Continued from here
I¡¯m-workin¡¯-on-it ¨C at 09:31
Question about the amount of water to put inside the canner up above brought this response:
You¡¯re right about the water. Please guys do be careful and only use the amt. of water suggested by your canner co..
This is NOT a water bath canner. If there is too much water in your canner it will change both the temp. and pressure you food sees and can produce an unsafe batch of canned meat. Unfortunately, you may not know it until you are sick from eating it. Steam and water transfer heat and pressure differently. If too much water is found inside a commercial canner (retort) often times the product is unsalvagable.
(thanks for that explanation!)
NEW QUESTION: wouldn¡¯t the pressure still be OK if you used too much water as long as the pressure dial is reading 10 lbs of pressure?
Tomo ¨C at 12:34
NEW QUESTION: wouldn¡¯t the pressure still be OK if you used too much water as long as the pressure dial is reading 10 lbs of pressure?
No. The pressure guage is on the top of the canner. It only reads the pressure at that spot. It can¡¯t tell if there is 2¡å or 12¡å of water under it.
For those of you that can meat loaf. Are you just lightly packing the jar full of the meat, not adding any “sauce”/liquid and processing?
Tomo, good question…I want to can meatloaf too. I use the Hunt’s canned sauce & crackers and eggs so I need to know how tight AND should we use eggs or not?
Concerning meatloaf … season how you want WITHOUT the eggs.
I took really good ground meat … as little fat as I could afford … and mixed with a packet of store bought meatloaf seasoning. Then pack into quart, wide-mouth jars. Very careful to wipe the rims. Then I can.
To use, I take out of the jar, drain, then coat with either bbq sauce, tomato sauce, or what I have to hand. I heat it through in the oven or microwave. Ta-da … dinner is served.
I contacted the University of Georgia, National Center for Home Food Production and they stated that the USDA does not advocate home canning of meatloaf with egg.
Choices like this are personal ones, but my suggestion would be that the risk is not worth making anyone ill.
Shad.
Thanks about the eggs!!!!!
I assume it’s ok to pressure can meatloaf WITH the tomato sauce too & process like chili? I haven’t looked up how long to do chili or what pressure but most everything seems to be 10 lbs and 90 minutes!
http://web1.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/master01.html This link is to Preseriving Food Safely. I am back now I just got through with a 3 day Canning spell and well be back at it in 7 to 14 Days. picked Mustard Greens and canned 160 quarts. tryin to stock up will be doing Collards next. hope to get 150 are more jars of them also.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 20:31
I assume it’s ok to pressure can meatloaf WITH the tomato sauce too & process like chili? I haven’t looked up how long to do chili or what pressure but most everything seems to be 10 lbs and 90 minutes!
The meatloaf will be ok with the tomato sauce. Just about any recipe with even a smidge of meat or meat by-product in it ( as in soup broth ) calls for 85 to 120 minutes in a pressure canner @ 10 pds pressure. Which is why most novices at canning; are afraid to can meats. It takes so much longer, but the process is exactly the same.
I am ( STILL ) suffering from the worse cold I’‘ve had in many years. ( I’ve lost almost all of the last week ) ; and one big thing I learned….DON’T pack ALL the cold & flu meds in your prep boxes ! When I get to feeling better, I’ll have to tape several boxes back up, after I go thru them again. And food-wise; when you’re sick with no one to take care of you---that home-canned soup IS a life-saver ! Especially plain broth. When I get back on my feet, I will be making lots more broths, concentrating them and canning them.
Somewhere in my lost week; I ended up at an auction and picked up maybe 150 more canning jars for 6 bucks !
Madamspinner – at 03:59
150 jars for only 6 bucks???!!!! You lucky thing you.
I got a call this morning, that my side of beef would be ready tomorrow, not later this week…UGH! I had to get my fruit, out of the freezer FAST! I canned 32 pints, 9 batches of strawberry jam and 8 quarts of cherry pie filling.
I have to take my son to BG for his classes in the am, meet for the boys therapy at noon, see nephrologist…Dag-Na-It! at 2:30, pick the dang meat up and somehow get as much canned as possible tomorrow night, since it all won’t fit in the freezer. I thought meat loaf would be pretty quick….
Is it safe to use bread crumbs in it…Lipton Onion soup? I just didn’t have everything ready to begin this big meat canning marathon and had to spend the day getting the fruit out of the freezer…Anybody have a favorite recipe for canned meatloaf? Anybody know about how many lbs. would fit in a wide mouth quart canning jar? THANKSSSSS!!!!!
for Mom11:
Kathy in FL – at 23:04 Concerning meatloaf … season how you want WITHOUT the eggs.
I took really good ground meat … as little fat as I could afford … and mixed with a packet of store bought meatloaf seasoning. Then pack into quart, wide-mouth jars. Very careful to wipe the rims. Then I can.
To use, I take out of the jar, drain, then coat with either bbq sauce, tomato sauce, or what I have to hand. I heat it through in the oven or microwave. Ta-da … dinner is served.
shadddup – at 00:31 I contacted the University of Georgia, National Center for Home Food Production and they stated that the USDA does not advocate home canning of meatloaf with egg.
Choices like this are personal ones, but my suggestion would be that the risk is not worth making anyone ill.
Shad.
Madamspinner – at 03:59 to I’m-workin’-on-it – at 20:31′s comment…..I assume it’s ok to pressure can meatloaf WITH the tomato sauce too & process like chili? I haven’t looked up how long to do chili or what pressure but most everything seems to be 10 lbs and 90 minutes!
The meatloaf will be ok with the tomato sauce. Just about any recipe with even a smidge of meat or meat by-product in it ( as in soup broth ) calls for 85 to 120 minutes in a pressure canner @ 10 pds pressure. Which is why most novices at canning; are afraid to can meats. It takes so much longer, but the process is exactly the same.
Madamspinner – at 03:59
Thanks for your info!! You and Kathy both!
I’m so sorry you’re still feeling bad — love your heart — it’s soooo hard to get anything done when you feel bad. I gope today will be much better!
gope=hope sorry
I’m confused as to how y’all are home canning meatloaf.
Using ground beef has percentages of beef and fat, whether they be 80/20, 93/7, etc…
When home canning cubes of beef, all the excess fat is removed, or in other words only a tiny bit of fat may be present, if at all.
The National Center for Home Food Preservation states that ground beef is to be cooked with excess fat removed before canning. I’ve talked before how I even rinse my ground beef after cooking with hot water to help remove a little more of the fat that way too.
Are y’all canning cooked meatloaf, or raw meatloaf? If it’s raw, I’ll just state that I would caution against doing this, although it sounds like many of you are, or are trying it.
My concern is that long term storage of raw hamburger being canned has the potential to go rancid before you even eat it. Canning raw hamburger is not advocated in home canning, and although I’m sure I’ll tick a few of you off, I don’t consider that method to be safe home canning. Canning meatloaf with starches such as breadcrumbs is also something that is cautioned against, it’s simply not a wise choice.
Y’all are responsible for your own choices and are free to push whatever envelopes you wish, but I just wanted to state that what I’m hearing here concerns me and is not something I would personally promote.
There are a ton of things I would love to can, and I have spent countless hours trying to prove the experts wrong so I could feel comfortable home canning it, only to find out they are right, and I learned that home canning in a safe manner is limited in some regards.
Y’all just worry me, so just be careful.
Shad.
Shad, I personally appreciate the warning. I’m like you with hamburger — buy the leanest, I boil mine, then rinse in a colander, then add to a dish. I’ve not done the meatloaf because I was trying to think of a way to maybe partially cook the meat, then wash it, then pack it & can it but wasn’t sure it would hold together as a loaf. I’m also wishing to do patties — that;s closer to what chunks would be, only flattened out, as long as they’re thin. I’m thinking cooking a meatloaf, THEN canning it might be the way to go, but I don’t think I’d know what liquid I;d want it floating in…..nothing I think up seems right.
