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You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Cooking / Field Canning: Useful Technique For Camping, Emergencies, Etc.

Field Canning: Useful Technique For Camping, Emergencies, Etc.

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Folks,

Today I want to teach you a bit about canning, and about a simple technique that can help preserve food or keep things water/vermin proof when you don’t have normal storage or preservation available.

 

The Basics of Canning

Canning is a simple concept – you put things in a jar, put a lid on it, and, using a variety of techniques, draw air out of the jar so that a slight vacuum is created inside, which keeps the lid snug and the things inside air-and-contaminant free. Well-processed canned goods can last decades without spoiling.

Normally, this involves a water bath canning setup, for most fruits and veggies, and occasionally calls for a pressure canner for meats and some fruit and veggie products. Note – this is because you can get to a higher effective temperature with a pressure canner and so you can ensure that your meat/tetchy-fruit/veggie contents are safe.

A water bath canner is just a large wide pot in which you boil water and put filled jars into, in order to heat them to boiling temperature and get the residual air in the jars to expand and force itself out through the not-firm seal. The heat affects a sealant on the lid that helps it adhere ever-so-slightly to the clean glass as the escaping gas causes a vacuum in the jar. A pressure canner is just a large pressure cooker; mine is like 13 inches high and 12 around. I left my dedicated water bath canner in Colorado when I went “wagons-East”, but my pressure canner suffices for both purposes, I just leave the lid off except when initially heating the water.

Lids and rings are the two other pieces of the canning puzzle. Both are sanitized before use (I boil them in a saucepan and keep it on a low simmer) and the lids have a design that means that once they seal, they permanently deform when opened so they cannot be used to re-seal a jar in a canning setup.

 

 

 

Field Canning

The idea for field canning came when I was camping and I wondered if there was a better way to deal with half-eaten contents than just putting a lid back on a jar. I did some research once home, and voila – field canning. It is not hygenic-per-se and does not result in safe food – it just seals a jar with a light vacuum seal.

Field canning is useful whenever you have a need to seal a jar and don’t have proper canning equipment. It requires – a semi-full jar of something, some wax paper, some foil, a lighter/match, a non-used lid (i.e., a new or not used to vacuum seal lid extra from the jar), and, ideally, the ring for the jar lid.

 

From here, it’s quite simple:

  1. Make sure your lid is clean and unused; this technique will not work with an already-used lid.
  2. Take a small piece of foil and make a small “boat”, nothing ornate. This will protect the jar contents from flame and ash.
  3. Take a small piece of wax paper and roll it into a wick. When I put it in the jar, I try and and bend it into a “U” shape to ensure it sits with the burning end sticking.
  4. Put the foil boat into the jar and adjust its edges so that wick/ash won’t fall.
  5. Wipe the jar edge with a clean, very slightly damp paper towel or cloth and make sure the lid and ring are ready.
  6. Light the wick and put it on the foil.
  7. As quickly as you can, carefully stuff the burning wick down a bit and put the lid on the jar and press it down gently but firmly. The flame will sputter and keep burning for what seems like forever; in reality it’s just a couple of seconds.
  8. Screw the ring on snugly to ensure the lid isn’t jostled; depending on your altitude and how much burning there was after you closed the jar, the vacuum seal on the lid may be delicate.

 

At this point, the jar is sealed with a light vacuum seal and there is little-to-no oxygen inside. The contents are safer from spoilage than they would be just with a closed jar, though they may have a slight smoke flavor from the wax paper.

This is NOT a true form of canning – because the contents are not brought to boiling, you’re not making the food inside safe. This technique is only one for sealing for temporary preservation, where you want no air in the jar, or want the stuff inside staying waterproof (in case of a flood, for example). It can be great when camping because you can open and reseal a large jar repeatedly, only limited by the number of unused lids you have.

 

An afterthought is that you’d more likely keep the graham crackers in the jar so they don’t get moist than the marshmallows, but they were at hand.

