Raw packing involves filling jars with raw fruits or vegetables, tightly packed and covered with heated canning water or liquid. It is suitable for preserving crunchy pickled vegetables, but may not be effective for storing fruit long-term due to discoloration. Food safety guidelines from the USDA should always be followed.
Raw packing refers to the canning procedure of filling jars (or cans) with completely raw fruits or vegetables. This is in contrast to other canning methods such as heat packing, where the fruit or vegetable can be boiled for a couple of minutes and then immediately placed in cans and sealed. Each method can be employed for a variety of different foods, but some foods are better suited to packing raw than hot, and vice versa.
The main thing to remember about raw packing is that the food needs to be packed very tightly together and in most cases is usually covered with canning water or canning liquid that is heated. So it’s not the case that raw packing avoids putting extremely hot liquid into the jar. This heat, in addition to sterilizing the can, minimizes the risk of food contamination. In general, however, this form of canning is great when you want to preserve vegetables or fruit in semi-raw form. It works especially well for things that will be served crunchy, like pickled cucumbers or other pickled vegetables.
If you’re storing fruit, packing raw may not be as effective, especially if you plan to store canned items for more than a few months. Most fruit when exposed to air will begin to show discoloration within hours of cutting. When you pack raw, you let in some of the air that the food already contains, and that can cause raw packaged food to discolor in a couple of months. Hot packing may be more appropriate because boiling the food for a few minutes can help preserve the color and get rid of some of the air that fruit or vegetables naturally contain. A good canning book can help you determine if the food you want to preserve will work best with a raw or hot pack method.
When canning at home, a primary concern should be food safety. For this reason, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides guidelines on how to safely practice raw packing. To keep your food fresh, enjoyable, and free from contamination, it’s very important that you pay attention to these guidelines. They are available online in PDF format, and the latest cookbooks will also look at and explain food safety protocol, whether it is raw packing, hot packing, or other methods of food preservation.
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