I’ve also been thinking about this and have decided to forego the traditional meat loaf in leu of meatballs in tomato type sauce. Then I can cook and defat the meatballs and just hot pack them with the sauce. Meatball sandwiches are just as good in my book!
Also, I’ve been thinking about the whole, TSHTF scenario…If I have to empty out my freezer in a hurry. I want to know what is the safest pressure canning time/temp for veggies/fruits. I’d rather over process than under process. I just know that I don’t want to water bath can them. I’d rather be extra safe and pressure can them. I know some things will hold up better than others…Most I’ll try to work into a meat canned item ( ie the corn into a soup, peppers into chili….) but most of the books only give you a water bath process, anyone know what the process is for veggies in a pressure canner?
Tomo ~
Here’s the USDA’s National Center for Home Food Preservations list of home canned items, including, but not limited to meats, veggies, fruits, etc.:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html
That should give you all the info you need…if you need something in particular, just let me know.
Shad.
Hey, aren’t you on the east coast? do you ever sleep? Thanks for the reference, I’ll read, bookmark, and copy pertinant info for my files! you’re a dear.
Any can’t live without recipies you still haven’t shared? My local market has local grown whole chickens on sale for 0.59/lb. ! I’m stocking up but would love to branch out from chicken soup. Thinking of trying the chicken chunks with onion/celery in a chicken curry broth to put over rice. Just need to find a good mango chutney recipe to can that would go along with it!
Tomo, one thing that I make certain I do is cook any meat that I buy BEFORE I put it in the freezer. Most of our worries come when the power goes off and if you have a freezer full of raw meat then you have to cook it with no power, meaning you use up your fuel that you might need to heat the house, on cooking something you could have already pre-cooked. It’ll still can after you cook and freeze it. Just my preference to try to save some time and stress of protecting the meat.
Well…There went the ole meatloaf idea…I stuffed that beef into the freezer! Don’t need anymore docs., that’s for sure! Thanks SHAD!
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 23:45 cooking the meat before the freezer is an interesting idea. I guess I’m hoping that I’ll have a few days once this starts before the power goes off. I’m not planning on waiting until it is actually off. I’ll have to consider your suggestion more. thanks.
Tomo, I pulled a meatloaf out last night from the freezer, thawed & reheated it in 15 minutes in the microwave—just long enough to heat up a pkt of terraki veggies, heat up some pintos I’d canned and use the boiled water I heated the veggies in to pour over instant potatoe flakes. We had a steaming hot meal 15 minutes out of the freezer. Not exactly a balanced meal, but it was good and fast.
Tomo – at 23:31
lol Yes, I’m in Miami…I usually sleep from around 11pm till 6am…I stayed up late just for you! lolol
I’ve posted several of my recipes before, but here’s a few again…
Split Pea Soup with Ham
1 16–20 quart pot, filled with water
1 6–8 lb ham (I prefer butt cuts)
1 lb 12 oz chopped onion
3–14 oz packages of split peas
1 T peppercorns
3 T kosher salt
Approximately 3 lbs carrots, peeled and sliced
Approximately 3 lbs of potatoes, cubed
Fill the pot up with water and rinse the ham off and place in the pot. Place heat on high until it starts to boil, then turn heat down to a simmer. If *scum* rises to the top, skim off with spoon. Let the ham simmer for an hour and then add the onions, split peas, salt and peppercorns (I use peppercorns in recipes like this because I don’t like all the pepper settling to the bottom and the peppercorns flavor the soup and are easily removed when filling the jars).
Simmer the soup for a few hours, until the split peas *melt* into the soup and thicken it a little. When the ham starts to fall off the bone in the soup, I remove it to cool and continue to simmer the soup while it cools and I de-bone it, removing all the fat off the ham at the same time and shredding into small pieces. Place cleaned ham, raw carrots and raw potatoes into separate bowls. The reason I use raw carrots and raw potatoes to place in the jars before adding the hot soup is because during the processing time in the canner, those 2 veggies will cook naturally while in the jar. If I cooked them in the soup, it has the potential to make them too mushy and so I place them in raw before I pressure can them.
Wash and sterilize jars and lids. In each pint jar( for quart jars I just double the amounts of ham, carrots and potatoes) I place 1 ounce of ham, 1 1/2 ounce of sliced carrots and 1 1/2 ounce of cubed potatoes. Pour hot soup over ingredients, use handle of wooden spoon to remove air bubbles and place lids on jars. Place sealed jars in pressure canner, batten down the lid. Once the steam starts to escape from the steam valve, time for 10 minutes. For my sea level, I place weighted gauge on at 10 lbs pressure, and bring it up to pressure to where it starts to jiggle. At this point, start your processing time and regulate heat source so that weighted gauge jiggles a few times every minute. Once the correct processing time is finished, turn stove off and let unit cool down and depressurize. Once the dial reaches zero, remove lid off canner, remove jars and place on towel laid out on the counter and let cool over night.
The next day, I remove the screw bands, and place the jars and bands in a soapy water that has a little vinegar in it. I let the jars sit in that for about 15 minutes, then wash them and the screw bands and let dry, replacing bands after they are dried.
Here’s my Marinara recipe, in particular my Chicken Cacciatore recipe. To use this recipe for Marinara alone, just omit the chicken, mushrooms and peppers:
3T olive oil
6 oz chopped onion
2 oz quartered fresh garlic
1/4 oz fresh parsley minced
1/4 oz fresh basil sliced
1t pepper
3 1/2t kosher salt
2 quarts home canned tomatoes
1 jumbo can tomato puree
1 whole peeled carrot
9 oz fresh mushrooms
1t garlic powder
5 oz green pepper cubed
5 oz red or yellow pepper cubed
3lbs chicken (I use boneless chicken breasts) dusted with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Sautee the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Add puree, squash tomatoes and add to sauce. Add parsley, basil, pepper, kosher salt and garlic powder and whole carrot (this reduces the acidity of marinara with a natural sugar) and simmer on low heat for a few hours.
Cube up chicken and sautee in olive oil. Add to marinara the chicken, mushrooms and bell peppers and stir well.
Pour into quart or pint jars and process 90 minutes for quarts, 75 minutes for pints at appropriate pressure for your elevation.
To process the Marinara only, quart and pint jars are processed for 25 minutes at the appropriate pressure for your elevation.
I also home can a Conch Chowder…minced clams could be used instead to make a Manhattan style Clam Chowder:
Conch Chowder
Approximately 2lbs chopped clams or conch
1/2lb bacon - cut up
3 large onions - chopped
2 green peppers - chopped
6 garlic cloves - minced
2 - 14 1/2oz cans tomatoes
1 small can tomatoe paste
2qt water
10 bay leaves
1T oregano
1T basil
1T poultry seasoning
1T vinegar
5–6 potatoes - cubed
Tabasco, salt and pepper, to taste (tabasco if desired)
In large pot combine tomatoes, tomatoe paste, water, bay leaves, oregano basil, vinegar, salt, pepper, tabasco & poultry seasoning. Simmer. Fry bacon, remove and sautee in grease onions, garlic and green peppers. Add to liquid in pot, along with chopped clams to soup and simmer 1–2 hours. Add cubed potatoes, ladle into PINT jars, and process for 75 minutes according to the elevation requirements of your area.
Anyway, here’s a few of my recipes, there are more if you have any you’d like in particular.
Shad.
Hello all ! I’m still under the weather a bit, but gradually coming up for air ;-) ……I haven’t had a cold in so many years…I’d forgotten how BAD you can feel. Made me think about a case of the flu ( any flu ) :-( A cold is a virus just like any flu bug, only worse….hmmm…..makes me MORE likely to SIP for the total duration or until I run all out of food.
