​One of my new experiments this year was growing mustard seeds to make mustard (the condiment). I've long been a fan of mustard greens—they're so resilient and easy to save seeds from year to year—but using the seeds was a new adventure for me. We absolutely love mustard on homemade pretzels!

​I purchased brown mustard seeds online from Richters and direct-sowed two rows, each about five feet long. The seeds sprouted easily without any issues.

​I thinned one row to the recommended spacing and used the mustard leaves in a power bowl—they added a fantastic zing! However, I never got around to thinning the second row. To be honest, I didn’t notice any difference in the growth or yield of the plants between the two rows. Given the high germination rate and lack of impact from thinning, I might skip that step next time and sow a bit more sparsely instead.

​Mustard flowers are absolutely beautiful, with their bright yellow blooms!

I let the seed pods dry on the plants as much as possible before they started to shed seeds. Once they were ready, I harvested the pods into a large bag and spread them out on a tablecloth inside the house to dry even further. 

The next step had to wait until after the rush of the fall harvest. When the pods were thoroughly dry, I began the process of separating the seeds. I stomped on the pods while they were wrapped in the tablecloth, crushing them to release the seeds. The next step, removing all the chaff and seed pod fragments, was time-consuming. I used a colander to sift out the larger pieces and swirled the mixture to bring the chaff to the surface, blowing it away gently. For the final small fragments, I rolled the mixture down a sheet of textured watercolor paper—the round seeds rolled to the bottom while the debris stayed behind. This trick works well for most small spherical seeds. Still, separating seeds from debris was tedious, and I’m sure there’s room for me to improve my process. If you have any tips, I’d love to hear them!

Finally, it was time to prepare the mustard condiment. I followed a recipe from the Révolution Fermentation book. First, the mustard seeds fermented in a brine for two days. Then, I added a mixture of apple cider vinegar and wine infused with onion and garlic (simmered and strained) before blending. Here is a similar recipe here. I only partially blended the mixture because I love having plenty of whole seeds in my mustard. After blending, the mustard rested at room temperature for a couple of weeks. The result? Absolutely delicious! I can't wait to try it with some homemade pretzels.

Once you are familiar with the complete canning procedures, you can fill out, print and tape these canning cheats sheets to the front of your canning binder or wherever you keep your canning recipes. I find them very handy to remind myself of all the little details that vary between different canning methods and to remember the numbers and quantities specific to my setup, such as ideal knob positions and how many jars can fit in my canner. 

Steam canner cheat sheet

• One load is ___ half pints ___ pints or ____ quarts
• 3 quarts of water in canner
• Bring to temperature
• Lower stove knob to _____
• Process
• 5 minutes cool down (off heat / lid on)

 
Waterbath canner cheat sheet

• One load is ___ half pints ___ pints or ____ quarts
• Bring to a boil
• Lower stove knob to _____
• Process
• 5 minutes cool down (off heat / lid off)
• Partial lid off

 
Pressure canner cheat sheet

• One load is ___ half pints ___ pints or ____ quarts
• 3 quarts of water in canner
• Check vent pipe
• Heat, wait for 10 minutes steam vent (steady moderate flow of steam)
• Max heat, add regulator (weight is ______ lbs)
• When regulator moves, lower stove knob to _____
• Process
• Cool down (off heat / lid on / regulator on)

• When plug drops, remove weight, wait 10 minutes

High acid foods can be canned safely using either water bath canning, or steam bath canning.  Water bath canning can be accomplished with household items. Steam canning requires a specialized steam canner, but it is faster and uses less water and energy.

In this blog post, I summarize what you need to can high acid foods with either of these methods, and what procedure to use. Along the way, I give extra tips and dispel some common misconceptions or outdated methods. To learn more about safe canning as an overall topic, have a look here. 

Ahead of time, make sure you have the following:

• Commonly bought as part of a “canning kit” (but household alternatives exist for all of these):
  • A pot with lid, big enough to contain all your jars in one layer and cover the jars with at least 2 inches of water, or a steam canner
  • A rack to put at the bottom of you pot (bought or improvised), or towel
  • Jar lifter (or other tongues / silicone mitts)
  • Headspace measurer/bubble remover (or ruler)
  • Canning funnel (optional)
• Stove or standalone burner that is compatible with canning (some glasstop stoves aren’t).
• Clean canning jars and rings (can be reused) (Ball, Bernardin or Golden harvest)
• New lids (Ball, Bernardin or Golden harvest). It is not recommended to reuse lids (may affect longevity of the seal).
• A safety tested recipe and what is needed to complete it (where to find safe recipes)
• A ladle
• A timer (or phone, watch etc)
• A dishtowel to put the hot jars on
• My canning cheat sheets (optional but useful!) 

