Canning Greens

A few weeks back when Mr. Howell's turnip greens first began coming into season, he and his wife, Glenda decided to can a few quarts for the year.

The basics of canning any type of "green" is to begin by thoroughly washing and re-washing the greens.  After the initial washing, it is best to allow them to soak for a few hours in a salt water brine.  This encourages any creature or dirt from the garden to release more easily.  I typically use 1/2 - 1 cup salt to a sink full of water and greens.

You will then thoroughly rinse the salt water brine from the greens.  Re-rinse.  Remove the big stalk stems from the green at this time.  You want to have only the leafy part of the green remaining.

Place the cleaned greens into a large kettle of boiling water (212F) and blanch apx 3-5 minutes to wilt the green.  Remove from kettle, strain liquid.  I normally make several criss-cross cuts into the greens at this time to make them into smaller eating sizes and more easily pack into jars.

Firmly pack into prepared sterilized jars.  Add brine liquid if needed to fill jar to within 1" headspace (lower rim line at top of jar).  Add 1 tsp salt if desired.  Salt's sole purpose is for seasoning.  Contrary to belief, it is not used as a perservative agent in home canning.  Now, clean the rim of each jar and apply hot, sterilized lid.  Hand tighten.  Do not overtighten lids,

Place jars into pressure canner and process at 240 F at 12-15 psi for 105 minutes.  It is important not to short-cut the cook cycle as the purpose of cooking under pressure is to eliminate as much e-bot bacteria as possible.  The botulism bacteria is an active soil borne bacteria and cannot be eliminated at boiling temperature (212F).  This is an important part of home or cannery canning that demands a blog post all on its own.