I know I want to can MORE soups ! Especially soups that are water/broth/tomato based. I had my pick of my home-canned soups this past 10 days, and it was the only thing I ate, besides OJ. But I lost more then a few days time.
Tonight I’m canning beans ( dry) with pieces of ham hock; using broth made from the hocks and added ham flavored boullion. I had soaked the beans in the fridge for the last 24 hours, half-filled the qt jars, added a bit of the meat, 1 spoon of chopped onion, and the lids. Process for 90 minutes @ 10 pounds pressure.
Made a huge pot of beef/veggie soup to eat now, with sour-dough bread ( if I don’t get too impatient on this final raising…and end up with building blocks again… ;-) My ancient Alaskan starter does very well…if I just let it raise about 2 1/2 times as long as regular… nice & tangy…yum…
shad, I’d love to try your canning recipe for the split pea soup with ham, can you tell me about how many pints this will make? I keep my canning jars in the attic and it’s a PITA to haul them down, so would like some idea in advance of how many jars to bring down so I only have to make one trip. Thanks!
Kim – at 21:50
I have 11 quarts in my notes, so I’d assume it would be somewhere around there.
Shad.
Re-posting this for those looking for it.
Beans-Dry
Select mature dry beans. Sort and discard any defective or discolored beans. To rehydrate the beans use one of the following methods:
(1) Place the beans in a large pot, cover with water and let stand in a cool place for 12 to 18 hours. Then drain. (2) Cover beans with boiling water in a saucepan and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and soak 1 hour. Then drain.
Hot Pack—Pack hot beans in to hot jars, leaving 1 inch head space. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to pints; 1 teaspoon to quarts if desired. Fill jar to 1 inch from the top with boiling water. Remove air bubbles. Adjust lids and process.
Process in a Dial Gauge Canner at 11 pounds pressure or in a Weighted Gauge Pressure at 10 pounds pressure:
From the Better Homes and Gardens Home Canning Cook Book, Page 45.
Beef Stroganoff
Coat steak with flour;brown the meat in oil. Remove from pan. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic; cook 3 minutes. Remove vegetables; add butter to pan drippings. Blend in flour and tomato paste. Stir in broth. Cook and stir till bubbly. Add meat and vegetable mixture; heat. Pack into hot jars, leaving one inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process in pressure canner at ten pounds canner at ten pounds pressure (adjust for altitude) pints 75 minutes and quarts 90 minutes. Makes 4–5 pints.
Before serving: Boil, uncovered, at least ten minutes before tasting or using. For each pint, add 1/2 cup dairy sour cream (or alternative/substitute of choice); heat through. Serve over hot noodles.
Porcupine Meatballs posted by Gwen
Combine raw beef, rice, egg, onion, salt, pepper, and ¼ cup tomato sauce. Shape into 1-inch meatballs. Place onto greased baking pan (with sides) and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Transfer meatballs to skillet or large pot. Mix remaining sauce, water and soy sauce together and pour over meatballs. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 40 minutes. Stir often. Serves 6.
Note from post that this was copied from: “That’s the recipe. I use brown rice in mine, so 40 minutes would not be enough time for them to cook. Normally I put the browned meatballs in the crockpot, cover with sauce and cook them according to my whim and my schedule until they’re done. When I canned them, I crammed the meatballs in quart jars and then poured the sauce over them to give a 1-inch headspace. And then, of course, canned them at 10 lbs pressure for 90 minutes. As I said before, they were perfect! But I don’t know how they would do if you used white rice—it might get too mushy with all that cooking. I also found out that a quart makes just the right amount (with maybe a LITTLE extra) for our family of 5 adult-size appetites.”
Note: since the meatballs are cooked before she cans them, the egg is ok. Do not can raw egg!
Canning fish isn’t something that I do; however, I figure we have some fishermen (or women) that might be interested in this.
This is a good recipe for boney fish or fish that you otherwise wouldn’t keep, such as northern or grass pike. Lake trout doesn’t need to be scaled but whitefish, walleye or pickerel and pike do. Fish will keep 2 to 3 years and tastes just like canned salmon.
Remove entrails, head, tail and fins and wash fish. cut fish into 2 inch chunks. place pieces in washed and dried 1 pint jars,
To each jar add:
put lids on loosely; place in pressure cooker and process 1 hour 15 minutes at 15lb pressure; tighten lids immediately after removing from cooker.
Canned Smoked fish is a technique
make a brine of:
Brine fish for 12 to 18 hours. Let dry on racks for 8 hours. Smoke for 8 to 12 hours depending on heat and style of smoker…
If you’re canning the smoked fish we only smoke it for about 6 hours. Pack into jars… (add a tablespoon of oil at this time but you don’t have to). Pressure can at 10 lbs for 100 minutes.
Sausage and Kraut
Place sauerkraut in colander, rinse with cold water, drain and squeeze dry. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Add brown sugar, diced apple, and onion. Sprinkle with minced garlic. Add sliced sausage. Mix together.
Spray crockpot with Pam and add the mixture. I cooked it on high for 2 hours, then low for 3–4 more. (Or you can cook on Low for 6–8 hours (depending on temp of YOUR pot).
Beef Stew
In 4–6 qt. kettle brown half the meat at a time in crisco. (This is where you pack in some full flavor into this dish). In kettle mix meat, water, veggies, and rest of ingredients except flour and water and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Mix flour and water and add to boiling stew mixture. Cook and stir till bubbly. (mixture will appear thin before canning) Pack into hot jars, distribute the meat and veggies and gravy as evenly as you can, and leave 1 inch of headspace. Adjust lids and rings. Process in pressure canner at 10 lbs pressure for 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts. Makes 8 pints. I usually double or triple this recipe. WHen you are ready to eat this and heat it up, heat it up slow while stirring frequently but gently and flour and water mixture will slowly get thicker as mixture warms up.
Canned pepper steak
lightly sauté beef — onions, and bell peppers together until meat is just barely pink. Add garlic salt to taste and the tomatoees with juice. Heat to boiling. Fill hot quart jars with pepper steak mixture to within ½ inch of the top of the caning jars. put on lids and rings and process at 10 pounds pressure for 90 minutes.
I don’t eat a lot of wild meat anymore because I just don’t trust the city critters … I used to from my grandparents farm though. Squirrels not bad, and if you are hungry and it is cooked the right way, it is really good.
Canned Squirrel or Rabbit posted by Stephen Slatton
Wash skinned squirrels in salted water. Dry the meat with a cloth. Cut into pieces and fry until nicely browned, but not entirely tender. Pack dry, or cover with pan drippings. Add 10 minutes to processing time for older squirrels or if using for older rabbits of jack rabbits. Quarts 90 minutes. Pints 75 minutes.
Note: I’ve never done this myself; however, you used to be able to buy canned bacon from the store like this. Its hard to find now, but understand if you know where to look you can still get it. As with all recipes, sanitary practices are a must. You must also use real parchment paper, not just freezer paper.
Canning Bacon
You will need:
Procedure: Boil jars, lids and rings for 10 minutes, keep simmering. Get water in Pressure Cooker boiling. Trim long sheets of parchment paper so that they will fit, rolled up in a quart jar. The paper should not be any wider than the jars are tall from their bottom to their necks. Lay strips of bacon on a baking pan or roasting pan and pre-cook in a 350* F oven until they are about 2/3 their original length, but do not cook them until they are crisp. If they are crisp when they are placed in the jars, they will crumble. After pre-cooking, place the strips of bacon, still limp, on a sheet of trimmed parchment paper. Roll the paper and bacon up and insert this roll into a hot, sterilized quart jar. Pour the grease from the bacon into the jar, do not fill more than 2/3 full of grease.
