Fair Competition – Food Preservation Canning Tips

Arkansas County citizens are invited to exhibit their preserved foods at the Arkansas County Fair “Arkansas County Fair – Where Patriotism Meets Tradition” September 15-19, 2026. Preserved Foods should be entered on Monday, September 14 from 12:30-5:30 p.m. at the Exhibit Building on the Arkansas County Fairgrounds. Preserved food entries should comply with the current United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines for safety in food preservation. 

Have you ever visited the canning exhibits at the fair and wondered, “How did they do that?” It just requires a little time to produce blue ribbon canning entries. Remember the primary reason for canning is to extend the food supply beyond the growing season with safe, high-quality food. Our food preservation canning series: Preserving For You at https://www.uaex.uada.edu/life-skills-wellness/food-nutrition/recipes/food-preservation/, offers step-by-step instructions on how to preserve foods using tested and reliable recipes.

The first thing a fair judge will consider is whether or not the product is safe. Judges will not taste the product or open the jar but can tell through other means. Although it is sometimes difficult for a judge to determine the actual processing procedure used, most judges are very proficient at recognizing when a product has not been processed properly.

A seal on the jar usually indicates it has received some form of heat treatment and there are a number of ways to make a jar seal that do not assure safety. This means a judge will check for a seal but will not let the presence of a seal be the only factor in determining if the product is safe.

One way to assure safety that is easy for a judge to spot is the amount of head space in the jar. Head space is the empty space between the top of the food and the bottom of the lid. The food expands into this space during heating, forcing out trapped air so that no air is available for use by potential spoilage organisms.

If too much space is left, the food will not expand enough to get all the air out. If too little is left, there will not be enough room for the food to expand and it will cook out of the jar. If you have noticed green beans with only half a jar of liquid, this may have been the reason, and it will not be a blue-ribbon entry.

Recommended head space amounts are:

A number of other product characteristics can offer judges a clue to the amount of cooking, and therefore the potential for safety of the product. For example, liquid in the jar should be clear and free of bubbles or material from the food. The product should appear cooked without being either too firm or mushy. The color of the product should be characteristic of a cooked product.

Don’t over-pack foods when filling jars; this allows for expansion and formation of a proper vacuum seal. Food forced into the sealing surface while expanding, or undergoing rapid pressure drops, can break the seal. Make sure the rim of the jar, lid and ring are clean before placing lid on jar and processing.

After a judge has determined the product has been processed safely, they then look at the appearance of the product. The metal lid and ring must be clean and free of rust and dents, jars must be clear glass, Mason-type, and vacuum sealed. Quart, pint, or half-pint sizes will be accepted. Commercial jars such as those used for mayonnaise, peanut butter and coffee are not recommended for canning and are not allowed for competition at the fair. 

Product pieces should be uniform in size and shape. Although this uniformity helps assure adequate heat transfer and a safer product, a safe product can be produced for home use allowing some variation in the size and shape of product pieces. However, a product for entry in the fair should be as close to perfect as it can get, and this includes having product pieces as similar as possible.

Due to updated safety reasons none of the following will be accepted: canned squash including summer, zucchini, or spaghetti; pureed or mashed pumpkin, sweet potatoes, or potatoes; and canned soups with added noodles or other pasta, rice, flour, cream, milk, or other thickening agents. Pickled summer squash and zucchini are allowed. Sweet potato chunks and whole new potatoes are allowed. 

Also, the following rules apply:       

Using recipes from the following sources is strongly encouraged: 

You too can have blue ribbon entries at the county fair!

Arkansas has a long history of food preservation, and the art and science of saving food is making a comeback. For more information about canning/preserving food at home visit https://www.uaex.uada.edu/life-skills-wellness/food-safety/preservation/default.aspx. 

Contact Alta Lockley, CEA-4-H/Family & Consumer Sciences at the Arkansas County Extension Office at (870)659-2058 to make an appointment to get your pressure canner dial gauge tested to determine accuracy of the gauge. For more information about Arkansas County Fair events refer to the fair tabloid at https://www.arcofair.org/. Tabloids will be available after August 7 at the Arkansas County Extension Office, 1009 Liberty Drive, DeWitt.