What are ways to make your home canned goods last longer?
Flushing the oxygen out of the jars first? Vinegar? Brine? What about alcohol? Alcohol seems to prevent bacterial growth well. If I made a jar of chili and added a couple shots of grain alcohol to it, would it all evaporate off during the canning or would it condensate and reform?
> Flushing the oxygen
You do that in the processing stage. The heat sterilizes and creates a vacuum to seal the jars.
Vinegar is great for ph balance (if you are not pressure canning, you want acidic foods)
Salt and sugar will limit water activity and are both preservation agents. Alchool not so much (unless you're doing fruits in brandy or similar)
And good, modern, tested recipes will have all of the above factored in. Recommended time to eat them is 1 year because the textures start to go to mush past that. But jars kept out of sunlight and without rust will keep for much longer if you didn't fuck up while processing.
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>>7377209
>Flushing the oxygen out of the jars first?
That happens automatically during the canning process.
>>Alcohol seems to prevent bacterial growth well
Which is moot because as long as you follow the directions properly the canning process will sterilize the contents of the jar. That's why it's important to follow the correct timetable for the type of food you are canning as well as the size of the jar (the larger the jar the longer it takes to heat up to the required temperature.