Process at 10 pounds pressure for 1 1/2 hours. Higher elevations should use 11 pounds pressure.
To cook: Open sealed jar, unroll paper and remove bacon. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp.
Note: my mom used to do this all the time when we were growing up. They were just as good as fresh cooked to us.
Canning Sausage
Including Tips for mixing your own Sausage to Can.
Omit sage from your recipe if you are mixing your own sausage. In canning it will make the sausage bitter. Use a very light hand with other herbs and spices including garlic and onion, they will become stronger tasting in the canned sausage. I simply use a bit of hot red pepper, black pepper, salt, and some thyme or marjoram for sausage that is to be canned.
Use 2/3 lean meat to 1/3 fat to make the best canned sausage. Can sausage the same way as you can ground meat, EXCEPT:
Make small patties, cook til very done.
Unlike ground beef, you use the fat from cooking the sausage in canning it. Don’t fill the jar too full, 2/3 full is enough. Pour the grease in and cover the sausages. You may want to melt some extra lard to use in covering the sausages in the jars. Keep it very hot while waiting to be poured.
Adjust lids, can in pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure.
Maple Baked Beans
In a large sauce pan, cover beans with cold water and let soak overnight. Drain; cover with fresh cold water. Simmer for 30 minutes or until the bean skins roll back when you blow on them. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Add the maple syrup, brown sugar, salt and pepper to the liquid. Put the beans in a large bean pot. Stir in the apple and onion. Pour the reserved cooking liquid over the bean mixture to cover. Reserve any remaining liquid. Sink the salt pork into the center of the beans. Bake in a 275 degree F. oven for 6–8 hours or until tender. Stir every 30 minutes to release the starches and thicken the liquid. Add the reserved liquid as needed to keep the beans covered. Serves 10–12.
To Can: Spoon into sterilized pint or quart jars. Pressure can at 11 pounds of pressure for 65 minutes/Pints or 75 minutes/Quarts.
I harvested this recipe from another list I am on. Hopefully someone will find it useful.
Ranch-Style Beans
quarter inch chop.
are using too strong a powder. It comes mild, medium, and hot.
in a dry pot or skillet before using.
cubes, or bacon (optional)
(again, optional)
Water from the simmering beans (the carry over starch helps to give the pot liquor the right consistency) The sauce should be about the consistency of tomato juice when you jar up the beans. If it is too thick, add some more bean water or tap water. If it is too thin, add some tomato paste. You want a lot of sauce made up, as you only fill the jars three quarters with the soaked and simmered beans and fill the rest (leaving one inch headspace) with the sauce. Remove any air bubbles, wipe jar rims and secure two-piece lids. Process pints at sea level for “65 minutes at 10 pounds” of pressure. Because I have the onion in there, I err on the side of caution and process for a bit longer (72 minutes). I have tried making this using dried and just rinsed beans (and filling the jar one-quarter full with beans), but the pot liquor ended up way too thick for my liking.
Note: A four-pound bag of pinto beans will yield 18 pints, with some left over
Black Bean and Corn Salsa
Soak beans overnight. Drain and place in saucepan. Add Garlic, onion, and salt. Cover with fresh water and bring to boil. Lover the heat and cook for about 1 hour. Beans should be tender but not soft. Drain well
In a large saucepan, combine the beans with the corn, peppers, and 1/2 c. of water. Brin to a boil, turn down heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, return to boil, and cook for another 20 minutes.
Ladle into pint jars, leaving 1″ headspace. Process 85 minutes at 11 lbs pressure.
Worcestershire Concentrate
Note: 1 pint makes 2 quarts when you add water and vinegar later.
Bring mixture just to a boil, fill pint jars; pressure can at 10 psi for 20 mins. When you need it, mix 1 pint concentrate with 3 cup cider vinegar and enough water to make 2 quarts sauce. Tastes like store bought but slightly sweeter, it glazes better too.
Enchilada Sauce
Yield: 3.5 Cups
Heat 1/4 cupchicken broth in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook for 5 minutes or until tender and liquid evaporates. Add the remaining broth, chili powder, and remaining ingredients; stir well. Partially cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
To can - be sure to can for the longest time/item which would probably be the chicken broth which is 75 min pints and 90 min quarts at 10 lbs pressure.
Beef Soup Stock
Have butcher break beef bones. Place shanks and bones, carrots, celery, and onion in roasting pan. Roast at 375F till meat has browned, about 1 hour, stir occasionally. Transfer mixture to a 8- 10 qt. kettle. Add rest of ingredients. Bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat. Simmer 3 hours. Remove large pieces of bones, meat and veggies; strain remaining stock and skim off fat. Pour hot soup stock into hot jars, leave a 1 inch headspace. Adjust the lids. Process in the pressure canner at 10 lbs pressure (pints) for 20 minutes. Makes 6 pints.
Note: this recipe can be doubled and tripled.
CHICKEN SOUP
Combine chicken stock, chicken, celery, carrots and onion. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 30 minutes. Season to taste. Add bouillon cubes, if desired. Cook until bouillon cubes are dissolved. Ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints 75 minutes, quarts 90 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure.
Yields about 8 pints or 4 quarts.
Bean Ham Bone and White Corn Soup
Soak the beans in cold water to cover overnight.
Remove meat from the ham bone, cut it into 1/2-inch cubes (about 3 cups) and reserve. Drain beans and place in the slow cooker with the ham bone. Add corn, chicken stock, oregano, paprika, chili powder, black pepper, bay leaves, if using, and additional water or stock, if needed, to slightly cover. Cover slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.
Add the remaining ingredients except reserved ham cubes and green onions, mix well. Shift cooker to LOW setting and cook for about 5 additional hours. For more zing, add cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes when adding second set of ingredients.
About 30 to 40 minutes before end of cooking time, remove bay leaves; mash some of the beans against the side of the liner to thicken the soup slightly; add the reserved ham cubes and sliced green onions. Taste, and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Serve as complete meal or over rice. This recipe yields 10 servings.
To Can:
I would feel safe in canning this recipe at 90 minutes for quarts at 10 lb. pressure and 75 minutes for pints at 10 lb. pressure at sea level. I would not try to make this too thick in canning. It has rather dense things included, the beans and the corn, and just making sure it is not too concentrated and crammed full would be okay to me. If it were packed dense, I would not do the quarts, only pints, and process at the quart time.
CORN AND CHEESE CHOWDER
Remove husks and silks from corn. Rinse and cut corn from cob, cutting only about half the kernel; scrape cob. Measure 4 cups cups of this cream-style corn. In 4- to 6-quart kettle or Dutch oven combine corn, boiling water, and bouillon granules. Bring corn to boiling; boil 3 minutes. Add potatoes, onion, celery, and pepper; heat through. Ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process in pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure (pints for 85 minutes. Makes 5 pints.
Before serving: Boil 1 pint of chowder 10 minutes before tasting or using it. Reduce heat; add 1/2 cup milk and 1/4 cup shredded sharp process American cheese. Stir to melt cheese; heat through.
Cucumber Soup
Saute’ the onion in the margarine until soft. Add the remaining ingredients, then cover and simmer until very soft. Process the soup in a blender (use caution when blending hot foods!). Return the puree to the stockpot and bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes. Ladle into hot jars leaving one inch headspace. Process 40 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. Makes about 7 quarts.
Recipe notes from book: Soup may be served hot or cold. For richer consistency and a more elegant presentation, heat with half and half or milk before serving and garnish with dill or chives.
HOT RED BEAN SOUP
Place all ingredients in large kettle, with water to cover. Bring to boiling. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process pints 75 minutes (quarts 90 minutes) at 10 pounds pressure. Yields about 7 quarts.
