Are there food-safe solutions? Feeling frustrated & disillusioned about canning (venting & want help

I was all excited about preserving my excess garden produce to store in a shelf-stable way, and had this idea that I'd be able to can things I grow in a basic and healthy way, but I keep running into roadblocks. The more I look into it, the less I think canning will work for me. I really want it to work, but it seems like it won't unless I change what I grow so that I grow things specifically for canning, and change the types of foods I'm willing to eat. I already was going to change the foods I would eat some for this, but now it's seeming like I'd need to change it too much. I'm hoping someone(s) will have solutions. Here are the issues:

First: I'm limited to water bath canning, canning-wise, since my stove is not suited for pressure canning, which I can deal with as I was thinking I could still water bath can (and dehydrate, freeze).

Second: I know it's recommended to use only lab tested recipes in order to be food safe. I know I can do something like refrigerator pickles without the recipes, but those aren't shelf-stable and the point for me is to have it last months beyond the season, not just weeks. The thing is, this severely limits what I can use in terms of the ingredients as well as the size of the pieces of ingredients... and I'm having trouble finding much if anything I actually want to eat or think is healthy (I guess it's a relative and subjective term).  More on that ahead.

Third: Is related to the previous one in that I don't like sweet pickles or relish, and don't want to have added sugar (or added sweeteners) in my jams, jellies, preserves, etc. or any food actually. It's partially because I don't think it's healthy, and mostly simply because I don't have that much of a sweet tooth and I get headaches from sweeteners, just don't like the taste (especially in pickles), and prefer to taste whatever sweetness (if any) of the foods without that. When it comes to pickles I'm all about the savory and sour, and ick to any sweet with that. When it comes to fruit things, I like the fruit itself without the added sweeteners.

Why is sugar in practically all of the water bath canning recipes, even pickling? I've seen in some places that you can skip the sugar as it's just a flavor thing with pickling, but in other places it says it's needed and none of the recipes have it as an optional thing. Even the recipes for special diets that can't have sugar still have a sweetener. Really? Can't we just have plain dill pickles without sugar or garlic? Which brings me to...

Fourth: I'm allergic to garlic, and somewhat sensitive to onions. I love dill and it's fine in foods... used to be allergic to dill pollen, but that seems to have resolved.

Fifth: There are way more limitations on ingredients for canning than I thought there would be, so like most recipes, I don't necessarily have the exact same ingredients ready to use at the same time and/or at all as the canning recipes. I'm fine with having to get specific canning salt, and get distilled vinegar, but when it gets into the realm of needing to buy produce that I'm not growing just to be able to preserve what I am growing, it stops working for me so much.

Take cucumber pickles for instance, the size of the cucumbers is an important food-safe part of the recipe as is whether you slice it and how. I usually don't grow pickling cucumbers specifically, and I was hoping to be able to pickle the cucumbers I grow when they are a bit younger than I usually eat them. The thing is I grow a lot of snake and Armenian types of cucumbers (which are actually a melon), little cucamelons (which isn't really a cucumber either), and various kinds of cucumbers that are meant to be eaten at a larger size (like slicers), none of which seem to be allowed except possibly the slicers in relish (which has sugar, garlic, onions, or all of those... and red bell pepper which I'm not growing).

I had thought I'd be able to grow things I like (and I do grow lots of varieties), and preserve what I wouldn't be eating fresh so that I could have it during the rest of the year too. I wasn't going to be depending entirely on canning, but I don't have unlimited freezer space, and freezers need electricity, so I was hoping the canning could take care of that. I can dehydrate things, and have been, but my dehydrator only has 5 trays and uses electricity, is not quiet, and it gets depressing having it on all the time in my living space. I'm getting the plans for the solar dehydrators here and we plan to build it, but it might not get done for this season, so I was thinking canning could make up for that. I was hoping to have canning as part of how I can eat food I've grown all year round on a regular basis, even after we have the solar dehydrator.

Does anyone have solutions for this, or should I just give up on water bath canning (at least until/if I adjust what I grow)?

May Gardner wrote:I was all excited about preserving my excess garden produce to store in a shelf-stable way, and had this idea that I'd be able to can things I grow in a basic and healthy way, but I keep running into roadblocks. The more I look into it, the less I think canning will work for me. I really want it to work, but it seems like it won't unless I change what I grow so that I grow things specifically for canning, and change the types of foods I'm willing to eat. I already was going to change the foods I would eat some for this, but now it's seeming like I'd need to change it too much. I'm hoping someone(s) will have solutions. Here are the issues:

First: I'm limited to water bath canning, canning-wise, since my stove is not suited for pressure canning, which I can deal with as I was thinking I could still water bath can (and dehydrate, freeze).