Before processing

1. Prepare your canner
   1. Waterbath: Fill the pot with water (enough to cover the jars plus at least one inch (two to be safe). Add a splash of vinegar (to avoid deposits). Bring to a simmer (can take a long time).
   2. Steam canner: Add 3 quarts of water to the bottom of the pot, slightly below the rack. Add a splash of vinegar (to avoid deposits). Bring to a simmer (can be done just before packing jars, it won’t take long).
2.  Wash jars, making sure that the rims in particular are completely clean of any residue (reflect light on them to check). Prepare some extra jars just in case. This can be done by hand or machine (sanitizing or boiling them is not necessary if your recipe later calls for 10 minutes or more water bath, which most recipes do).
3. Prepare your food based on a safety tested recipe.
4. Fill each jar with food using a ladle and funnel. Pay close attention to:
   1. “Headspace” – the amount of empty space between the top of your food and the top of the jar. Dictated by the recipe.
   2. The temperature of the food. Most recipes ask for the food to be hot in the jars. If you had to take a break or make batches, make sure the food is hot when packing your jars, and still hot when you start your waterbath.
   3. If your recipe calls to pack solids first and then add liquid, make sure that the solids are packed tightly. Otherwise, you might run out of liquid later.
5. Remove any bubbles or air pockets trapped in the jar, using a bubble remover, spoon, butter knife or chopstick. Check the headspace again and top up if needed.
6. Wipe the jar rim with a wet paper towel. Reflect light on it to make absolutely sure there is no residue. Do NOT use vinegar to wipe as this may affect the lids.
7. Put on the lids (do NOT boil them first. This applied to old lids only).
8. Tighten the rings: Finger tight plus a little more. They should take a little force to open.
9. Use the jar lifter and rack, put the jars into your canner (the food should still be hot. The temperature of the jars and the water should be similar / simmering). Consider packing empty spaces with water filled jars (for waterbath only).
10. Replace the pot lid.

Processing

Option 1: Water bath process:

• Bring water to a roiling boil
• Start timer.
• Watch to ensure water keeps boiling and that top of jars stay covered. If the water level drops, top up with already-boiling water from a kettle. If the water stops boiling at any time, start your time back at zero.
• When the time is complete, shut off the heat, remove the lid, and let it cool for 5 minutes. Do NOT let it sit significantly longer (such as overnight).

Option 2: Steam bath process:

• Turn up heat to max, until the needle reaches its marked maximum.
• Once up to temperature, if a lot of stream is escaping out the sides of the lid, you may turn down the heat as long as the maximum needle position is maintained (make a note of what knob position that is). Keeping the heat too high may cause you to lose too much water – keep an eye on the water level. If the needle drops, start your time back at zero.
• When the time is complete, remove from heat, let it cool for 5 minutes WITH THE LID ON. Do NOT let it sit significantly longer (such as overnight).
• Open the lid partially for a few more minutes.

 
After processing

1. Remove the jars with the jar lifter, and set them on a dishtowel, with a little bit of space in between. Leave them undisturbed for at least 12h.
2. Remove rings (jars should NOT be stored with rings on).
3. Check that all lids have popped down (no clicking noise when you press the middle, and lids cannot be lifted off with casual force (with a properly sealed jar, I need to “pry” it off).
4. Any jars that didn’t seal properly should go in the fridge and treated as open jars, or frozen (risk of breakage – consider putting in a different container or wide mouth / straight walled jar). In some cases you can also choose to re-process the food.
5. Any jars that are sealed properly are shelf stable and should be stored WITHOUT the rings. Preferably a cool, dry, dark place. Make sure your shelves are sturdy. Stack up to 2 layers with a cardboard piece in between.

Let me walk you through what a one year cycle of tracking and planning looks like.