Kathy in FL, WOW!! Now I just need to find the time to try a bunch of those great recipes, Thanks. I don’t know how mom11 does it. I only have a 3 and a 1yr old at home and am struggling to find time to can along with all my other prepping. But, I made the best of a sale on whole local chickens (0.59 per lb.) and am in the process of canning a batch of chicken soup, it’s been a 2 day process, broth and deboning chicken yesterday. canning today. But hey it’ll be 7qts more of home made chicken soup! I keep reminding myself that every little bit helps, small steps will still get me there, or at least closer.. Keep those pressure canner recipes coming, I love them~!
Hi Kathy!
Thanks for the new recipes!!!!! I do have a few questions, just to make sure….
When I ordered my 1/2 cow, the butcher nicely cut all my round steak up, in 1 inch cubes for me. How dang dumb is this?…I cut everything up using steak knives…Way better than the butter knives…BUT…I don’t want my TWO to get hold of something sharper….Anyway…I want to do all of my round steak into beef stroganoff. OK…It is OK to use flour, to coat and brown the meat and do a little thickening? Is it just the quantity, that has to be watched. I keep reading so many conflicting reports and I sure don’t want to wreck 17 lbs. of round steak!
Also, Thanks for the last meatball recipe, the ones with the NON- cream of onion soup. I canned 30 lbs. of those. OK…It is OK, to add the eggs and rice, if they are cooked???? I’m still new to this canning business and sure don’t want to wreck 1/2 cow. My chicks love rice, so these sound YUMMY!
I need to get this cow out of the freezer…SO…I can buy MORE!
Ok, I didn’t realize that it was OK to use the eggs if the meat was cooked before canning. Is it the same with bread crumbs?? We’ll get this figured out yet!
Once again…
Using flours or other thickeners, is unsafe home canning practices. It interferes with the pressure and heat properly infiltrating the jars during processing.
Home canning recipes using eggs is also an unsafe home canning practice.
There’s no reason that thickeners can’t be added when the jar is open and heated…for the life of me, I cannot comprehend why it’s necessary to jeapordize ones health buy purposely using an ingredient that the *authorities and experts* state in a very clear manner (even giving the reason why), should not be used.
Shad.
Like any other specialty and/or practice, people who have been canning for many years don’t always share the same opinions … even the “experts” change their minds too frequently for a lot of people not to question them. And not all of them are in agreement either.
Sometimes the reasons for their rules make sense and sometimes they are trying to prevent something that happens only infrequently which is also usually due to some collateral practices, which combined become unsafe.
There is one huge rule … STERILIZE EVERYTHING AT ALL TIMES.
The next big rule is never, ever use eggs in a raw pack recipe. They can be used in a pre-cooked item … such as pre-cooked meatballs … but not under other circumstances. I do not put eggs into my canned meat loaves for this very reason. This is also why “cakes in jars” proved to be unsafe … the cakes did not always cook through in the center.
You can use bread crumbs, but I don’t if I am using ground chuck or better. I really prefer just to season the ground beef before packing it into wide-mouth jars.
Most of the flour you see in modernized canning recipes is used for browning the meat and does not serve as a thickening agency. The beef stew recipe above does have flour as a thickening agent, but in this recipe the “gravy” is still very thin and watery and is only used to make the “gravy” stick to the meat and veggies better. You would still need to add a thickener after opening the jar of beef stew if you want a thick gravy.
You do not add pasta to canned items for the same reason. If you add the pasta cooked … it will be mush by the time you finish processing your jar. If you add it in uncooked, it might absorb too much of the liquid, preventing good heat circulation and/or causing your stuff to “clump” and just get plain nasty.
There are some specialty thickeners that can be purchased specifically for canning. I don’t use them and don’t like the expense. There are also different kinds of pectins out there, again it is opinion and experience which will guide you to which is best for your purposes.
I look at it like this and others are certainly free to feel differently. If I canned something in a “expert approved” method one year, but by the next year the “rule” changed … do I throw out all of that product that remains? To me the answer is no, but others may believe differently.
The only problems that I have ever encountered while canning were due to poor product to start with … I missed a brown spot on a tomato and it messed up the whole jar … or poor sterilization which I had happen on a batch of jelly. I’ve also had the occasional jar not seal. It happens.
Another example is that there are some folks out there that strongly deny that raw pack is a safe option when canning. They are pretty vocal about it. Frankly, I expect the USDA to one day come out against raw pack canning. But given that I’ve done it for years and have never had a problem with it, I certainly wouldn’t agree … but others would just because the experts said so.
Shad is a great cook. She has her ways of doing things for good reasons. She and I both have lots of experience in this type of food preservation. When you get confused about what you think you should do when two people don’t necessarily say the same things, then you should do your own research and make up your own mind. I encourage everyone that gets involved in a specialty such as home food preservation to do their homework. The dividends are amazing. <grin>
Ok, I’ll be extra safe and NOT use eggs OR breadcrumbs either way. I can live with that, pun intended.
I did little green limas today…..left 1″ room, but they used up all the water….I didn’t soak ‘em for hours and hours, just a little while when I washed them & did ‘em like the pinto’s someone did just washing and pouring them into the jars and filling with flavored water. If they’re now not covered with moisture, should I redo them tomorrow??
Well, when I’m attempting to teach someone the method of preserving their own foods, I feel a certain responsibility. Home canning is, at least for me, exhilarating and I love when other people discover the joy in the art of canning. However, there is also a potentially dangerous side to canning, and one that I feel if respected, can be taken to great lengths.
Many say, “Don’t can your own home recipes, only use the *approved ones*. I can many of my own home recipes, and the reason I feel safe doing that, is because I use ingredients that are across the board determined and proven safe to be home canned. Conversely, I do not use ingredients that have scientifically been proven to not be safe.
Non-approved thickeners is one area that is not safe. Approved thickeners like Clear Jel, is safe to use for thickening in home canning. If someone can show me where somewhere along the way flours and starch type products have scientifically been proven to be safe to home can, I’ll listen. Common sense prevails also, and the reason I’ve never been able to find any PROOF of this is because it makes sense that thickeners interfere with heat processing and pressure infiltration.
Listen, trust me, I’ve done it all…I’ve canned with pasta, with flour, etc etc etc and the result did not meet the brilliant idea and expectation that was laid out in my mind. I’m hard headed, if there is a will, there is a way (at least that’s my default thought process) so I have searched and practiced and tried all of it, sooooooooooooooooo…
When I say that home canning with thickeners and starch products is not safe, it’s from personal experience, based on scientific fact, that says something that appeals to my common sense, and because I didn’t believe until I tried to prove them all wrong.
There are very few things that I will state unequivicably no to, but those few things I’m a die hard about. Starch products, thickeners, eggs and dairy is my list. I don’t hafta like it, but I’ve come to respect and accept the limitations that home canning proposes.
As Kathy in FL says, everyone can do their own research and draw their own conclusions. You just personally won’t ever find me advocating something that is iffy to my standards. As I’ve said before, I put too much time and work into my preserving to take risks that are easily avoided.
Take it or leave it, I err on the side of safety with these particular areas. If others want to do it their way, that’s fine by me…I’m just sharing what I’ve learned along the way.
Shad.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 22:07
I would say yes. Those beans that aren’t covered are subject to any little beasties that could be in the air of the jar. Particularly to mold. That’s one of the reasons that you have to remove all air bubbles out of your product before putting the seals and rings on. The trapped air could contaminate your product with something nasty and there would go all of your painstaking sterilization. Also make sure any instrument that you are putting down into you product to remove air bubbles is sterilized.
An easy way is just to throw your beans in a pan of water and then put them in the frig overnight. By the next day they should be ready to can following the recipe for canning beans.
OK, so, just to double check with all you expert canners. If I make meat balls approx. 1 inch diameter without bread crumbs or eggs. bake them then hot pack them with hot tomato based sauce (without the sage) leaving 1 inch head space and processed as for meat. does anyone see any problems with that? Or have any hints/suggestions?
