First time canning. Question.

[rbeau30]

^absolutely!^

I have gotten into the habit of doing all of that. From preparing my space before canning to inspecting supplies, to only choosing fresh ingredients, to looking--smelling--reheating when eating the food. I smell the food because if it has gone to the point of moldy or smelling bad, it most definitely has had time for the botulism spores to wake up.

Canning is an art and a science. Folks have done this for decades, and there are very few headlines that go something like..." Prepper Family eats home-canned food and dies of botulism. " And unfortunately I think the media would jump all over something like that. Good thing there is a bit of "leeway" in the proven recipes.