Early August - annual inventory and estimate of annual usage
At this time of year we are eating mostly fresh from the garden so my inventory won't fluctuate too much going into the fall. Just before canning season starts, I do a full inventory of the cellar, shelves and freezer, and I record of what I still have in stock from the previous year. It is a chance to correct for any instances where we forgot to update the inventory as we used products. I make a permanent record of this number in an excel sheet (see below). I compare this with the number I noted a year ago on this date, , and I calculate our yearly consumption:

Annual consumption = (how many I had in early August last year) + (last year's production) - (how many are left)

I sometimes adjust that number up or down based on whether I felt like we would have enjoyed more if we had more, or had to make an effort to incorporate that much in our meal planning. I then calculate how many of that product I want to preserve.

Production goal = (Annual consumption) - (how many are left) + a bit of buffer

Lately I have been thinking more about crop failures or how some summers, one crop will do very poorly. For example, last year all my cucumber plants were eaten by groundhogs before I fenced in the garden; this year, abundant rain led to poor tomato production; a few years ago an ill-timed frost killed all our apple blossoms. For this reason, for the most important products, I try to have two years' worth of stock, instead of one year's. ​

Early August - preserving plan
At this point I'm just about to enter preserving season. I have a pretty good idea of how each crop is doing, and I know what my production goals for each product I want to preserve. Realistically, I won't be able to reach all those goals, so it's time to make priorities.

At this point, I make a list organized by fruit/vegetable, listed from earliest to mature to latest to mature. For each item, I decide on my priorities and goals. For example, for tomatoes my first priority is to make sure we have a year's supply of canned whole tomatoes; my second priority is marinara sauce; any extra tomatoes after that can become tomato juice, bruschetta, bbq sauce etc. Each item has my production goal next to it. That list gets posted on my fridge and it becomes my to-do list. ​

 April-May  starting seedlings
Each year, in my garden notebook, I record how many seedlings of each type I start each year, and how many I transplant successfully in the garden. This way I know what percentage of extra seedlings I should start. This all needs to be balanced against the total amount of seedlings I can nurture given shelf space and lighting. ​For any tracking that happens in my seedling work area or in the garden, it works best for me to record things in my notebook, as opposed to on the computer.

May-June planting outdoors
In the process of transplanting to the garden, some changes will happen for sure. Some seedlings might have been less or more numerous than my plan, and I might get tempted by something extra at the nursery or pick up some unexpected seeds at a seed swap. I keep records of everything to help me plan next year.  

If any seedlings failed, at this point I decide whether it is worth getting replacement plants at the nursery.

Conclusion
This brings us to a full one year cycle. It took me a long time to refine my tracking system and I hope this information and the samples I provided will be useful for some of you. "How many tomato plants should I plant?" is such a common question online, but I've learned that the only person who can truly answer it is you, after careful tracking over the course of a year!

After many years of canning, I started to venture out into fermentation as well. One of the new recipes I tried this year is sauerkraut. In this blog post I'll walk through the process I use. It's based on the NCHFP instructions.

The first step is growing cabbage. Cabbage heads are huge so I usually just buy a few seedlings since I don't need too many. After picking the cabbage head, I take off the root and a few layers of outside leaves outdoors and compost them. 

Once in the kitchen, I put the cabbage in the sink and wash and remove any outside leaves that are dirty. I set aside a few flat leaves for later, then I quarter the cabbage and start slicing it into the thinnest pieces that my patience allows.

As I chop the cabbage, I dump it in a big pot and add canning salt. You need 3/4 cup of salt per 25 pounds of cabbage. I alternate layers of cabbage and sprinkled of salt. 

Then comes the fun (stress relieving) part. To tenderize the cabbage and help it release its juices, you have to massage it with your hands, and then pound it with a pestle of some kind. It is truly amazing how much the consistency of the cabbage changes, how much more compacted it becomes, and how much juice comes out of it. 

After a period of rest, I pack the cabbage in its juice in mason jars. Again, I use the pestle to make sure there aren't any air gaps. I cut circles out of the flat cabbage leaves I saved and put them on top of the cabbage and juice (you can see one in the middle jar in the picture below).

On top of the cabbage leaf, I add a glass weight that ensures everything is submerged (key to prevent anything from spoiling), a vented silicone cap, and a jar ring. After that, I tuck away the jars in a box in an out of the way spot. It's best to keep them in the dark. I leave them mostly unattended. They expel lactic acid (which makes the Ph drop) and CO2. It's important not to open the jars, so that the CO2 produced by fermentation gradually replaces all the air. During this time, bacteria that thrive in the salty brine environment take over. ​

The amount of time needed for fermentation varies depending on temperature. My house is fairly cool so I let it ferment for about 5 weeks. It is interesting to see the CO2 bubbles and the color change. 

