If you've ever read our blog or examined our website, you know I'm dead serious about safe canning.  Although I operate a small-batch cannery and still hand-pour thousands of jars of jam annually, I am FDA and Ohio Dept of Ag -approved. 

I learned to can as soon as I could walk, but I didn't take my grandmother's process for granted as I became an adult capable of reaching my own conclusions.  Times change, and so did canning!  Thus, I trained to be a certified Process Authority in Thermal Process Control through the FDA.

When the USDA rewrote approved canning methods in 1989 to reflect new research, the Ball Blue Book and other respected canning books -- were ALL rewritten to comply with those safety methods.  Frankly speaking, the canning traditions of old HAVE killed people (just ask your health department).  And they continue to do so when perpetuated in our modern society.  (We had an outbreak in Montgomery County just a few years ago!)

I just posted some very long-winded replies to a comment one of our readers posted in Canning Tip #9, Canning Tomatoes.  If you follow our blog, please return to that post and read.  We've had a lively discussion over the past few days.  I hate sounding preachy or arrogant, but if I'm not assertive about an issue like this, someone could get hurt badly. 

Blessings, Sonya, The Jam and Jelly Lady