GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

Janet · 02-09-2013, 06:59 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article ,
says...

In article ,
Janet wrote:

I am going to do some beetroot, onions, tomatoes and some cucumbers
(gerkins?).

I may have missed mention of botulism; surely everybody knows that non-acid
foods need the temperature of a pressure canner to be sure?

Nope, nobody in the UK knows that. Here, Kilner jars of fruit/veg are
just filled, closed and cooked in a boiling water pan without pressure.

That is wrong.

It's the way my family did it for years. Endless bottled plums were a
winter feature of childhood.

You do seem to have trouble with the qualification "non-acid",
don't you? :-) Plums most definitely do NOT count! The only
fruit commonly eaten in the UK that do that I can think of are
bananas and avocados. Even ripe strawberries have a fair amount
of acid.

If you look at most older books, you will see that
the recommendation is exactly as Gary said. Also, some people living
in the UK have previously lived at moderate altitudes, which makes
the requirement more important.

why? I don't follow why where they previously lived, makes any
difference later?

Because the boiling point is lower at altitude.

You seem to have a problem with the term "previously" :-=)
You're hardly living at altitude now, nor is Baz, the person about to
deploy Kilner jars in the English flatlands.

Janet.