Once the fermentation is done, I remove the glass weights, do a bit of repacking (making sure all jars are topped up to 1/2 inch from the top, putting some in smaller jars so I can have smaller portions when needed, etc). I put on canning lids and pop them in the steam canner. I follow the NCHFP instructions for processing them in the canner. It's also possible to just put them in the fridge at this point but fridge space is always tight for me so if I can make it shelf stable, I do.

And it's done! Shelf stable sauerkraut ready to be put away. We'll use it as a side dish, in sandwiches, veggies dogs etc. 

Tomatoes are the super star of many gardens, including mine. They are one of those vegetables that are SO much better grown in a home garden, compared to store bought. Eating garden tomatoes kind of ruined store bought tomatoes for me. So, I try to grow enough tomatoes to eat year round and to cover off most of our tomato product needs. 

Generally in my garden, you will find about 4 cherry tomato plants and about 30ish regular tomato plants. I buy the cherry tomato plants as seedlings so that I can have 4 different varieties. I have a separate article on my top uses for cherry tomatoes - it's easy to get overwhelmed by them as peak times!

In terms of regular tomato plants, I used to plant a few different kinds but lately I only plant one kind of paste tomato. I find that they are great to use for everyday tomatoes too so I don't bother planting a "slicing tomato" anymore. The advantage of paste tomatoes is that they are very fleshy - they don't have a lot of water/seed chambers, which means that you don't "lose" as much when you can them, and you don't have to reduce tomato sauce too much on the stove before canning it. My tomato of choice is the Roma. I usually order new Roma seeds every year from Vesey's. Unfortunately, tomatoes cross-pollinate, so I haven't been able to save seeds from year to year (I would get hybrid roma/cherry tomato plants if I did, as is often demonstrated by the "volunteer" seedlings that pop up everywhere around the garden). This year I tried San Marzano instead, but I think I'll go back to Roma. San Marzanos need a bit more time to grow, and I found I had a lower yield and smaller fruits than when I grow Roma. It may just have been an off year for tomatoes, but since I was always happy with Roma, I'll go back to them.

A neat tip that I learned is that you can pick up tomatoes as soon as they "blush", that is, lose their shininess and start to have a hint of pink. There is no advantage to letting them ripen all the way on the plant - they won't be tastier. That's a common myth. You can ripen them indoors and they don't need any light to ripen. The advantage of doing that is that they are less likely to be attacked by a pest. I have noticed that ever since I started doing this, I have much less pest proliferation within my garden. Once a week I pick up all the tomatoes that have started to turn, regardless of what stage they are at. I can them in batches as they ripen in the house. 

Every year I prioritize what I make with my tomatoes. From highest priority to lowest priority, here is what I make with my tomatoes:

1. Canned whole tomatoes.  We use these mostly for cooking (for example chili or stew), but also in place of fresh tomatoes for example in sandwiches and canapés. I can these in quarts and we always have one in the fridge. 
2. Marinara style sauce. We use this as pasta sauce, for pizza, and for chili.
3. Bruschetta. Great for appetizers and snacks (serve on baguette or crackers). I also love bringing a half pint for an appetizer when camping, or giving it as a gift. 
4. Tomato juice (great as a snack or appetizer).

If I ever have more than needed for these four priorities, I would love to also make:

1. Tomato paste
2. BBQ sauce
3. Taco sauce

But usually I don't have enough.

When frost starts to threaten the garden, I pick up all the green tomatoes and can those. I love canning:

1. Green tomato salsa
2. Green tomato slices (for fried green tomatoes). I had to look around quite a bit to find a procedure for canning green tomato slices - it's not widespread. However, I tend to trust University extension offices so I personally am okay following this recipe. 

Some days when I'm feeling more philosophical, I think about how bigger sustainability concepts connect to our little homestead. For example, the circular economy is a big concept in sustainability. A circular economy is a production and consumption model within which all things are reused, recycled, repurposed as much as possible. Here are a bunch of real life case studies of circular economy.

Closer to home, I couldn't help but think that our recent grape harvest was like a little model of a circular economy.  When we harvested grapes this year, we made very good use of everything we harvested... anything that was a byproduct of an operation became something else that was useful. Nothing went into the garbage. Here's a little diagram of how it played out.

