In summer and autumn, any housewife strives to prepare as much of a variety of canned fruit and vegetables as possible for the winter. After all, those canned food that are sold in stores, and even more so in the markets, do not always satisfy in taste, and even more useful properties with what we are going to treat our family to in the cold winter time. And if the hostess has her own garden at her disposal, then how many tasty, fragrant and healthy products can be prepared for the winter, they just run up their eyes.
But for many novice hostesses, there is one problem - many of them have heard about sterilization of canning dishes, but not everyone clearly understands what it is, why it is needed and what is needed for this. The period of time required for complete sterilization raises a lot of questions. Steam sterilization of cans is one of the most traditional methods of disinfecting dishes before preserving. It is about it and about the features of its implementation that will be discussed in the article.
Sterilization: why is it needed
In preserving food for the winter, sterilization is one of the most important stages. After all, if you neglect it, then, not only will your efforts to make vitamin and aromatic preparations disappear, all products can be hopelessly spoiled.
After all, rinsing the dishes thoroughly before cooking is not enough for storage. On the surface of cans and lids, a myriad of various microorganisms can remain, which, when they stay in a space without air for a long time, accumulate various products of their vital activity. It is they who are capable of causing quite serious harm to the human body if they accidentally get inside. One of the most dangerous substances is botulinum toxin. When a person is infected with botulism, even a lethal outcome is not excluded. That is why the sterilization of winter preparations is the most important stage in canning, the features of which you need to know and understand everything in order to enjoy summer and autumn fruits, vegetables, herbs in winter without much excitement.
Preparatory work
Before proceeding with the sterilization of steam cans, you need to prepare the following:
- A pot or water tank;
- A special metal plate with one or more cans openings;
- Several cotton towels;
- Banks and lids for them in the required quantity.
A container for boiling water can be used in almost any convenient shape and size, literally everything that is at hand, especially if you need to sterilize only one or two jars. But if you are determined to produce a serious workpiece and we are talking about sterilizing dozens of cans, then it is better to choose a wider pan so that as many cans as possible can fit on it at the same time.
Many housewives, in the absence of a metal lining on the pan, use a large flat colander or even a mesh in the form of a splitter to sterilize cans at home. As a last resort, you can use these devices, but a good half of the steam with these options will go into the air and therefore the heating of the cans will not be so high-quality. And the humidity in the kitchen will increase greatly.Therefore, if possible, it is better to purchase a special pad in advance, especially since they are quite inexpensive.
Cotton towels should be clean and thoroughly ironed at the highest iron temperature on both sides. With one towel, folded two or three times, you will remove the cans from the lining stand, and place them with their neck down on the other towel.
The banks themselves must be carefully checked before use if they have cracks, chips or dirt that cannot be washed away. In all these cases, for the sake of your safety, it is worth sending the cans to the trash bin, or using them for any decorative purposes, but they are no longer suitable for making canned food.
The jars should be rinsed well before sterilization. It is better to use laundry soap or regular baking soda in combination with hot water.
After washing, the cans are rinsed under running water.
Most often, disposable tin lids are used for conservation. If you are using threaded caps, make sure they are completely flat and free of chipped enamel.
Features of sterilization over steam
So, first fill a pot or any other container with water. How much water to pour depends on the number of cans you want to sterilize. If you have large three-liter cans or the total number of cans exceeds 10, then it is better to fill the container to half its volume. A metal overlay for cans is placed on top of the pan. Place the pot on high heat to bring the water to a boil as quickly as possible. The first batch of cans can be placed upside down on the pad before boiling, so that they warm up gradually. After boiling, the heating can be slightly reduced so that the water in the pan does not bubble up, but boils moderately.
Many novice housewives have the greatest doubts about the question: "how many minutes do you need to sterilize jars with steam?" After all, some culinary experts are satisfied that they hold the jars, regardless of their size, over the steam for 5-10 minutes and believe that this is quite enough. However, they can be understood. After all, any extra minute of sterilization increases the humidity and temperature in the kitchen.
But, unfortunately, this approach is not entirely justified, because if, despite all the efforts spent on the production of canned food, they, in the end, turn out to be spoiled, then only oneself will have to blame for this situation.
How many minutes does it take to fully sterilize cans for conservation? The residence time of the cans over the steam is directly proportional to the size of the can. The largest cans, 3 liters in volume, must be kept over steam for at least 30 minutes.
For cans with a volume of 2 liters, 20 minutes will be enough. Banks, the volume of which varies from one to two liters, must be sterilized, respectively, from 15 to 20 minutes, no less.
If the jars are small, their volume varies from half a liter to one liter, then they only need 10 minutes to stay over the steam.
And finally, the smallest jars, less than half a liter in volume, can be sterilized in only 5-7 minutes.
If for some reason this is not possible, try using other sterilization methods.
However, preservation jars are sometimes sterilized over an ordinary kettle, which is heated on the stove. In this case, the jar can either be put directly on the spout of the teapot, or by carefully removing the lid, put the jar upside down instead of it.
But in this case, the number of minutes for complete sterilization remains the same.
Despite the sufficient simplicity and versatility of the sterilization method over steam, when using it, a strong heating and humidification of the room in which the sterilization takes place occurs. However, this drawback does not prevent this method from remaining one of the most popular among housewives.