Second: I know it's recommended to use only lab tested recipes in order to be food safe. I know I can do something like refrigerator pickles without the recipes, but those aren't shelf-stable and the point for me is to have it last months beyond the season, not just weeks. The thing is, this severely limits what I can use in terms of the ingredients as well as the size of the pieces of ingredients... and I'm having trouble finding much if anything I actually want to eat or think is healthy (I guess it's a relative and subjective term).  More on that ahead.

Third: Is related to the previous one in that I don't like sweet pickles or relish, and don't want to have added sugar (or added sweeteners) in my jams, jellies, preserves, etc. or any food actually. It's partially because I don't think it's healthy, and mostly simply because I don't have that much of a sweet tooth and I get headaches from sweeteners, just don't like the taste (especially in pickles), and prefer to taste whatever sweetness (if any) of the foods without that. When it comes to pickles I'm all about the savory and sour, and ick to any sweet with that. When it comes to fruit things, I like the fruit itself without the added sweeteners.

Why is sugar in practically all of the water bath canning recipes, even pickling? I've seen in some places that you can skip the sugar as it's just a flavor thing with pickling, but in other places it says it's needed and none of the recipes have it as an optional thing. Even the recipes for special diets that can't have sugar still have a sweetener. Really? Can't we just have plain dill pickles without sugar or garlic? Which brings me to...

Fourth: I'm allergic to garlic, and somewhat sensitive to onions. I love dill and it's fine in foods... used to be allergic to dill pollen, but that seems to have resolved.

Fifth: There are way more limitations on ingredients for canning than I thought there would be, so like most recipes, I don't necessarily have the exact same ingredients ready to use at the same time and/or at all as the canning recipes. I'm fine with having to get specific canning salt, and get distilled vinegar, but when it gets into the realm of needing to buy produce that I'm not growing just to be able to preserve what I am growing, it stops working for me so much.

Take cucumber pickles for instance, the size of the cucumbers is an important food-safe part of the recipe as is whether you slice it and how. I usually don't grow pickling cucumbers specifically, and I was hoping to be able to pickle the cucumbers I grow when they are a bit younger than I usually eat them. The thing is I grow a lot of snake and Armenian types of cucumbers (which are actually a melon), little cucamelons (which isn't really a cucumber either), and various kinds of cucumbers that are meant to be eaten at a larger size (like slicers), none of which seem to be allowed except possibly the slicers in relish (which has sugar, garlic, onions, or all of those... and red bell pepper which I'm not growing).

I had thought I'd be able to grow things I like (and I do grow lots of varieties), and preserve what I wouldn't be eating fresh so that I could have it during the rest of the year too. I wasn't going to be depending entirely on canning, but I don't have unlimited freezer space, and freezers need electricity, so I was hoping the canning could take care of that. I can dehydrate things, and have been, but my dehydrator only has 5 trays and uses electricity, is not quiet, and it gets depressing having it on all the time in my living space. I'm getting the plans for the solar dehydrators here and we plan to build it, but it might not get done for this season, so I was thinking canning could make up for that. I was hoping to have canning as part of how I can eat food I've grown all year round on a regular basis, even after we have the solar dehydrator.

Does anyone have solutions for this, or should I just give up on water bath canning (at least until/if I adjust what I grow)?

I am sorry you feel that way, so let’s take them one by one and see if we can find something that will work for you.
For water bath canning, the most important thing is acid. Keep the ph under 4 (I aim for 3.6) and it’s safe to can. The only exception is proteins and fats. If you can’t pressure can on your stove, you might like to think about getting a presto electric canner. I have one and I love it. In broth alone, it paid off the price in savings within a year.
I also want you to think about using fermentation as a way to preserve. Brassicas can’t be canned, in fact they will stink up your house if you do it.  Radishes turn to mush if frozen and don’t do well dried, but they shine as a fermented food. I make 3 types of kimchi, 4 different kinds of sour kraut, and fermented lemons by the gallon. We eat it as a snack, in a salad, side dish and even in soups. All of your cucumbers, melons and similar things can be fermented, and you don’t need to add garlic. Add what you like to eat with them. My favorites are dill and onion, with a little grains of paradise. I have a jar with fermenting rhubarb, where I added lemon quarters, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Also note, that as long as your ferments have the right acidity they can also be water bath canned.
Feel free to send me a pm, if you have other questions.
When we have too much fruit I usually dehydrate them or make fruit leather.

I do a lot of fruit sauces without any sugar at all - just cook up the fruit, mash it a bit while it's cooking, hot pack into jars, then water bath can 20 mins for pints 25 for quarts.

My stove is not considered suitable for pressure canning, and I've been able to pressure can with it. What kind of stove are you using?

Went through the same frustration with courgettes last summer, pressure canning felt like a lot of faff and I didn't trust my stove for it either. Ended up lacto-fermenting most of the veg glut instead and it's a lot more forgiving than I expected, works for almost anything low-acid. Still got the canning bug for jams and fruit though.