Tomo - at 22:42
I’ve home canned beef meatballs and even sausage meatballs in my Marinara and it has canned very well…I think you’d be very pleased with it.
Shad.
Ok, No flour thickeners, at all…Can meat be browned in it or not even that much? Would Clear Jel, work for thickening something like stroganoff? Is the tomato paste OK?
Shad??? Do you have any problem, with your jars unsealing, if you stack them, in their original boxes?? Wonder if some of that bubble, packing stuff would help, if so?
Thanks! We had your Chicken Cacciatore for dinner tonight…YUMMY!
Tomo – at 22:42
Sounds good to me. Just make sure that the meatballs are kind of rolled around in the sauce to avoid potential air pockets.
I usually put the meatballs in hot sauce (e.g., spaghetti sauce) and then put the combination into the jar; however, you could pack your jar with meatballs and then pour the sauce over them. Just make sure to check for pockets of air that might get trapped by the sauce. You could put a folded towel on the counter and lightly tap the jar on it to make air bubbles break … similar to what you do with cake batter. Or run a sterile instrument around the inside of the jar to mix everything and allow any air pockets to break.
mom11 – at 23:46
It’s interesting you brought up the Clear Jel for thickening things other than pie filling. That same thought has been crossing my mind as we’ve been discussing this whole thickener thing. It would seem to be ok to use, but as I type this, it’s usually used for pie fillings, which are water bath canned and not pressure canned. I don’t know if this would have any effect on the thickener trying to process it under pressure for a 90 minute time period. I think I’ll do some research on Clear Jel itself…there’s alot of information out there and we’ll see if maybe that’s a viable alternative.
I repackage my jars into their original cartons all the time…I have about 80 or more cases stacked in my dining room right now. I’ve never had a problem with storing them like that (other than trying to find what I want), but I’m always careful as I stack things. Generally, if my jars don’t seal it’s directly due to some error in the processing, but I don’t see where taking extra precautions like bubble wrap would hurt anything.
I’m glad you liked the Cacciatore…you’re making me hungry for some just thinking about it…lol
Shad.
Shad. Below are some of the newer “rules” for canning. What’s your opinion?
Do you make up your own canning recipes?
Listed as Unsafe. Making up your own canning recipe — without using scientifically tested recipes and methods, you will not know how long the products need to be processed to be safe
Do you add extra ingredients such as onions, chilies, bell peppers or other vegetables to canning directions?
Listed as Unsafe. Adding extra onions, chili, bell peppers, or other vegetables to tested canning recipes dilute the acidity and can result in botulism poisoning because the product will not be properly acidified.
Do you use the Cold-Pack Processing method?
Listed as Unsafe. This old fashioned system is still in general use, but is no longer a recommended procedure. Cold-packing is the practice of packing food directly into storage jars without heating either the food or the jar first. Usually the product is raw fruit or vegetables, whole or chunked, over which a heated preserving liquid or syrup is poured. The food is then sealed and processed. This method is now considered unsafe because we know that without heat processing, bacteria, yeast and mold contamination is common. For those reasons, it is no longer a recommended procedure except for certain pickles that are packed in a strong vinegar brine solution.
Do you store home canned products longer than one year?
Listed as Unsafe. The recommended storage time for most home canned food is one year. Storing food longer than is not recommended — lengthy or overly hot storage will also decrease quality and some nutrients may be lost.
I’ve also heard rumblings that they are going to remove the raw pack method for meats from the accepted practice list. Ugh! That’s how I can much of my meat.
Kathy in FL – at 07:12
lol…You really are persistant, aren’t ya?
It’s ok to agree to disagree. You are free to do things your way, as am I. I don’t know how much research you’ve done on home canning, but I’ve gone back to the very beginnings and read about how home canning practices have evolved over time. I have taken that information, coupled it with the scientific findings over the years and recommendations stated today and drawn my own personal conclusions.
If you were to go back to 1909, you will find the earliest publications in regard to home canning (then referred to as “domestic canning” lol). It was known back then that decay, as caused by molds, yeasts and bacteria was a major health concern. Originally it was thought that the process needed to kill all the harmful organismns was one that happened over several days. It was thought that when the product cooled, was when the problems started, so the recommendations back then was to bring the product up to the proper temperature in boiling water for 1 hour, over a 2–3 day period.
In 1917, the revised their tables, and suggested processing methods and times that varied between water bath canning, water seal processes and pressure canning processes. Back then it was stated that uncooked meat products could be water bath canned for 2 hours, fish could be water bath canned for 2 hours, corn for 2 hours, mushrooms for an hour and a half, etc. One month later, this was revised to be more inclusive to pressure canning.
Over the period of 1917–1922 many scientific advances were made, knowledge was gained with the “why’s” of processing and the “reasons” for spoiling. At that time, 3 methods of preserving were recommended:
“Steam pressure, a continuous water bath or steam bath, and intermittent water bath or steam bath.”
In 1923 The Bureau of Home Economics was formed and many of the prior recommendations for safe home canning were completely overturned. The value of pressure canning was being recognized and they were learning through their studies the reasons why many foods would spoil with longer termed storage. This was mainly due to the improper original processing methods. How that process evolved is simply stated here:
“During the first years of the 1920s many changes in science and technology took place which later influenced home canning research and process determinations. Attention was focused on the numerous botulism outbreaks caused by commercially canned products (Toepfer et al, 1946). Industry recognized the importance of canned food-process studies. Simultaneous reports were being published on heating rates under various conditions and the thermal resistance of food spoilage organisms. A summary of the relevant literature served as a guide to explain later changes in canning process recommendations.”
Obviously science was advancing, but imperfectly at that. The illustrious Ball Corporation initially stated in 1927 that it was a sound practice to institute *trial and error*, meaning processes a few jars of tomatoes, corn, beef, ect for the lowest amount of time. Let it sit in storage for a while and if, when you open it, the product is still fresh, then that originally determined time is adequate. If, when you open it, the product is spoiled, *back to the drawing board, per se* and use longer processing times, etc.
I personally find that theory utterly ridiculous, but then again, they didn’t have the knowledge and advances that we have today and it was a journey in progress, as they researched the ability to safely home can products.
Botulism was recognized as the greatest threat to home canning, so over the years, extensive research was done to remove that threat. Between 1929 and 1946 great strides were made, many things were discovered like *acid foods/non-acid foods* and the needs required for both to safely home can. It was discovered that altitudes effected processing so tables were laid out to accomodate those differences.
Anyway, the point is, home canning has evolved over the years to the specific science it is today. From it’s humble beginnings that started with people having a desire to preserve their foods themselves for their families, to the proven safe guidelines given today was a long, at times lethal and lengthy process.
This is an example of research I have done, to come to the conclusions I live by today. You can read for yourself this history in the USDA’s “Critical Review of Home Preservation Literature and Current Research” found here:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/usda/review/report.html
Home processing has been perfected over the years as it relates to fruits, vegetables and meats. For me, it is common sense and quite apparent that unapproved additives like thickeners interfere with the current established processing guidelines.
Do I can my own recipes? Yes, as I stated before, I only use products that have been tested and proven to be safe to home can.
Do I use cold pack? Yes, because it is still listed as being safe in some products in the USDA’s Center for Home Food Preservation guidelines.
Do I store home canned products longer than a year? Yes, I do because there is scientific evidence that nutrients are preserved for a longer period of time than just one year. Yes, after a certain amount of years, those nutrients will suffer, but the safety of consuming is not compromised. I rotate my products well within a safety margin to insure that my children are eating healthy, nutritious foods that are made from scratch with none of the commerical garbage added to them.
