OREGON, Ill. — With summer gardens gearing up, it’s time to take canning equipment out of storage. Illinois Extension in Boone, DeKalb, and Ogle counties offers free dial-gauge pressure canner testing to ensure the equipment works accurately. Testing should be done annually since the needle on a dial-gauge pressure canner can become inaccurate, causing foods to be under-processed, increasing the risk of serious illness from botulism.
Various foods can be canned at home through boiling water bath canning and pressure canning. Pressure canning is required when canning low-acid foods, particularly meats and vegetables. Having equipment checked every year is an important part of the canning process. Tests are free and take around 15 minutes per canner.
Call your local office today to schedule an appointment: Boone County, 815-544-3710, DeKalb County, 815-758-8194, and Ogle County, 815-732-2191.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 700 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through six program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, family and consumer science, integrated health disparities, and natural resources, environment, and energy.