The first can arrives in America in 1825, as Thomas Kensett and Ezra Daggert sell their patented cans filled with oysters, fruits, meats and vegetables to New Yorkers. However, canned food doesn’t achieve commercial success in the USA until Gail Bordon’s 1856 invention, condensed milk. Milk was hard to keep fresh and was costly to source in urban a...

Home canning was slower to take off than tin. The USDA made its first reference to the canning process in the Farmer’s Bulletin 359 from May 1909, entitled “Canning Vegetables in the Home” followed by “Canning Peaches on the Farm” in 1910. These guidelines outlined the safest method for home canning, known as fractional sterilization, a multi-day p...

Home cooks around the world continue to can, but it’s far from the amount in the 1930s and 40s. Canning is still an excellent way to capture the taste of a season – from peaches and tomatoes in summer to apples in the fall. If you’re interested in taking up canning, there are a few helpful additives and food ingredients that will help you produce b...