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Rebel Canning – Group Intelligence vs. Groupthink – Epi-3786

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Today we discuss a concept that is very old to me merged with a term that is brand new to me.  It is called Rebel Canning.  Rebel Canners are communities of people using traditional canning methods that gasp, ignore many recommendations by the USDA for canning.  These people however are not adult children.  The spirit in these groups is not I won’t do what you say simply because I want to be a rebel.  More I am a rebel because I can think for myself and your rules do not really make sense at all.

But how could the USDA canning guidelines not make sense?  Well many of them are decades old and they really stopped being proactive at all a very long time ago.  Canning is one of the traditional methods of true independence and the government seems to have little interest in that today.  More government is very comfortable issuing negatives as in don’t do X because that guidance is always safe, for them.  This has led to absolutely idiotic conclusions such as canning crushed tomato is safe but canning them diced is not.  Yes really.

How did such stupidity become a standard practice?  Well it like most things the government does starts out with good intentions that can’t stand up to reality.  What the government did right was test many methods of canning many things are various universities and laboratories.  The results are absolutely solid.  The issue is this is only to the affirmative of what was tested.  Almost nothing was ever tested with a negative result as in we did X to Y and tested the results and they were dangerous.

This is however implied by “only follow published approved recipes” as primary guidance.  Thus inferring that when they say you have to crush a tomato but dice a winter squash not to do so is dangerous.  What is really going on though is simply they didn’t test canning diced tomatoes or canning mashed squash so it is just easier to say don’t do it.

This is due to lowest common dominator thinking, which government is honestly forced to do. Think of it this way the people who always do everything they are told the way they are told are generally not the most intelligent people.  This is especially true when the source of the mandate is government.  Hence an obedient serf must be guided with training wheels at all times.  Many of the things I will cover today require independent thought, some research and making logical conclusions.  This is of course lacking in many today so the government hedges to our detriment which is quite common.

The thing is your grandmother and great grandmother knew better.  They preserved all manner of things with water and pressure canning and neither your parents or they died from it, or you would not be here.  And here is a stark reality for the doubters.  A person who cans food often and eats their own canned food daily is about 40,000 times less likely to die from botulism than a person who takes two routine car trips per week is to die in a car wreck.  Will you stop driving your car now?

Join Me Today to Discuss…

  • What is rebel canning and why should you care
  • How did we end up with such limiting USDA guidelines in the first place
  • What are some examples of rebel canning people are doing today
    • Dry potato canning with just seasoning and some butter
    • Many things that are simply cut or sliced differently
    • Many soups and stews that simply don’t have a USDA recipie
    • Sometimes it might just be reusing a lid (yes really)
    • Mostly it is just figuring out how to can something based on the closest thing to it in published recipes
    • Sometimes it is water canning something the dot gov insists must be pressure canned
    • Sometimes it is even oven canning but I advise against this
  • Top guidelines for people who want to become rebel canners
    • Seek out groups and communities, listen to group intelligence not random clowns or group think
    • Learn the why before the rules. Understand acidity, density, heat, and time so guidance becomes a reference instead of a script.
    • Approved does not mean safe and unapproved does not mean dangerous. It usually means tested versus not tested
    • Use official data as an anchor. If a process works for a comparable food, use that as a guide, add 10 minutes if you feel a need to
    • Botulism risk is about toxin, not fear. Heat neutralizes toxin. Storage conditions are the variable people confuse
    • Most canning failures announce themselves as bulging lids, leaks, off smells, broken seals, discard these
    • Once opened food is just food, most food born illness is due to bad handling not preservation methods
    • If you choose to step outside official guidance, own the thinking, the learning, and the risk
    • Don’t do something just because the dot gov says not to, understand the problem you are trying to solve
  • Some things not to do even if they are “safe”
    • Don’t do things just for the sake of novelty when there is no need like mac and cheese
    • If something is shelf stable as it is, leave it the hell alone don’t put energy and time into canning it
    • If the flavor or texture of a thing is very degraded by canning only can it as a last option
    • Rice like pasta can often turn into “glue” don’t do it unless you have a really good reason and procedure
  • Reasons to can in general beyond food preservation itself
    • Convenience, dump a few jars of stuff into a pot, add some fresh stuff, simmer 10 minutes and dinner
    • Control, know exactly what is and is not in your food, both for taste and health
    • Cost Savings, allows for opportunity buys or maximizing peak harvests
    • Skill Development, this is a skill that empowers everything modern survival is all about
  • Thoughts on electric canners
    • Yes they are safe, millions use them, companies have huge liability here, USDA is living 50 years into the past
    • You should however only use pressure canners marked as such, not a repurposed electric cooker
    • In many ways they are way easier to use and far less work to baby sit then conventional
    • Glass stove top owners really should not use conventional pressure canners
    • They make canning outside in hot weather super easy
  • Some Great Models of Electric Canners
  • Final Thoughts – Remember disobedience is the way a free thinkers but thinkers only do things for good reasons
    • Rebel Canning Groups and Resources to Check Out
      • Rebel Canners – My Favorite Group on FB for Canning
      • My Basic Homestead – This gal is one of my favorite people posting on this topic, love her short videos
      • Canning Rebels – Another great group to check out, the most popular group I have found on the subject
      • Canning Rebels Recipes – Another good group as the name implies recipe centric
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