Acid and brine protect your health
- Brine(salty water) inhibits the growth of stuff that can make you sick or effect the taste of your canned food, therefore, brines are your friend.
- Similarly, acids (vinegar usually) is another preservative substance that inhibits the growth of bacteria and other unwanted contaminates.
- Don't go crazy! These flavors (acid and salt) are intese and can make canned food inedible. Follow recipe guidelines (unless you like stuff really salty or really sour). Don't jack up the salt or acid beacuse you are paranoid about food borne illnesses. The recipes are geared to keeping preserved food safe.
- On the other hand, these recipes call for particular ingredients in specific amounts. Don't cheat and don't guess. If the recipe says, "1 cup of pickling salt for every 5 pounds of pickles." Don't toss in some table salt and assume its the same thing. Its not. Make the effort to get pickeling salt and make sure you measure it acturately.
*note*
If you really are paranoid about food borne illnesses and you have an overwhelming need to be really, really sure that your food is safe; invest in some Ph testing equipment. Simple paper test strips are available at most gardening stores whereas more sophisiticated clinical Ph testers are available on-line (or medical supply stores). Be certain about obtaining appropriate Ph levels during brining or in recipes as opposed to blowing out the taste of your preserved products with too much salt or acid.
Heat protects your health
Most of the stuff that makes humans sick is killed off with heat. All of these recipes will recommend that you heat stuff (or pressure cook stuff) for a particular amount of time and at a particular heat. To keep yourself on the safe side don't cut the amount of time or the amount of boiling water called for in the recipe.
Pop up lids protect your health
Every canning lid I have seen for sale for at least the last ten years is a "pop-up" style lid. The pop-up lids come with a raised center (you can see it by looking; its a raised ring on the lid itself about 1/2 an inch from the edge of the lid going all the way around). Make an additional effort to get these kinds of lids.
When the lid is properly seated on your canning jar it will lay flat. Perfectly flat lids means your canned food is safe to eat. If the raised center portion ever "pops up." Throw away the jar of canned food. The reason you want to chuck it out is that the botulism bacteria gives off a good amount of gas as it grows. That gas will build up inside of your canning jar and eventually push the pop-up lid outward. So a pop-ed lid means beyond any doubt that your canning jar is inedible. Do not taste it, touch it, smell it, serve it, just throw it in the trash.