 12 thousand francs to anyone who finds a way to extend the shelf life.

How long can you store canned food in jars? Strawberry jam, plum jam, beet salad and pickled mushrooms Homemade canned food is a wealth of tastes, aromas and vitamins! But how to properly store canned food to keep it fresh for a long time? What is the shelf life of home canned food and how to extend its service life?

Some brave souls have opened these dozen or so jams or jams and noticed no signs of corruption - they just gobbled them up. Of course, a well-done process of pasteurizing canned goods and adding sugar, salt or vinegar will ensure that homemade foods last longer, but you can't keep them indefinitely!

It is best to use them before the beginning of summer, when new harvests of fruits and vegetables begin. When you notice mold after opening a product and notice a strange odor or aftertaste, don't take any chances and don't eat the product. Even after removing a small layer of mold, the jam will not be suitable for consumption, since toxic substances released by the mushrooms may have already penetrated the product.

Despite the fact that canned food costs more than similar fresh products, they do not lose their popularity and relevance. A jar of fish, stewed meat or canned vegetables is a great way to treat unexpected guests with an original salad, a hot hearty dish or a light snack. But canned food can be no less dangerous than it is convenient and tasty.

To store the stew for a longer period of time, the jar should have fat on top. Therefore, in beef stew, in which there is not enough fat, pork is usually added. With pork, on the contrary, excess fat is cut off, otherwise the stew will be too fatty.

Before giving preference to one or another type of similar product on store shelves, you need to carefully read all the labels and inspect the packaging. Many unscrupulous manufacturers and sellers exceed expiration dates and sell dangerous old canned goods under the guise of fresh ones.

This is, of course, inevitable. But still, people with pancreatitis, cholecystitis, etc. should not get carried away with such preparations.

The shelf life is different for different products. For example, pickled mushrooms should not be stored for more than a year. On average, vegetable preparations are stored from several months to a year, depending on the type of preparation and storage conditions.

With the arrival of warmer weather, mushroom pickers head to the forests to fill their baskets with this tasty natural product. If you manage to collect a large number of mushrooms, it gives you great pleasure. And when you get home, you want to quickly process and cook them, but you don’t always have the strength to do this. Therefore, you have to think about how to store mushrooms and in what places it is better to do this. The basic rule for long-term storage is that fruits, vegetables and herbs must be well dried. Otherwise, they become an attractive bait for household pests and your workpieces will be destroyed in the shortest possible time. Excess moisture can also cause mold, which can ruin all your supplies.

Any canned food has a maximum shelf life, after which it cannot be eaten. Factory-made canned food can be stored for quite a long time, up to 3 years. In their production, special technologies and a certain type of safe food additives and preservatives are used, which significantly extend their shelf life and suitability.

But not all industrially produced canned goods have a long shelf life. For example, so-called preserves are suitable for consumption only if the necessary conditions are met - the temperature during transportation and storage should not be higher than 0ºC, and after the packaging has been opened, they must be eaten immediately.

The maximum shelf life for hermetically sealed canned fruit and vegetables is no more than 3 years, subject to storage conditions (low temperature, lack of light, etc.).

Some time after canning, the fish begins to undergo aging, i.e., gradually lose its beneficial qualities. Regardless of the composition of the sauce, aging of canned fish occurs faster than meat; the shelf life of canned fish does not exceed two years.

In this form, they can lie for several days in a dark and cool place. But wet mushrooms should be harvested or eaten immediately.

The most important requirements for storing jam are compliance with the preparation recipe and sterile containers, and you don’t have to worry - nothing will happen to it. But it’s still worth paying attention to the choice of place to store sweet supplies. Places away from direct sunlight are best suited for this; you should also not leave the jam stored near heating radiators. This persistent infection is not killed by boiling, frying and sautéing; in general, rotten tomatoes should not be used in fried soups. Over time, the preparations containing fruits and vegetables infected with the fungus release poison, which gradually destroys the liver. So it's not worth the risk.

