The growing season is in full swing, and gardeners will soon begin to harvest the crops they have painstakingly nurtured. For those families that do not have a home garden, local farm markets offer an abundance of fresh, locally grown produce.

If you take advantage of this abundance by canning fruits and vegetables, now is the time to make sure you are doing it safely. Make sure the dial gauge on your pressure canner is accurate. Testing of this gauge takes only a few minutes and is a free service of the Penn State Cooperative Extension. Weighted gauges do not have to be tested.

Mary Alice Gettings, a registered dietitian and nutrition and food safety educator with the extension, will be available to test dial gauges at the Butler County Cooperative Extension Office, 101 Motor Pool Way, Butler, from 2 to 5 p.m. Thursday. You can drop off your lid and gauge before the date or call 724-287-4761 to make an appointment.

An inaccurate gauge means canned goods are either under processed, and therefore unsafe to eat, or overprocessed, resulting in lower quality. Make sure your dial gauge is accurate to provide your family with food that is both safe and tasty.

For more information visit Penn State's food safety website at http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu and click on "Home Food Preservation" for reliable home canning resources.

This material is submitted by Donna Zang, extension director, and the staff of the Penn State Extension office at the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center complex.