Canning for Beginners with Tips from 1950s Housewives

Ready to start canning? These canning for beginners’ resources and tips can help you get started. You’ll even find some helpful canning tips from 1950s housewives.

I’m usually one to jump into learning a homemaking skill with no hesitation but one that I’m still on the fence about is canning.

It’s one homemaking skill that I want to learn a lot about before considering trying out. I’m not much for large scale gardening so I don’t have a lot of things I want to can, largely I want to can homemade jelly, and maybe homemade salsa for my husband.

I’ve heard from many other homemakers that they are also a bit nervous about canning. Botulism is a scary thought, no one wants to kill their family with their food. Botulism is actually quite rare and it’s far from the only illness you can cause by not preparing food properly but for some reason, it seems scarier. 

You may wonder why someone that doesn’t can is writing about canning but that’s because I collect resources about canning in hopes that someday I’ll be brave enough to try it. Knowledge can make things less scary.

I know others out there are like me or maybe you aren’t scared but just don’t know where to start. Since I have all this saved information I thought it would be a good thing to share. Especially the canning tips from 1950s housewives, even experienced canners will find these useful.

The Best Canning for Beginners Resources

There are a lot of great canning cookbooks out there both new and old. I really enjoy a lot of the vintage ones but they often assume you know what you are doing as canning was more common in the past. These are likely better to use once you have a better idea of what you are doing.

If you are looking for more beginner canning resources I’d stick with theses. Don’t forget to also use Google and YouTube if you are stuck. There are some great blog posts and videos out there on every subject, including canning.

In my search for good resources, I have found some I love and think are good to start with when you want to start learning about canning.

• Quick Start Guide to Water Bath Canning
• Quick Start Guide to Pressure Canning
• The Ultimate Guide to Preserving Vegetables
• 50 Jar Canning Challenge

Those are really great resources to start with if you are interested in canning. Even if you are like me and you are just collecting resources and learning right now and not quite ready to jump in.

Canning Tips from 1950s’ Housewives

What really sparked me wanting to share canning resources today was finding an article in a 1950s magazine with canning tips from 1950s homemakers from all over the US. It was fun to read and I wanted to share these tips with you as well.

• Tongs are handy for lifting tomatoes or peaches from the blanching broth. 
• You can use any deep pot with a tight-fitting lid for water-bath canning. Simply make or buy a rack that can fit inside to make sure the jars stand 1 inch above the bottom of the pot and far enough apart to allow circulation.
•  Beets keep their red color better if you add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to each quart.
• Label one jar of each canning batch with the recipe, processing time, and other details. That way if a batch was successful you know what to do next time.
• If hard water is all that’s available for sterilizing jars, add a tablespoon or two of vinegar to the water. It will help you avoid hard water film.

Related Post: Why We Need to Bring Back Victory Gardens

A Quick Canning Recipe to Get You Started

My favorite place to start is the introduction to water bath canning from my friend Victoria featured in the Retro Homemakers Club.

She is the author of the quick start guides above as well. She is the queen of canning and homesteading! She shared a recipe for strawberry jam plus the instructions for canning it. This would make such a great Christmas gift.

This canning recipe is available now in the Retro Homemakers Club as part of the membership. If you haven’t joined yet it’s a really fun place to learn homemaking skills and connect with other homemakers. We’d love to have you!

More Vintage Homemaking Skills

If you are on a quest to learn more vintage homemaking skills like I am you will enjoy these other resources. Modern conveniences are great but we don’t want to lose these helpful skills and tips from the past.