He's lucky he's not dead or blind. What would have happened if his DD hadn't called a neurosurgeon? Hope he continues to recover.

BTW, did anybody see the recipe for "pickled corn" in August Bon Appetit? I sent them an email this morning. No reply yet.

Edited to change "had called" to "hadn't called"

This post was edited by ajsmama on Thu, Jul 25, 13 at 12:13

That's why I was so afraid of canning meat for years.

Meat is actually one of the safest things to can - although wild meat, if not properly field dressed and kept cool - is more likely to have baddies in it. But if you follow the proper canning procedures, there is no reason to be fearful.

This guy didn't use a pressure canner, but a pressure cooker...a huge no-no. And he used an "old family recipe" for canning. Another huge mistake. And THEN he tried to shorten the processing time. YIKES!

Scary stuff!

So many wrongs

I also saw the recipe in Bon Appetit. Very dangerous.

Freezing meat is by far my preference for food preservation.

The only reason that I canned meat at all is that we were living off-grid and a freezer takes lots of electricity.

I haven't seen that recipe in Bon Appetit. Glad some of you have contacted them about it.

Still haven't heard back from editor.

Am I missing something? I'm reading the pickled corn as a refrigerator recipe with a one-month life. I don't see anything wrong with that. (Though I do think their wording could be more explicit.)

Carol

I didn't look up the corn recipe in question, but I feel so badly for the man and his family in Olympia with the botulism when it could have been so easily avoided. I'm having trouble understanding how a man with that much education could treat food so disrespectfully to be canning from memory and with wrong equipment. I hope he recovers fully, that must have been a nightmare for his wife, daughter.

Carol - it was confusing b/c the recipe said " Seal jar. Let cool; chill. Will keep up to 1 month." (that's from website, I could have sworn the magazine said "1 month unopened"). So looked like maybe it was open kettle canning? It sure wasn't clear to me it was to be kept refrigerated. Not to mention (as I pointed out to editor) that "sealing" the jar by screwing on a lid (1 or 2 piece) with a silicone sealant would cause a weak vacuum to be pulled as the jar cooled, and botulism toxin could form even in the fridge, b/c I wasn't sure about the 50:50 acid/water ratio in this recipe (NCHFP and Ball recipes are higher acid), and certainly topping off with water if necessary wasn't going to help!

I suggested that they vet any future "canning" recipes through food safety expert. Still haven't heard back.

Got the farmer's market newsletter for market going on tonight, someone who "grew up canning with her mother and grandmother" is going to be doing a "mock" demo and handing out recipes "to preserve all the fresh fruits and vegetables available now". I suggested that the market manager check the recipes to see that they were from NCHFP, Ball, or university extension(s), and perhaps limit the demo (and info, if possible) to fruits to limit the town's liability.

They said it's market day and it's a bit crazy, don't know if they can get to it. I emailed them a link to the elk story, said the same could happen with corn, squash, beans so this literally could be a matter of life and death, they don't want to be handing out potentially dangerous information on canning vegetables. Haven't heard from them either.

I wish the state would regulate who can teach canning (at least lo-acid canning) like they regulate (require training and testing) acidified foods (and you have to have a commercial kitchen to sell pressure-canned foods).

I didn't see the "topping off with water" comment and certainly agree that would be a bad idea. For myself I'd probably use Jan Roberts-Dominguez proportion of acid to water from her corn relish - 4:1.5, which eliminates risk.

I think the biggest problem with that corn relish (assuming additional water were not added) is with leaving it in the fridge beyond the 1-month recommended life as the B, E and F strains are very slow-growing.

But given the additional issues and the significant numbers of Bon Appetit readers with no awareness of the potential for risk, I withdraw my original comment.

On the original story about the gentleman, I am not at all surprised at his misguided approach. I have heard a lot of similar stories, including from my elderly male neighbor, whose approach to canning is totally cavalier.

You have a subset of people who "don't know that they don't know" and are totally unable to assess risk coupled with the absolute faith people have in previous experience and the wisdom of "mom." (Though in this case he failed to allow for the fact that his memories of what mom did are probably totally faulty.)

Carol