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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog on June 28, 2026
The internet seems to have topics that circulate, die down and then circulate again. Canning and preserving food seems to be one of those things that does ebb and flow. When garden produce is coming our of our ears, we all want to preserve it as much as possible and make sure we have some of the tastes of Summer in the cold Winter months. Today we look at why we should say no to rebel canning.
People often refer to rebel canning as water bath canning things that should be pressure canned or canning things that were never meant to be canned at all. They “preserve by their own rules” because many say their grandparents survived this way before pressure canners so why can’t we? The simple fact of this is that just because they did didn’t make it correct then or safe. Botulism is definitely a real thing and while not as often discussed as it should be, it can make you extremely sick or worse.
This self-described group of rule-breakers is dedicated to one very simple philosophy: your kitchen, your rules. In the kitchens of these so-called rebel canners, carrying on family traditions or learning how to preserve food in the event of a catastrophe is more important than government recommendations, even those generally intended to keep people safe.
Rebel canners represent a wide range of political ideologies and approaches to food preservation. Some are essentially doomsday preppers. Some are hippie homesteader types who have grown increasingly skeptical of the industrial food system. Others want to preserve the culinary traditions of their forebearers. Whatever their motivation, they have one thing in common: a belief that the USDA’s rules don’t apply to them.
For generations, home canning has followed a basic blueprint: glass jars and their metal lids are sterilized in boiling water, filled with strawberry jam, pickled vegetables, or whatever’s growing in the garden, and then sealed and immersed in more boiling water for an amount of time determined by the product’s acidity level; the higher the acidity, the less time is required. The USDA also recommends that low-acid foods, such as meat and green beans, only be canned under pressure. Pressure canners can boil water at higher temperatures than the typical pot on the stove, which means they’re more efficient at killing pathogenic spores like C. botulinum, the bacteria that causes botulism, a rare but serious illness that can result in death. The agency also recommends against canning certain foods, such as dairy and pureed squash, which are considered risky for a number of reasons.
Here are some common practices of “rebel canners”