 

Thus endeth the lesson.

Reader Interactions

45Comments

  3. 3.

    Alain

    @schrodingers_cat: Just you wait, I’ve got a few more on canning preserves, pickled jalapenos, and roasting, cleaning, and freezing chile peppers. Maybe I’ll pull out the dehydrator and do something fun early-fall.

  7. 7.

    Alain

    @ruemara: And heavy. I don’t do the backpacking type of camping so much anymore, it’s more like I drive to a campground or to the middle of nowhere. So the comforts of home, like making a gourmet dinner, aren’t as difficult to pull off. But spoilage can still be an issue, and exposure to air advances spoilage, especially in the wild with all those natural yeasts and molds floating about.

  8. 8.

    waratah

    This is great, I am looking forward to more posts. I was taught how to can from my mother in law a home economics teacher. I learned a lot from John because she did not make sauerkraut. I am looking forward to the chili’s. My husband would have tried your camping method right away as he loved to camp.
    I hope they bring Home Economics back to the schools and encourage the boys to do more cooking.

  9. 9.

    BellyCat

    Thank you for this, Alain!

    A couple of weeks ago, I spent a week primitive camping in the Adirondacks and I can see how this might be useful (especially for leftovers) when “car camping”.

    What do you think of these storage containers that use a suction tool to create a slight vacuum? I have seen some products based on the vacu-vin (wine bottle) style system. Seems like these might achieve a similar vacuum result, but perhaps not remove as much oxygen?

    On a semi-related note, If one is camping in bear country, instead of “bear-barrels”, I used for the first time the really versatile and inexpensive Ridgid storage containers which are waterproof and lockable, available from Home Depot (I know….HD founder is a RWNJ, sadly).

  13. 13.

    Yarrow

    Well, this could be interesting.

    Breaking News: Italy's prime minister said he would resign, causing the collapse of the country's most nationalist and dysfunctional government in decades t.co/lPPBaSu9rl— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 20, 2019

  15. 15.

    ruemara

    @Yarrow: Yes. It’s today at 12:30. I’m fitting in some auditions for the next hour or so, then my lyft should arrive about 11 so I can be early.

  16. 16.

    Alain

    @daveNYC: overnight, not worried about it, a week later, no way! This is a technique for temporary sealing, not legit storage.

    Plus I’m not convinced the seal will stay that long. It’s a weak vacuum, really for overnight or in a pinch during no power situations.

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    Don’t know if they’re still made but for backpacking/camping I got vacuum bags that seal using a little hand pump. Glad or Ziplock brand, I don’t recall. They’re super handy for transporting and reusing perishables.

  24. 24.

    schrodingers_cat

    Reposting from the now dead thread
    The Indian government does not want you to retweet this image. If you are on Twitter or any other social media.
    The image is a blood red chinar* leaf which says I stand with Kashmir, made by artist Shubnum Khan who has given the permission to redistribute it and use it.

  26. 26.

    Gravenstone

    Alain – you’re basically giving a practical application to this old party trick.

    youtu.be/jHlZjjkSiaU

    If you let your wax paper burn a couple of seconds before putting the lid on you’ll probably have a warmer headspace (and might be slightly more oxygen depleted) which will likely give you a better vacuum seal. Still not for long term storage, but maybe something for you to try.

  28. 28.

    J R in WV

    Also, for this “barely sealed” type of work, I’m pretty sure you could reuse the lids for several trips. Many of the old-timers here in the neighborhood when we moved out here in the 1970s reused canning lids seriously.

    They literally grew every vegetable they ate, year-round. Rows and rows of tomatoes and green beans and corn on the shelves. Not dozens — hundreds.

    As Nell, who was in her 80s and still gardening to eat when we moved out here used to say “Honey, I put everything by I can every year, because I don’t know if I’ll be able to next summer!” She lived next door down the hollow.

