For shelf-stable garden vegetables, use a current tested pressure-canning recipe for the exact vegetable or approved mixture—and follow its pack style, jar size, processing time, pressure, and altitude instructions. Do not apply one vegetable’s process to another. Most fresh vegetables are low-acid foods, so safe home canning depends on using a tested pressure process rather than improvising.
Why garden vegetables need pressure canning
Most fresh vegetables are low-acid foods. The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP), following USDA guidance, classifies foods with a pH above 4.6 as low-acid. Temperatures needed to control botulinal spores in these foods are attainable in pressure canners, not in boiling-water canners. Use a tested pressure-canning process for vegetables intended for shelf-stable storage.
A recipe’s processing directions are a complete set: the vegetable or tested mixture, preparation, raw or hot pack, jar size, time, canner pressure, and altitude all matter. The NCHFP’s Complete Guide to Home Canning vegetable instructions and crop-specific recipe pages are the appropriate starting points; the USDA guide cited there was revised in 2015. If you cannot find a current tested process for a crop or preparation, do not adapt another recipe.
How to follow a vegetable canning recipe
- Find the exact tested recipe. Confirm that it covers your vegetable, or the specific tested mixture, and the preparation you plan to use. Do not assume a recipe for one vegetable applies to another.
- Match the pack and jar size. Follow the recipe’s raw-pack or hot-pack directions and use only the jar sizes for which it provides a process. Do not increase the jar size or alter the pack.
- Use the time and pressure for your elevation and gauge. Find your elevation bracket in that recipe, then use its dial-gauge or weighted-gauge pressure instructions. Do not substitute a pressure value from another recipe.
- Follow the canner maker’s instructions as well. Prepare and operate the model according to its manual, including the correct way to load jars and maintain pressure.
NCHFP recommends precooking for quality, but some vegetables may be raw-packed when their tested instructions allow it. “Precook everything” is not a safe universal rule: use the preparation specified in the particular recipe.
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What a tested mixed-vegetable recipe looks like
NCHFP’s mixed-vegetable recipe is an example of a specific tested process, not a general process for any assortment of garden produce. It names carrots, corn, green beans, lima beans, tomatoes, and zucchini in specified quantities, and permits changing proportions or substituting other favorite vegetables subject to stated exclusions. Follow that recipe’s full ingredient and exclusion directions rather than treating the permission as approval for any combination.
In that recipe, the preparation includes covering the prepared vegetables with water and boiling the mixture for five minutes. Hot jars are filled with one inch of headspace. Its processing values are:
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| Jar size | Processing time | Pressure and elevation |
|---|---|---|
| Pints | 75 minutes | Dial gauge: the recipe’s listed values range from 11 to 14 pounds across elevation bands from 0 to 8,000 feet; use the exact band in its table. Weighted gauge: 10 pounds up to 1,000 feet, then 15 pounds above 1,000 feet. |
| Quarts | 90 minutes | Dial gauge: the recipe’s listed values range from 11 to 14 pounds across elevation bands from 0 to 8,000 feet; use the exact band in its table. Weighted gauge: 10 pounds up to 1,000 feet, then 15 pounds above 1,000 feet. |
These times and pressures apply to NCHFP’s mixed-vegetable recipe only. For another vegetable, use that crop’s own tested process and altitude table.
Set up and operate the pressure canner correctly
Choose a canner, not a small pressure cooker
For USDA low-acid processes, NCHFP recommends a pressure canner that holds at least four quart jars upright. A small pressure cooker is not a substitute: USDA has no recommended low-acid canning processes for small pressure cookers because their size and heat-up and cool-down characteristics differ from those of tested canners.
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Check the gauge and altitude instructions
Before use each year, have a dial gauge checked for accuracy. NCHFP advises replacing a gauge that reads more than two pounds off at 5, 10, or 15 pounds of pressure. Weighted gauges do not need an accuracy check, but their pressure settings still change with altitude. For either type, follow the elevation adjustments in the recipe and the canner manufacturer’s manual.
Vent steam, then let pressure fall naturally
- After the canner is heated and steam begins to escape, vent it with a continuous flow of steam for 10 minutes before pressurizing. NCHFP reports this as USDA’s recommendation; trapped air can make the temperature lower than expected at a given pressure.
- Bring the canner to the pressure specified for the recipe and your elevation, then start timing only when it reaches that pressure. Maintain the required pressure throughout the full process.
- If pressure drops below the recipe’s recommended amount during processing, bring the canner back to pressure and restart the processing time from the beginning, as NCHFP directs.
- When processing is complete, turn off the heat and let the canner depressurize naturally. Do not force it to cool or open it while it is still pressurized; follow the model’s manual for opening and removing jars.
Why summer squash and zucchini are not recommended for canning alone
NCHFP says earlier recommendations for canning summer squash, including zucchini, were withdrawn because the processing time could not be justified. Do not use an old pressure-canning time or a recipe copied from an outdated source for plain summer squash or zucchini. Freeze them or use a tested pickling method instead.
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This is different from zucchini appearing as an ingredient in NCHFP’s tested mixed-vegetable recipe. That recipe’s specified mixture and process should not be used to justify canning zucchini by itself or adding it to an untested mixture.
What about pumpkin and winter squash?
NCHFP recommends home-canning pumpkin and winter squash only as one-inch cubes using the tested instructions. Home canning mashed or puréed pumpkin or winter squash is not recommended. If you want a purée, use a preservation method such as freezing rather than changing the tested canning preparation.
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