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What causes color changes in home-canned foods - and how to prevent it

Why do some of my home-canned foods, like green beans, corn, pears and some other fruit I can, sometimes change color?

In general, oxidation may cause foods to darken at the tops of jars. Oxidation is from air in the jars or too little heating or processing to destroy enzymes. Overprocessing may cause discolored foods throughout the containers. Here are some more specific color changes and their causes:

Pink and blue colors sometimes seen in canned pears, apples, and peaches are caused by chemical changes in the coloring matter of the fruit.

Brown, black, and gray colors may be caused by iron and copper from cooking utensils (or from water in some localities) in some foods. When canned corn turns brown, the discoloring may be due to the variety of the corn, to stage of ripeness, to overprocessing, or to copper or iron pans. Packing liquid may dissolve coloring materials from the foods. To help avoid this, use soft water and to avoid using brass, copper, iron, aluminum, zinc, or chipped enamelware. Also avoid using utensils that have worn surfaces. If the shiny silvery appearance is worn off, the tin metal underneath may be exposed. The water around green beans often may have a reddish brown tint to it. Again, that's not that unusual and may be due to iron or possibly overprocessing. Of course, if the lid bulges then discard the contents.

Darkening of foods at the tops of jars may be caused by oxidation due to air in the jars or by too little heating or processing to destroy enzymes.This is common in jams, jellies and fruit. Often just adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, or sprinkling Fruit Fresh or finely ground vitamin C tablets will help prevent this.

Overprocessing may cause discoloration of foods throughout the containers. Finally, the use of plain tin cans will cause some foods to lose color.

Reference: U.S.D.A. 1976. Home Canning of Fruits and Vegetables. Home and Garden Bulletin No. 8. (Issued February 1965, Slightly revised May 1976). United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

Is it safe to eat discolored canned foods?

The color changes noted above do not mean the food is unsafe to eat. However, spoilage may also cause color changes. Any canned food that has an unusual color should be examined carefully before use.

Reference: U.S.D.A. 1976. Home Canning of Fruits and Vegetables. Home and Garden Bulletin No. 8. (Issued February 1965, Slightly revised May 1976). United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

Who Invented the Canning Jar? Does Ball still make jars? - See:

A Brief History of the Home Canning Jar: From Mason to Kerr to Ball and More

Home canning is both an art and a science. Safety and quality are some of the reasons it is important to follow recommended recipes and procedures for home canning. That is the science. The art comes from the experience of what is "finger tight", when is the product packed too full or too loose or determining just the right ripeness.

Free Resources About Storing

Storing Home Canned Foods
Packaging and Storing Dry Foods
Food Storage for Safety and Quality (Colorado State University) pdf
Cupboard Approximate Storage Times (Kansas State University) pdf
Refrigerator/Freezer Approximate Storage Times (Kansas State University) pdf
Proper Care and Handling of Fruits and Vegetables From Purchase to Preparation (Penn State University) pdf
Storing Vegetables at Home (University of Wisconsin) pdf
Safe Home Food Storage (Texas A&M University) pdf

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Canning Books, Supplies and Accessories

These are my favorite essential canning tools, books and supplies. I've been using many of these for over 50 years of canning! The ones below on this page are just the sampling of. my preferred tools. but you can find much more detailed and extensive selections on the pages that are linked below.

The Ball Blue Book of Home Canning

The All New Ball Book Of Canning And Preserving: Over 350 of the Best Canned, Jammed, Pickled, and Preserved Recipes Paperback

This is THE book on canning! My grandmother used this book when I was a child.; It tells you in simple instructions how to can almost anything; complete with recipes for jam, jellies, pickles, sauces, canning vegetables, meats, etc.

If it can be canned, this book likely tells you how! Click on the link below for more information and / or to buy (no obligation to buy)The New Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving

Canning & Preserving For Dummies in Paperback

Canning and Preserving for Dummies by Karen Ward

This is another popular canning book. Click here for more information, reviews, prices for Canning and Preserving For Dummies

Of course, you do not need to buy ANY canning book as I have about 500 canning, freezing, dehydrating and more recipes all online for free, just see Easy Home Canning Directions.

Home Canning Kits

McSunley 21.5 quart Water Bath Canner, Stainless Steel See here for related tools, equipment, supplies on Amazon
See here for related tools, equipment, supplies on Amazon See here for related tools, equipment, supplies on Amazon

I have several canners, and my favorite is the stainless steel one at right. It is easy to clean and seems like it will last forever. Mine is 10 years old and looks like new.

The black ones are the same type of standard canner that my grandmother used to make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and spaghetti sauce.

This complete kit includes everything you need and lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, Jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer, It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. It's only missing the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book.

You will never need anything else except jars & lids (and the jars are reusable)!

The complete list of canners is on these pages:

Water bath canners - Good for acidic foods, like applesauce, pickles, salsa, jams, jellies, most fruits
Pressure canners - needed for low and non-acidic foods, like canned vegetables (corn, green beans, etc), and meats
Canners for glass top stoves if you have a glass or ceramic stove
Canners for induction stovetops

Pressure Canners

If you plan on canning non-acidic foods and low acid foods that are not pickled - this means: meats, seafood, soups, green beans corn, most vegetables, etc., then you ABSOLUTELY must use a Pressure Canner.

Of course, you can use a pressure canner as a water bath canner as well - just don't seal it up, so it does not pressurize. This means a Pressure Canner is a 2-in-1 device. With it, you can can almost ANYTHING.

There are also other supplies, accessories, tools and more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here!

Canning Supplies Starter Kit - Canning Jar Lifter, Canning funnel, Scissor Tongs, more

Basic Canning Accessories

From left to right:

Jar lifting tongs to pick up hot jars
Lid sanitizer / lifter - to remove lids from the pot of boiling water (sterilizing )
Lids- disposable - you may only use them once
Ring - holds the lids on the jar until after the jars cool - then you remove them, save them and reuse them
Canning Jar funnel - to fill the jars

FREE Illustrated Canning, Freezing, Jam Instructions and Recipes

Don't spend money on books. that you don't need to. Almost everything you can find in some book sold online or in a store is on my website here for free. Start with theEasy Home Canning Directions below. That is a master list of canning directions which are all based upon the Ball Bblue book, the National Center for Home Food Preservation and other reputable lab tested recipes. Almost every recipe I present in addition to being lab tested com. is in a step by step format with photos for each step and complete. explanations. that tell you how to do it, where to get the supplies and pretty much everything you need to know. In addition, there almost always in a PDF format so you can print them out and use them while you cook.

[ Easy Home Canning Directions]

[FAQs - Answers to common questions and problems]

[Free canning publications to download and print]