# Canning Summer Squash



## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

My old ball blue book has instructions for canning and I canned several quarts the other day. Looking in my new Blue Book, it does not show instructions for canning summer squash. 

I processed 40 min at 10 lbs pressure

Anyone have problems with canned summer squash?


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## Lucy (May 15, 2006)

It is not considered safe to can summer squash. It gets too thick and dense and the heat cannot safely penetrate it. It is basically considered the same as trying to process pureed pumpkin or something. Not even pumpkin butter is considered safe to process. 
For safety reasons you should pop the lids and then freeze the jars of squash.
Your old book should be just considered more of a historic type book and you should buy a current Ball Blue Book for use.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

Thanks Lucy,

The squash i canned is about 25% liquid.


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

I canned them for years and years using an old Ball blue book and never had any problems whatsoever. The reason I quit was finding out on this forum that it's no longer considered safe. My DH has a weak tummy and if he ever got sick from my canning stuff I'd never hear the end of it. So better safe than sorry.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

NostalgicGranny said:


> I canned them for years and years using an old Ball blue book and never had any problems whatsoever. The reason I quit was finding out on this forum that it's no longer considered safe. My DH has a weak tummy and if he ever got sick from my canning stuff I'd never hear the end of it. So better safe than sorry.


Thanks Granny,

Maybe canned squash will help me lose weight! LOL


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

I've been canning it for 25 years, and have never had a problem. I guess we each must do what we each thinks is best for our families. I will continue to can mine as I always have.


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

Lucy said:


> It is not considered safe to can summer squash. It gets too thick and dense and the heat cannot safely penetrate it. It is basically considered the same as trying to process pureed pumpkin or something. Not even pumpkin butter is considered safe to process.
> For safety reasons you should pop the lids and then freeze the jars of squash.
> Your old book should be just considered more of a historic type book and you should buy a current Ball Blue Book for use.


I guess that would be true if you canned it as puree. I can it as 1/2" slices with liquid, and have never had a problem with it being too dense. The heat penetrates it due to being slices, and I've never had a problem with it in the last 25 years I've done it.


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

Here is the current guideline and the reasons for it if interested.

*Why is canning summer squash or zucchini not recommended?*
_Recommendations for canning summer squashes, including zucchini, that appeared in former editions of So Easy to Preserve or USDA bulletins have been withdrawn due to uncertainty about the determination of processing times. Squashes are low-acid vegetables and require pressure canning for a known period of time that will destroy the bacteria that cause botulism. Documentation for the previous processing times cannot be found, and reports that are available do not support the old process. Slices or cubes of cooked summer squash will get quite soft and pack tightly into the jars. The amount of squash filled into a jar will affect the heating pattern in that jar. It is best to freeze summer squashes or pickle them for canning, but they may also be dried._

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_canning.html#24


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## kenworth (Feb 12, 2011)

My canned summer squash have the same consistancy as canned tomatoes. 

I'll still do it the way I have done it, hoping the canning police don't come inspect my basement. 

Crookneck, Straightneck and Pata Pan, Zuchinni all done the same way. Kinda mushy but they go well in soups and casseroles.


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

Don't understand why it's okay to can low acid stuff like meats, but not considered safe to pressure can low acid stuff like squash. Squash is ALOT less dense than meat is, and meat is considered ok to pressure can. The same could be said for sliced carrots and sliced beets - they too "pack down" into the jar, yet I've never had an issue with those either.

Oh well, to each his own, and I'll just continue to can as I have in the past, and I agree with you kenworth about the canning police. They would arrest me for my canned milk, canned butter and canned squash, just to mention a few!


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

I used to can mine with tomatoes and onions.


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## Lucy (May 15, 2006)

If you properly pack the jars of carrots, and beets, they will not be as soft as the zucchini or summer squash. The squash can become too thick where the heat won't penetrate the whole product for the right pressure long enough. It is a density issue. Meat is different in that it is more firm. It isn't mushy like squash is. 
There is a recipe for canning tomatoes and zucchini together that is safe. 
Yes, it is up to you if you are willing to take the risk. We won't come take the jars of food from your home.


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

Lucy do you have that recipe?


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## Lucy (May 15, 2006)

You can find it here :
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_03/tomato_okra_zucchini.html


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

NostalgicGranny said:


> I canned them for years and years using an old Ball blue book and never had any problems whatsoever. The reason I quit was finding out on this forum that it's no longer considered safe.


It was safe for years and years with no problem whatsoever. But now, you found out from a human's words on this forum it is no longer safe? even though you did it for years and years with no problems ever.

I wonder what happened overnight to make something that you have done for years and years dangerous while it wasn't dangerous the day before? That must have been one strange night to change perfectly good canned goods into bad ones.


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## sewserious (Apr 2, 2010)

My grandma canned everything, I mean everything from any type of veggie to fried sausage, for 40+ years in zinc-lidded jars using the open kettle method in a huge pot over a fire in the front yard. She raised 8 kids doing that. Not one of them ever got sick from eating anything she canned. I don't call that luck either but careful attention to cleanliness and whether or not the preserved food stayed that way. Can your squash and zucchini if you want to; I do and have for years also. 

I actually prefer to my older Ball and Kerr canning books to the newer ones and use them regularly just like my momma did before she gave them to me! 

I get so tired of hearing, "you can't do that anymore." What a crock. If older food preservation methods didn't work, the human race would have been extinct centuries ago.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

mekasmom said:


> It was safe for years and years with no problem whatsoever. But now, you found out from a human's words on this forum it is no longer safe? even though you did it for years and years with no problems ever.
> 
> I wonder what happened overnight to make something that you have done for years and years dangerous while it wasn't dangerous the day before? That must have been one strange night to change perfectly good canned goods into bad ones.


problem is that we have become so sanitized in everything that peoples bodies have no resistance to anything. use to watch my dad eat raw hamburger when we cut and packaged meat as a kid. bet that would set some fires now


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## sewserious (Apr 2, 2010)

Actually, I grow heirlooms; so I do grow the same vegetables that my grandparents and parents ate! I am also do not run a super sanitized household. It is clean, but I eschew all the "anti-bacterial" cleaners and use the old-fashioned cleaners that my grandma and mom used. Vinegar, bleach, baking soda, etc go a long way to sanitizing enough without making my family so gerrmaphobic and unhealthy.

New research isn't always better research. How many times have we been told that something is bad for us and that we should use XYZ instead and then we come to find out that XYZ was worse for us than the thing we were told not to use?


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