Anyway, that’s a little of my NSHO about home canning.
Shad.
shadddup – at 09:05
Oh hey … I was asking to educate myself, not to be a smart aleck. LOL!
Seriously though, I was just wanting your opinion since you’ve paid more notice to the USDA than I have. I prefer to go with TNT (tried and true). I know I would probably horrify some folks, but my mom still cans tomato juice and pears in half-gallon jars and I’ve never gotten sick off of them. I don’t use those jars because I don’t have any experience with them … but my mom’s stuff is always OK. And a lot of my folks in KY still use those jars for fruits and tomatoes. <shrug>
Let me go back and read your post more carefully. Just wanted to send off a quick note on the thread to correct any misconceptions that I may have caused. I was asking out of respect … not out of attitude. And I’ll be interested to hear what you find out about the clear-jel.
Ok, this is really silly to be 50 years old and have never boiled chicken before, but I guess I haven’t. I boil hamburger meat all the time…….
Yesterday I boiled cut up pieces of chicken so I could can them and the boiling process caused foamy stuff so I strained it off as best I could, then put meat and the chicken & water it was boiled in into canning jars and processed.
The water still had bits of foamy stuff that was too small to strain out with a metal strainer & I forgot until this very second that I could probably have used cheesecloth, but I didn’t.
The jars look great — the water is clear, but there is a little bit of residue at the bottom of the jars — looks like tiny particles of meat — that OK??
I’m repacking my beans now for reprocessing…..sigh.
OK … re-read your post. <grin>
Yep, I did one of my first research papers as a kid on the history of home preservation and canning specifically. I agree that some of the “hit or miss” tactics that were espoused in some publications in the 1800′s and 1900′s were just plain poor judgement. From what I have found out from reading my family’s “receipt books” and hand written notes there were tables out there that they used to can from … but they were time vs. psi/time type tables like we’ve used since the late 80′s. On the other hand, my mom says that since childhood … and she is just shy of 60 … her family always canned using pressure gauges on their canners. My grandmother could be kind of particular though, so it might have been her and granddaddy’s idea rather than a regular practice through out the country.
Now the one thing my family never had to deal with was altitude adjustments … living in KY/TN didn’t change things that much from FL as far as that goes.
I had not heard of the change in the cold-pack directions no longer being “approved” but I called the extension office and they say that has been taken off the good practice list despite it still be widely practiced. The extension office is where I first heard the gossip that the USDA is seriously considering changing their raw pack directions to unapproved.
As far as the one-year-and-then-throw-it-away guidelines; I’ve researched and found that in my opinion it is basically a CYA by the USDA … same as the “use by” dates on commerically canned products. Based more on potential loss of nutrition rather than the food actually going bad any quicker than it ever did.
My basic understanding is that it isn’t the science alone that is causing the increasing number of changes by the USDA. A lot of it has to do with the fact that since canning is not as widespread as it used to be, there has been more opportunity for inexperience to play a role in some of the “might cause” statements they include for saying a practice is no longer considered safe. So has the litigious atmosphere here in the US.
One interesting note that I have found recently is that the new varieties of tomatoes are lower in acid. If you use heirloom varieties of tomatoes for canning, it is still OK to hot water bath can; however, newer varieties now are so low in acid that they really should be pressure canned. Because too few people can distinguish between the heirloom vareities and the newer varieties of tomatoes, the USDA has now stated that you should no longer use the hot water bath method of canning for any tomato product. The change in the product itself I can understand. Its been years since I canned tomatoes because it just wasn’t economical … but I’ve told my mom that she needs to stick to heirloom tomatoes if she wants to hot water bath her juice. Now I’m trying to figure out if this would also apply to tomato jellies and jams as I wanted to make some for Christmas.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 10:50
I usually don’t take the time to clarify my stock … take the bits of floaty stuff out of it. <grin>
Next time, try using a fine, metal tea strainer type thing. I know you can get them large enough to cover skillets (splatter control device) as well as some that nest inside a mixing bowl. I would think either one of those would work. I’ve seen them in metal, plastic, and nylon.
I’ve got some raw-pack stew meat that has a lot of “floaty” stuff that has sunk to the bottom because I bought cheap cuts of meat and then didn’t cut enough of the fat off. I’ve used several jars with no problem. Its not as pretty as the strained hot pack meat … but I’ve never had a problem.
From the sound it is basically homemade stock that hasn’t been “prettied up.” But wait to hear from Shad as she does this more often than I do. I can more beef and pork than I do chicken.
Whew! That’s one thing then that I don’t have to redo! I had a little hand-held tiny mesh strainer I was using and it got most of the foamy stuff off. I got it free from Prepared Pantry with another order I’d gotten from them so that was nice to have on hand.
Now I’ve got a question for you both based on what 3 of you have said: Kathy, I think you said you don’t stack your jars, and Shad says she does. Mom11 does, and has had no problems that she’s reported so I’m assuming that works for her.
I read somewhere to remove the jar ring after I’ve canned my stuff so I can reuse it and the jars and just buy the flat seals each time. I’ve never been comfortable with removing the rings, don’t know why, just seems more dangerous in case one of the seals comes unsealed or something to me.
Anyway, my question is, do you think that storing the jars WITH the rings ON, might make a difference in the success of refilling the boxes with filled jars & stacking them back up?
I’m workin’-on-it---at 10:50,
You mention that you boil hamburger. Never heard of that, but it sounds like it might be a good way to cook a lot of hamburger at one time for canning. Can you tell me a little more about that? Does it result in a less flavorful product when you’re done? Or perhaps less greasy? For canning, I’d probably want to drain and rinse it again in clear water, just to be sure it was as free of fat as possible; but what about for just general use?
Again, I’m interested in hearing more about this method of cooking hamburger, as I’ve never heard of boiling it before. Thanks.
PS --- earlier a recipe for canning porcupine meatballs was posted. Am I correct in assuming that the cooked rice in the meatballs would not be approved by the USDA? Too bad, as I really like porcupine meatballs.
I am new to home canning, but I was wondering if you could bake your meatloaf in the jar before you can it. Just so long as you did NOT preheat the oven first. (So as to heat the jars slowly and not cause them to break. I have done this with banana bread with good results. However it has a short shelf life, like a week only. Also I need a trusty apple pie filling recipe for a water bath canner.
Does anyone have one?
Thanks
Day After Tomorrow…..if you’ll look under the Pandemic Preparedness link to the left near the top of the page, it’ll lead you to a food section somewhere that has a TON of recipes for canning foods & you could probably find the pie filling there — at least you’ll find lots of a variety of things so if you haven’t already looked that stuff up, you should!
As far as the hamburger meat, Genoa, I’m a member of several Yahoo cooking groups and the Once A Month Cooking group taught me that. I’ll take the biggest pot I have, fill it with crumbled hamburger meat, cover with water, and boil it. It keeps the stovetop clean — no greasey splatters — and then I use a soup ladle and remove the meat from the pot to a collander in the sink and wash it off with the sprayer. Then, when it’s good and drained, I’ll weigh it on my food scale and bag it up 1 lb at a time and vaccuum seal it. That’s what I usually do. Yesterday I took over 6 lbs of VERY lean meat, boiled it and then washed and drained it, spread it on 2 cookie sheets and dehydrated it in the oven. I split it between 2 quart jars, each almost full, put an oxy abs inside and sealed the rascals up. This morning the seal is good and tight without the ring (but I’m leaving the ring on anyway) and ready to pack away. As far as flavor, the ‘grease’ flavor is gone and that’s what some people taste most so it does taste slightly ‘different’ in that the flavor of the meat is not masked with greasey taste. It’s a fine mild flavored meat that’s great either in casseroles or soups, etc. You CAN salt the water you boil it in if you want to and it’ll enhance the mild flavor somewhat, but most of the things you’d be putting it in will already have salt in it and the meat will pick up those flavors as you simmer it. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no difference except in the EASE OF COOKING and the more HEALTHY product in the end.
