Educate me on food storage please!

[88GT]

But pressure canning will allow for longer storage than water bath?

Nope. The only reason for a difference in the process is the need for higher temps to kill the botulism in low acid foods. If botulism could be killed by boiling temps at standard pressure, there'd be no need for pressure canning at all.

Sealing is what keeps the air out and prevents spoilage. Pressure canning doesn't create a better seal. It just manipulates physics to create a higher temp than can be achieved in an open system.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

Nope. The only reason for a difference in the process is the need for higher temps to kill the botulism in low acid foods. If botulism could be killed by boiling temps at standard pressure, there'd be no need for pressure canning at all.

Sealing is what keeps the air out and prevents spoilage. Pressure canning doesn't create a better seal. It just manipulates physics to create a higher temp than can be achieved in an open system.

Botulism is easily killed by boiling water at 212F. Botulism spores can survive until something like 242F. Pressure canning also creates a positive-pressure environment ensuring sterility, once achieved, throughout the process. Water bath canning cannot prevent cross-contamination of botulinum spores into the water from the external environment. No real NEED to pressure can everything, but so many require it that I don't think it's completely insane to just pressure-can everything. If you have two, you can rotate prep and processing so that at least one canner is always running, or close to it.