# Canning question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canning-question/749764 "2016-03-21T13:46:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canning-question/749764/21 "2016-03-23T17:21:16Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I have to share: > > A canner, exceedingly canny > One morning remarked to his Granny > A canner can can > Anything that he can > But a canner can’t can a can, can he? A canner can do the can can, presumably, however. ---
**Author:** ![iceiso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@iceiso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iceiso)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canning-question/749764/22 "2016-03-23T17:21:49Z")
Food manufacturers have equipment, processes, and knowledge, not typically available to the public, including: -Access to a wealth of knowledge and literature, both internally developed and through suppliers (of equipment, preservatives, etc.). Processes and recipes developed internally are proprietary. -Staffed food scientists/engineers who’s sole responsibility is to study the effect of numerous variables on their product. These variables include preservatives, stabilizers, temperature, time, etc. -Funds for R&D, which includes paying the aforementioned food scientists, bench scale and pilot testing equipment, and “wasted” product. -Equipment that is designed and is capable of required operations. For example, effective pasteurization and sterilization via heat involves holding a liquid at an elevated temperature for a certain time. Longer elapsed time at an elevated temperature (including the time it takes to reach that temperature) increases pasteurization/sterilization while decreasing product quality. This means that in order to kill the most microbes while preserving quality, manufacturers want to hit a target temperature as quickly as possible, hold it there for only as long as necessary, then cool down as quickly as possible. A typical pasteurization step might look like: increase from 80F–\>350F in 1 second, hold for 10 seconds, cool from 350F–\>80F in 2 seconds. This would require sophisticated equipment, such as a steam injector to quickly heat up the fluid, a pressurized tube to prevent it from boiling, a vacuum flash chamber to quickly reduce the temperature, as well as all the auxiliary high pressure pumps, valves, and measuring equipment. The capital cost to achieve this ideal pasteurization step is quite high and therefore, “professional grade” results for sensitive products are not achievable by a home canner. Additionally, the casual home canner will (should) err on the side of caution, exposing their foods to higher temperatures and for longer hold times than what is required. -Equipment/supplies that are optimized for a clean processing environment. This include building from high grade stainless steels that are designed, fabricated, and finished to minimize the possibility of microbe build up. This also includes access to cleaning chemicals that have limited availability to the public, due to expense, danger, etc. -Pressure from external customers and governing bodies (FDA, 3A, etc.) to always adhere to defined quality standards. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canning-question/749764/23 "2016-03-23T17:58:58Z")
Thanks, Iceiso! I suspect that the knowledge base from food scientists could eventually filter its way down to the home canner, but that the equipment would remain beyond the home canner’s reach. I would love for there to be a way to successfully can pasta in soups, but I am pretty sure I won’t see it in my lifetime. Despite the increasing popularity of home canning in the past few years, research on home canning issues is pretty sparse. I remember some years back there was a spate of recipes for cakes/quick breads vacuum-packed in jars. The National Center for Home Food preservation warned against doing this – not because it was known to be unsafe but because they had never tested such products for safety and did not have the wherewithal to do so. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canning-question/749764/24 "2016-03-23T18:21:43Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > This was all over Bend OR. I haven’t seen it elsewhere yet. Crowlers haven’t reached my area yet, but I’m ready for them! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canning-question/749764/25 "2016-03-23T19:42:51Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > This poem reads differently for many people in New York, New Jersey, and southeast Pennsylvania, where the verb _can_ “to be able to” and the verb _can_ “to store something in a can” [are pronounced differently](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8a%E2%9F%A9#Phonemic_.2F.C3.A6.2F_tensing_systems). > > Now, I’ll go pound some sayund ahnd fill a bunch of cayuns with wooder. Yes that includes me (from Philly). That was a wonderful link. The only thing I didn’t understand was the distinction it made between can (the modal), ran, and began. The first was supposedly an open syllable and the the other two closed, but I can hear no difference between them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canning-question/749764.md?page=1)