How to Can Greens

Canning fresh produce is an inexpensive way to have vegetables from your garden all year long. Greens can be everything from spinach, kale, collard, turnip greens and more. You'll know which ones you prefer to can, since some greens are more bitter than others.

Things You'll Need

• Greens
• Pan
• Knife
• Pint or quart canning jars with lids
• Measuring spoons
• Canning salt (optional)
• Wooden spoon
• Steam-pressure canner

Instructions

Preparing Greens

1. Wash the greens completely. You'll want to make sure you wash off all the dirt from the greens.

2. Discard large, tough stems. You want to look for wilted and discolored leaves, so you can discard the defective greens. You want to keep only the tender, attractive leaves for canning.

3. Heat greens until wilted. You can turn the greens when steam rises around the pan's edges to keep them from sticking.

4. Cut greens into segments.

Canning Greens

1. Pack hot greens into hot jars. You'll want to leave an inch of headspace.

2. Add salt to jars. You'll want to measure out 1/2 teaspoon salt for pints and 1 teaspoon for quarts.

3. Pour boiling water over greens. Make sure you still have an inch of headspace in the jars.

4. Remove air bubbles. Using a wooden spoon, you'll want to press on the greens to release air bubbles trapped in the jars.

5. Wipe the jar's tops and threads with a damp, clean cloth. Secure the two-piece lids onto the jars.

6. Process jars in steam-pressure canner. You want to set it for one hour and ten minutes for the pints, or one hour and thirty minutes for quarts at ten pounds of pressure.

Tips & Warnings

• Discard large, old stems and wilted, diseased and discolored leaves because they can produce a strong-tasting or stringy finished product.