    And when she couldn’t any more, Wood and Earl, brothers next door up the hollow took into their home until she passed in her mid 90s. They were maybe a decade younger than Nell was. She was a character… so were they. Wood was a teamster when that meant putting harness on a 4 or 6 horse team to hitch to farm equipment on big farms up in Ohio. Real teamster work!

  31. 31.

    randy khan

    @ruemara: Congratulations! (And congratulations to the U.S. for getting you as a new citizen. I always think the country does better in that exchange than the person.)

  34. 34.

    Kelly

    If I were stocking a prepper bunker I’d have a pallet of canning jar lids instead of gold for my trade goods. Cheap to acquire, unattractive to steal prior to the collapse, equivalent to small denomination currency. I’ll trade some of my jar lids for some of your harvest.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    occasionally calls for a pressure canner for meats and some fruit and veggie products.

    For those not in the know, the need for pressure canning is because there are species of bacteria that generate spores capable of surviving boiling temperatures. Even worse, some of those bacteria are really dangerous, like C. botulinum, which produces the deadliest toxin known. You have to get well above boiling- about 120°C or 250°F- to kill them, which requires a pressure canner, and you need to keep the food at that temperature for long enough to be sure it’s heated through. Fortunately, those spores can’t germinate in acidic environments (like pickles or many other kinds of fruits and vegetables) or in environments with a lot of sugar and/or salt (like jam), so many kinds of canned foods can be processed using only boiling water.

  37. 37.

    Alain

    @Roger Moore: thanks for the more detailed explanation. Since water bath canning requires an acidic environment in the jar, citric acid or lemon juice are common additives, and for some fruit or veggie products, you don’t want that extra acidity or flavor profile so pressure canning is best.

    @Gravenstone: this is true, I do try to let the fire get going well before sealing. I don’t use this technique often, just a handful over a decade, but it is handy to have.

    @J R in WV: Re: about reusing lids. In a pinch, I’d reuse them, but I prefer the certitude that new lids bring.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    that can help preserve food or keep things water/vermin proof

    So you’re saying Republicans can’t get into them?//

  40. 40.

    Roger Moore

    @Alain:

    Since water bath canning requires an acidic environment in the jar, citric acid or lemon juice are common additives, and for some fruit or veggie products, you don’t want that extra acidity or flavor profile so pressure canning is best.

    I remember my mother adding ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) to canned tomatoes to make sure they were acidic enough for water bath canning.

    More generally, canning is definitely an area where you don’t want to improvise. Always check a procedure from a reputable source to know things like which vegetables are acidic enough to safely can using a water bath, and just how long to process foods if you’re pressure canning. And throw away anything that’s at all suspect; it just isn’t worth the risk.

  42. 42.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    my pressure canner suffices for both purposes, I just leave the lid off except when initially heating the water.

    Jeeze, be careful with this. Using a pressure cooker to boil water and taking the lid off is how I got second- and third-degree burns shoulder to hand. I was planning to boil pasta in the pot and set the lid on top of the pressure cooker just to help the water boil faster. I didn’t put the rocker thing on top, and didn’t latch the top, but somehow the locking mechanism got partially engaged. The pot wasn’t fully pressurized, but when I removed the top the water on the bottom was hot enough to form steam. The boiling water above it was flung from the pot with enough force to shatter the light bulbs in the above-stove light fixture. The boiling water scalded my arm and spots on my back, chest, and face. The steam gave me third degree burns on my arm about 4 inches above my elbow and 6 inches below my elbow. The burns had to be debrided and dressings changed twice a day. I went to a plastic surgeon’s office once a day for two weeks for debriding. If my husband hadn’t been willing to do it once a day I would have had to be in the hospital for 2 weeks. As it was I was able to have skin grafts done as out-patient surgery.

    I’ve told written about this experience here before. I’m repeating it because I hope this scares you enough to stop the practice of using a pressure cooker of any kind as a pot to boil water in. The danger is real and the results extremely painful.

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