So what am I to do with all of this flour! It was of course too cheap to pass up. I recently have been doing some reading about oven canning, a completely new concept to me. While I annually can fruits and vegetables, canning dry goods sounded more than interesting to me; it was enticing! I hope you enjoy my journey into this new and EASY form of keeping your dry goods.
Oven Canning is actually a very old, tried and true method of storing dry goods. Sadly, for some reason this method fell between the generational cracks and is just now becoming a popular way for homekeepers to store dry goods such as flour, pasta, oatmeal, etc. Essentially, if it is an oil-free dry good, it is able to be oven canned. The dry item to stay away from is walnuts as they have a lot of natural oil. Almonds, dry roasted peanuts, rice, and even sugar are on the list of "canable" items. Haha! Get it? "Canable"? Oh, I crack myself up...
Step 1: Gather clean, dry canning jars.
TIP! I reserved my non-mason (old mayo jars, applesauce, etc) WIDEMOUTH jars for this project because they are easy to get my hand into for cleaning, and also because I want to reserve my non-mason SMALL MOUTH jars for juice later in the year. I prefer small-mouth non-masons for juice because I use the plastic lids from mayo jars to cover left over canned goods in the fridge.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 200 degrees F
Step 3: Fill jars with desired dry goods.
Oatmeal, oat groats, brown rice, white rice, pasta, flour, sugar, powdered sugar, cake mix, bread mix (minus the yeast), crackers, ground graham cracker crumbs, coffee, tea, any dried herb, dehydrated fruits and vegetables (onion, carrots, apples, etc), tapioca pearls, barley, split peas, any kind of dried bean, and popcorn (needs to be 450 degrees before it will pop so we are safe at 200 degrees).
Items I know of that CANNOT be oven canned:
brown sugar (because of the molasses), walnuts, baking powder, baking soda, (I am not sure why baking soda and powder cannot be, but my CountrySide magazine said not to, so I am going to pass that along).
Step 4: Put lidless jars onto a cookie sheet and slide into heated oven. "Bake" 1 hour.During this time you can prepare the next batch for the oven, clear counter space with a towel down to put the hot jars on when they are done, and towards the end of the hour start a small pan with water on low to soften the rubber seals of your canning lids.
Step 5: Take out one jar at a time with a potholder or towel in hand, and quickly wipe the rim of the jar with a damp paper towel. Quickly dry a lid from your small pan, and put on the jar and twist on the appropriate rim. Set on the towel to cool and seal. Repeat with each jar. When cool, don't forget to label the lids as many kitchen dry goods look similar. Be sure to put the date so in later years you can see how long they have lasted!
TIP: You may use old spaghetti, salsa, mayo, etc jars AND their lids as long as that lid some sort of a rubber inner lid for sealing. However, take care that the jar does not smell strongly of the food it has in it before. I.e. a pickle jar may not be a good choice... ;P
CONGRATS! You have officially oven canned! From my reading, it seems that the majority of properly sealed oven canned goods will last you a miraculous 30+ years!!! I am excited to explore this form of canning for use in my emergency stash. If one or a few of yours do not seal, simply store them in the cabinet to use next as they are already bacteria-free from the heat and critter free due to the glass storage. :-)
**As with all home-canned goods, check the seals after a severe storm or tornado as the drastic pressure change can actually unseal some of the weaker-sealed goods!**
Happy Healthing!
