Helpful hints for gifting preserved goodies
- col-kate-shumaker
- November 15, 2024
- 231
Growing up, it was tradition for my mom to give her brothers a basket of her home-canned foods each Christmas. I’m sure many home-preservers share their product with others. Holiday gifts might include a basket of home-canned foods such as jelly or salsa. However, remember you are responsible for the safety of the foods you are sharing. That safety starts with a tested recipe from a trusted, reliable resource.
If you are canning specifically for gifting, consider using jars in interesting sizes or shapes. It is important to make sure the jars are safe for canning — meaning Mason-type with two-piece lids. There are many jars that look like canning jars that are not treated for the heat and temperature changes of home canning. These jars could still be used for packaging dried foods, just not for canning. If your jars are in between traditional sizes, always process at the time for the next larger size jar that does have canning guidelines to ensure safety. You certainly don’t want to under-process anything.
Once you have your foods prepared, now it’s time to package and label them. Here’s where you can get really creative. You can purchase or download/create and print decorative labels in so many shapes and styles. There is a lot of important information to include: the date the food was prepared, how long the food will last unopened and opened, storage instructions, and ingredients — especially if the product contains allergens.
Add fabric or ribbon to the jar lids. Put it all in a reusable basket. If you happen to be shipping your goodies, the biggest concern is including plenty of padding in the shipping package so no containers break. Remember to mark the package as fragile.
Here are some ideas of cozy feeling home-canned products that make good gifts. All recipes are from the National Center for Home Food Preservation at https://nchfp.uga.edu/.
—Apples: spiced apple rings, apple butter, apple marmalade and apple chutney.
—Cranberries: cranberry sauce, cranberry marmalade, cranberry conserve and cranberry orange chutney.
—Pumpkin: pumpkin leather and pumpkin seeds.
Happy Homemade Holidays!
Kate Shumaker is an OSU Extension family and consumer sciences educator and may be reached at 330-674-3015. Like and follow on Facebook @OSUEXTHolmes or visit https://holmes.osu.edu.