This is the tastiest kind of circular economy! Flip through to see some of the products we got from our delicious Concord grapes.

Fruit leather (fruit roll-ups) is a great snack or dessert that makes good use of the pulp that is leftover from processing fruit for various recipes such as jelly, juice, etc. It satisfies a sweet craving. It's a snack we like to bring on biking or kayaking trips and when camping. 

A couple of days ago I made grape fruit leather. I started off with the pulp that was leftover from steam juicing grapes for grape juice - basically it was grapes that had popped and had most of the juice drain out. You can of course start with whole fruit too. 

The first step once you have your fruit or leftover pulp is to purée it. I use a handcrank food mill for that operation, which has the advantage of removing the fruit's skin and any seeds. Alternatively, you can just put everything in a blender. Ideally you are looking for applesauce consistency or dryer. If there seems to be excess liquid in it at this point, I would recommend straining it. Personally I would use the liquid I strain out for something like flavoring sparkling water from our sodastream or adding flavor to homemade ice cream.

Once you have your purée, you spread it on parchment paper and put it in the dehydrator. I have a nice Excalibur dehydrator (it comes on sale on amazon once in a while). If you don't have a dehydrator, you can also dehydrate using an oven with the door ajar - I haven't tried that myself but it seems like many people do it that way. Your dehydrator will likely indicate the temperature to use (mine says 135F). Dehydrating fruit leather can take anywhere from 6 to 12 hours depending on your dehydrator, the consistency of the pulp, and the thickness (I recommend between 1/8 to 1/4 inch for the thickness of the layer of pulp). If you have a more basic dehydrator, you may have to rotate the trays during the process. It's best to monitor the process the first few times to get an idea of the timing that works for your setup. I like to start mine just before bedtime as it takes at least overnight. After waking up, if the process isn't done, I can keep an eye on things.

The leather should be pliable and be easy to peel off of the parchment paper without falling apart. Once it's ready, I use scissors to cut it into strips and I roll up the strips. I store them in a mason jar in the fridge. They do okay at room temperature for a while which makes them a good camping or biking snack.

Originally I did all my juicing with an electric juicer. A couple years ago though, after our apple trees really came onto their own, my electric juicer died (the motor burned up). After doing some online research into what a more robust model might be, I realized that a steam juicer might be better suited to the homesteading lifestyle. Electric juicers seem to be better suited for making a couple glasses of juice here and there, whereas a steam juicer seems better equipped for handling large quantities of fruit. There is a third option which is a juicing press but I haven't looked into it seriously (I am not sure I want to dedicate the space to it). 

This is my first year using my steam juicer, and so far, so good. 

A steam juicer is made to run on the stovetop and it has three components: 

• ​The bottom is a pan that holds water to boil
• The top is a colander that holds the fruit
• The middle is a collection pan - it has a chimney that lets the steam go up from the boiling water into the colander,, and it collects the juice that drips down from the colander. It also has a spout to drain off the juice as it accumulates

It takes a couple of hours to extract the juice from the fruit. It's not a labour intensive process, but you do have to be around to occasionally drain off the juice and refill the bottom pan. It's most convenient to run a batch on a day where you are doing something else in the kitchen (not a problem at this time of year).

So far, we made grape juice from our concord grapes, which I canned in quart jars. It is concentrated, we'll dilute it what we drink it. We also made apple juice which Ray is preparing for hard cider as I type. 

A steam juicer is really nice when paired up with a dehydrator. Once the juice is extracted from the fruit, you'll be left with pulp in the colander. We ran the pulp through a food mill (to purée it) and spread the purée onto dehydrator trays. This made delicious fruit leather. ​

In my opinion, canning is a must if you are serious about growing your own food. Canning is a bit of science, and it's important to understand safe canning techniques. Many of the techniques that our ancestors used are now understood to have limitations that often lead to spoiled food and occasionally to health risks. I remember my grandmother's canned strawberries and they are a part of why I can now - but I don't follow her techniques now that we have access to more foolproof, safety tested approaches.

There are three safe canning approaches - water bath canning, steam canning and pressure canning. This blog post will give an overview of each approach and will also enumerate a few techniques that aren't considered safe or foolproof anymore.  Finally I'll give a few of my favorite resources for recipes.

