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If you put your garden in early and it was not affected by the rains earlier this month, you are fortunate. Or if you are still putting in plants, now is the time to plan for preserving your harvest.

Home-canned spaghetti sauce full of the flavor of garden-fresh tomatoes, and strawberry jam bursting with fruit at the peak of ripeness — you’ll find recipes for these and other delicious foods in the newly updated Wisconsin Safe Food Preservation series publications.

Preserving food from your garden or orchard can be a good way to combat the rising prices of food at the grocery store, but be sure to follow research-tested recipes for safe, high quality food that your family will enjoy.

Recipes that are not precise, mentioning “a pinch of this ingredient or a pinch of that ingredient,” that are not tested in a laboratory, or that contain outdated or inaccurate canning information can result in products that may be unsafe to consume.

UW-Extension presents three general guidelines for preserving food safely:

Inspect and repair any food preservation equipment at the beginning of the season. Now is a good time to inspect canners or food dehydrators to make sure all of your equipment is in working condition. And start now to collect approved canning jars and lids for use during the season.

Canning jars that use two-piece self-sealing metal lids are recommended. Jars should be free of nicks or scratches. A “must” every canning season is new flat lids; metal screw bands that are not bent or rusted can be reused.

Have your dial-gauge pressure canners tested for accuracy. A pressure canner is essential for canning low-acid vegetables, meats, fish and poultry. Pressure canners come with either a dial-gauge or a weighted-gauge.

Dial-gauge pressure canners should be tested each year for accuracy. Most county UW-Extension offices, including La Crosse County, offer free dial-gauge testing, call ahead for availability of this service.

Always follow an up-to-date tested recipe from a reliable source. This is perhaps the most important step in preparing for home food preservation, according to UW-Extension food science specialists. Cookbooks and old family recipes are not reliable sources of research-tested recipes.

More tomatoes are home-canned than any other product. And home-canned tomatoes can be so delicious. But many people are still unaware that tomato-canning recommendations changed dramatically way back in 1994.

I answer questions every year from consumers who are not aware that you must add acid to home-canned tomato products to ensure safety. And this is just one example where even though it’s tempting to return time and again to a family-favorite recipe, it’s vitally important to update your canning recipes as guidelines change.

Now available from the University of Wisconsin-Extension are newly updated versions of bulletins on safe canning of tomatoes, as well as fruit, jams and jellies, meat, pickles, salsa and vegetables and new information on freezing fruits and vegetables.

To view the publications online, log onto http://learningstore.uwex.edu/Food-Preservation-and-Safety-C60.aspx

Food safety is, and should be, a primary concern when home canning any type of food, from pickles to meat. Begin the food preservation season by updating your resources so that you can be sure that you are preserving safe, high quality food for your family to enjoy.

For more information or to make comments on the information contained in Coulee Consumer, write to La Crosse County UW-Extension, Attention: Coulee Consumer, 400 N. Fourth St., La Crosse, WI 54601, or call 785-9593.