Food Canning and Rotation: a suggested means of preserving home grown foods and the proper utilization of same. Steam-pressure canning is probably the safest way to home-can most types of foods. Some vegetables and all meats should be cooked before canning. Fruits may be canned raw or cooked. The actual canning is accomplished with the aid of a heavy aluminum pressure cooker with a rack to hold safety-tempered mason jars. The cooker has a lock-tight lid with a safety valve and pressure gauge.  Place hot, clean mason jars on the rack after putting three inches of hot water in the cooker. Fill the jars with food, and then add boiling syrup or boiling water to fill vacant spaces in the jar. But do not fill all the way to the top. Leave some space below the rim of the jar. To release air bubbles, run a table knife around the inside of the jar between glass and food. Wipe the lips and threads of the jars clean.  Cap, using lids and rubber rings so as to obtain an air-tight seal. Fasten the pressure cooker cover and heat until a steady flow of steam escapes the petcock. Then close the petcock and bring up the pressure to the amount recommended for your particular cooker. The length of time the pressure is to be maintained may vary according to altitude, type of food, and manufacturer’s recommendations for a particular cooker. Do not attempt to can if the food is overripe or if you do not have all the essential equipment and supplies in perfect condition. Once canning is completed observe for leaks, mold, odors, or buldging lids.  This means that spoilage has occurred, and the food should not be eaten if you wish to avoid the possibility of food poisoning. When in doubt, do not eat. 

Food rotation is accomplished by constructing storage bins which will facilitate identification of canned foods by canning date. This applies to home-canned and commercially canned foods. The objective is to consume older foods first, replacing them with a fresh supply. This will allow you to have a canned food reserve that is used before foods loose much of their nutritional value. Rotation can be made easy if you will label all of your canned items indicating the date canned or the date of purchase. Place fresh foods at the back of your stockpile and move older cans or jars to the front. An alternative for tin-canned foods is to construct compartmented storage bins that have a vertical rack for each type of food to be stored. New cans are loaded in the top and older ones are removed from the bottom for current use. Plan to consume all canned food before it is one year old. It should be used before six months old if stored in temperatures above 70 degrees Farhenheit. Light, moisture, poor ventilation, or odors will also shorten the life of canned foods to six months or less.  Use this section along with the Gardening and Food Storage sections to develop an overall plan to provide for family food needs in the home. If canning is not possible, see the Food Drying section. Foods for field survival will be covered under sections entitled Food and Survival, Food Utilization Outdoors, and About Wild Plants.