Attention! Danger! Botulism!

Botulism is a serious infectious disease that is most easily contracted due to poorly prepared preserves. It is caused by a toxin, which is a waste product of the botulinus bacterium, which lives in the soil and develops in an oxygen-free environment, so hermetically sealed cans of preserved food are an ideal environment for its reproduction. The bacteria themselves do not cause poisoning, but they are resistant to high concentrations of table salt and multiply in sealed jars, releasing poison that can seriously poison a person.

To protect yourself from botulism, carefully process the products before canning: rinse them thoroughly in water, use only fresh and unspoiled ones, strictly follow the preservation technology, the regime of sterilization and pasteurization of jars. If you have any doubts about the quality of the prepared preparations, it is better to pre-boil them for 20 minutes before using them - the poison is destroyed under the influence of high temperatures.

Fans of canned peppers will certainly enjoy the top 5 recipes for canning peppers.

Author: Svetlana Misnik

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Kitchen

The first and most obvious option for placing prepared food products is, of course, the kitchen, where cabinets become the main storage space. However, before you start filling all the free space with glass jars, you should do some preparation.

First, check the strength of the shelves to make sure that they can withstand the entire load of tomato and cucumber “responsibility” that has fallen on them. For wall cabinets, it would be a good idea to check the fastenings.

Secondly, measure the height of the shelves and evaluate how rational their current arrangement is. Some of them may need to be raised slightly to allow you to place the jars higher.

People who have been canning products for more than one year often complain that storing products on shelves is not very convenient. Cabinets with drawers will help make it easier to find the right cans. However, the use of such mechanisms imposes a certain inconvenience, since their design is poorly suited for storing large cans, which it may simply not support.

If you prefer to use jars with a capacity of no more than 1 liter for preparing food, then in this case you simply cannot do without roll-out boxes.

Never place cans of seaming in cabinets that are located near the stove or radiator!

Hallway

The dimensions of domestic hallways are rarely of a palace scale, but even in such cramped conditions it is usually possible to install at least a small closet.

If you are the happy owner of a two- or three-door “storage system for winter things,” then with a rational approach to the distribution of free space, finding a shelf or two for cans will not be difficult.

Before storing cans, make sure there is no mold and, if necessary, treat the cabinet with antifungal treatment.

Loggia

A loggia can be an excellent option for placing seams. It differs from a balcony in that at least two of its sides are adjacent to the walls of the house or neighboring loggias. And yet, not every one of them is suitable for storing workpieces.

Firstly, the room temperature should not fall below 0°C. Otherwise, the contents of the jars will simply freeze.

Secondly, the loggia should not be too damp. If you use it to dry clothes, try to ventilate the room as often as possible to reduce the humidity level.

Thirdly, lockers must be installed on the loggia. If the jars are left in the sun, their contents will deteriorate very quickly.

Before you start insulating the loggia, you should definitely study the technical side of the issue. It may turn out that the design features of the room do not allow the installation of heavy window structures on the loggia.

Lumber room

In the closet you can store not only your winter wardrobe and rarely used items. Install a rack in it or think over a system of shelves - and the issue of storing preserved food will disappear on its own. At the same time, you’ll put things in order!

When arranging a place to store workpieces in a closet, you should be guided by the following principles: reliability of fastenings, ease of use and rationality in dividing the space. The latter is especially important, since usually the closet is used not only for seaming, but also for many other things. Finding a shelf for the “extra” five or six jars of jam is much easier than finding a place for a vacuum cleaner or a children’s scooter.

Mezzanine

Previously, mezzanines, i.e. wall cabinets and shelves under the ceiling could be found in almost every apartment. However, the fashion for expanding space took its toll, and people began to gradually get rid of these structures, citing the fact that the mezzanines “ate” the entire height, and it was extremely inconvenient to get things from them.

Meanwhile, it is the mezzanines that can become a help for storing seams. The main thing is that the design is reliable enough to accommodate the number of cans you need.