Water bath canning is the most traditional canning technique. It is a good one to start with because you probably already have everything needed. Water bath canning consists in bringing a very large pot of water to boil, then completely submerging the mason jars in this water for a prescribed amount of time. It is safe and effective for foods that have a high acidity (for example pickles, tomato based products with a bit of lemon juice added, jellies and jams, condiments, sweets). 

Pros: 

1. No specialized equipment available
2. Simple to learn
3. Many safety-tested recipes available

Cons:

1. Takes a long time to get this much water to boil
2. Wastes water and electricity
3. Can produce a lot of steam (humidity in the house)
4. Pot is very heavy - could be hard to manipulate for some people, and risk of dropping a large amount of hot water
5. Only effective for acid food

Steam canning is a more recently studied type of canning. You need a special steam canner, which sometimes has a built in gauge. The canner isn't air tight. You put a small amount of water at the bottom. The jars are placed on a rack above the water. Once the pot is full of steam (and the gauge is in the proper zone), you start a timer and keep the jars in this steamy environment for the prescribed amount of time. Most water bath canning recipes can be accomplished using steam canning - the only exception is recipes with a very long sterilization time (generally quotes as more than 45 minutes), because your canner may run out of water as the steam escapes. Steam canning is an old technique but it was only recently studied scientifically and proven to be safe.


Pros:

1. Faster than water bath canning due (less water to heat)'
2. Easier to handle and less water wastage
3. Lots of recipes available since all water bath recipes can be used for steam canning (except those longer than 45 minutes)

Cons:

1. Need a Steam canner (but the steam canner can also be used as a big stockpot and as a water bath canner if needed so it's quite handy).
2. Only effective for acid food

Pressure canning is the only proven safe canning method for low acid foods including things like non-pickled vegetables, soups, meat, fish, broth, etc. It requires a special pressure canner. In Canada, the most readily available is the 23 quart Presto brand pressure canner. If you eat meat, it's a must - as a vegetarian, I find it very handy too. Pressure canning can be a bit intimidating for some, but, the manual is very clear so there is no reason to be intimidated. If you live in Canada, it will be hard to find a place to calibrate your pressure gauge, but you can write to Presto and they will send you a 3-piece weighted gauge that does not require calibration.

Pros:

1. Only proven safe method for low acid food

Cons:

1. Requires a somewhat expensive Pressure canner
2. A bit more technical to understand.

Many canning methods used traditionally, internationally, or otherwise, have not been studied scientifically. Personally, I choose not to use these methods. There is a risk of adverse health effect (or even death) with all of them. Furthermore, even if you don't get sick or die, you risk your food spoiling and growing and canning food is too much work to take a chance, in my opinion. Some of the methods that you may encounter that haven't been proven safe include:

• Open kettle canning - Pouring hot food into jars and closing them. 
  
• Oven canning - Heating full jars in the oven
  
• Dry canning - Putting ingredients in the jars without liquid covering them and then processing them using any method (including oven canning and water bath canning)
  
• Sealing jars with wax
  
• Turning jars upside down to help them seal or to "sterilize" the lid (often in combination with open kettle canning)
• Water bathing low acid foods (including meat) using very long processing times

Most people's arguments for using these techniques is that they know someone who uses them and nothing bad has ever happened. That may be true, but it doens't mean nothing bad ever will happen. Or, more likely, they may not have heard about the times things didn't work out (my grandma definitely threw out moldy wax covered strawberry jam more than once). It is also possible that some of these techniques will one day be proven safe but until then, I stay away from them for the aforementioned reasons. 

I learned to can using the pick your own website. It is full of easy to follow recipes and the recipes follow safe practices. 

The National Center for Home Food Preservation (US based) has very detailed and extensive recipes. Most are pretty basic and unimaginative but they cover a lot of staples. 

Recent canning books by Ball or Bernardin (the Canadian brand of Ball) generally adhere to safe canning practices.

The Facebook group "Canning and preserving with love" has many knowledgeable admins and a considerable repertoire or safe canning recipes

The website created by Vincent le canneux, in French, has safe recipes. Vincent used scientific protocols to test his recipes. 

The Facebook group "Conserves Maison, Cannage, hommage à Vincent le canneux", in French, has many knowledgeable admins.

Tentatively I would say that Ricardo's recipes generally appear safe.

Some books and resources to steer clear of include books by The Canning Diva, Miss Conserves (French), and Canning Rebels Facebook groups. These all encourage techniques that aren't proven safe.