Genoa, I do the exact same thing, boil my hamburger, then cool it overnight in the fridge and lift of the hardened grease. Then I add chopped onions, reheat the burger and salted broth back to boiling and then hot pack it in hot jars. It makes for a shorter canning day cooking the day before, and in a big pot you can do a very large amount of hamburger. The burger is milder-flavored without the grease; if you don’t find the salt objectionable I find it does help the flavor. (Beef boullion could also be used.)
Ok, here’s another question — my plan was to stack my boxes of canned foods back into the stack I started with when they were piled up empty. But what I figured I’d do was to pack a box with a little of each — some canned chicken, some canned pintos, some canned green limas, some canned pork, some vac packed powdered milk, some canned fruit and some canned beef all in one box. That way I’d have ‘everything but the bread’ in one box. Assuming that stacking the jars back in their box, putting the cardboard & the box that held the lids back into the box and then stacking them on top of each other works out OK, does anyone see any problem with having a variety of foods stored in one box?
Be sure to stick a label on the outside of each box listing the contents and purchase or expiry dates. That’s what I’ve done. For easy rotation, I group cans with similar expiry dates together in a box.
Right now, I keep every can that should be used within the next 12 months unboxed on open shelving for easy access.
Irene, that’s just exactly what I had in mind with my filled canning jars — I have a space beside my freezer which is inside a closet, where a box of Mason canning jars will just fit with about an inch and half on all sides and was hoping to stack stuff back up there when I’d finished canning them and then keep remainder jars, or about to expire jars on my kitchen shelves.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 11:49
The only reason I don’t stack my jars is because I don’t have the space tall enough to do so and because I can mostly in quart size. But when I do stack them, it just back in the case that I bought the jars in. I leave in the cardboard dividers as well to keep the jars from clinking together.
I also leave my rings on. Some people don’t at all. Some people do it hit or miss. I called my mom and asked her and she said it used to be a matter of economy to take the rings off. And if you are storing your cans out of doors, such as in a fruit house or root cellar, the rings can corrode. They don’t effect the sealed foods, but it can make it difficult to remove them from the jar as well as make it impossible to re-use them.
I leave my rings on for two reasons. 1) Again, because I can mostly in quart-size jars, the rings just give me one more thing to hang onto them with. and 2) all of my canned goods are stored inside in air conditioned space (my “pantry”) which means that my rings rarely, if ever, deteriorate unless I get some food on them … such as spill over during the canning process.
My personal preference is to leave the rings on, though that can get expensive. I’m not sure that I could provide a scientific reason for doing so … but it is what works for me.
Genoa – at 12:57
There aren’t all that many “USDA approved” recipes out there. That’s kind of a misnomer. There are “approved” canning practices though.
In the example of the porcupine meatballs, the rice is a binding agent for the meat. It does not act as a thickening agent.
I would not use rice in a soup or stew whether it was cooked or uncooked. I treat it like pasta in that regard. However, the cooked rice that is already in the cooked meatballs won’t have the starch effect of a thickener. It is a hot pack recipe, not a raw pack one.
The day after tomorrow – at 13:06
I wouldn’t do it. There is too much potential for contamination. If you want to can something that is already cooked, stick with meatballs or sausage balls.
To hot pack meat, you need to make sure that everything is scrupulously sanitized and sterile and both the jar and the item going into the jar needs to be hot. No matter how careful you were, what you suggest leaves time for the meat to cool significantly and possibly unevenly before the canning process begins.
By raw packing the meatloaf, you don’t have a gorgeous product and there is grease of course, but you are assured that the product heats up correctly and maintains its heat appropriately for the seal to occur.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 10:50
I agree with the others, how you boiled and canned your chicken is perfectly fine. I cold pack my chicken chunks and there’s all kinds of scum floating around in the jars but it does not adversely effect the product, and actually the broth, once opened, makes a great broth to be used in other recipes.
Kathy in FL – at 11:00
The National Center for Home Food Production still advocates home canning of cold meats, consequently I still can that way and will continue to until a valid health reason is discovered that it is no longer safe.
As with many of our foods, things that were assessed years ago may not be applicable today. Like you mentioned, the tomatoes grown today outside of heirloom varieties do not have the acid levels they once had. Many other of our vegetables and fruits have genetically been altered for one reason or another (longer shelf lives, better transporation, bigger/prettier, etc). That’s one of the reason I grow the heirlooms myself. They’re a little more work but the nutrition can’t be beat.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 11:49
Yes I stack my jars, and yes, I generally keep my rings on. I have a slew of friends who are die hard *remove the rings* kinda girls, but personally I’ve just always felt that the ring gives a little added protection to protect the seal. I have however, removed the rings when I needed some. 0:)
Genoa – at 12:57
Again, a difference of opinion lol…
Rice may be used as a binding agent but the density of the rice is not something I’d risk home canning. To me it rates up there with the flours/starches/thickeners, etc due to it’s starchy quality. I will however admit that out of all the wrong things I’ve done with my home canning, rice is not one I’ve bothered with, probably cause I don’t personally eat alot of rice.
The day after tomorrow – at 13:06
No ma’am…the jar manufacturers themselves do not recommend putting their jars in the oven. Although my *cakes in a jar* were one of my faux pas of the past, I’ve come to realize how unsafe that practice is, whether it’s cakes or meatloaf.
Here’s the recipe I used to can up my apple pie filling:
Apple Pie Filling Recipe:
28 cups apples, peeled and sliced
Syrup:
4 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cup clear jel
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
10 cups water
Cook syrup until thick and bubbly. Add:
3 tbsp. lemon juice
Pour over apples in large dishpan and mix. Spoon into sterile jars; don’t make jars too full as it expands while processing. Put in hot water bath for 20 minutes. Makes 8 quarts.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 14:01
I see no reason to have any concerns.
I used to be a rings-on gal for the reasons mentioned, until I started finding out what was _under_ those rings… remember, the jars vent hot gasses, and often a little liquid and oil, too. That was all up around the top of the jar when I’d take off the rings to eat, and the thought of all that “good stuff” attracting those cock-a-roaches to my storing boxes was enough to put me off keeping the rings on forever more. I always wash my jars sans rings in very hot soapy water before storing to get that residue off.
I’ve heard of the fabled “dry weld” of rings fusing to lids but never personally had it happen. It’s supposed to be a bear when it does, though — the hammer it takes to get them off often has a negative impact upon the jar and food therein. (s)
So far as my canning habits go (in case anyone is interested):
No raw pack (of meats) at all. Vegetables packed with meats can be raw but are in a boiling hot broth at time of canning.
No cold pack, period. I will fill, lid and ring hot jars of food and keep them fridge if I don’t have time to can them that day, but bring them up to steaming hot in the open canner before processing.
Jars, lids, and rings are always as hot as I can handle while canning, and bleach is my friend. A jot in the rinse water of the jars, a dot in with the lids, and a good wipe around the kitchen surfaces to keep down the background bacteria. Utensils are run through a bit of boiling water. Brewing beer is great practice; lick your fingers and touch a surface and you could end up with a skunky batch. It really teaches you to be careful about inadvertently introducing bacteria! (And is a very fun hobby. I don’t know why people say “smelling like a brewery” like it’s a bad thing — the whole house smells like baking bread. It’s wonderful. But I digress.)
I do make my own recipes and process at the time required for the longest-processing ingredient. Since that is usually meat, it all goes for 90 at 10 in quarts.
I don’t use thickeners, ever. Everything is in a watery broth. I have canned apples with cornstarch, but won’t any more. I don’t know where to buy Clear Jel but would in a second! I love my cinnamon redhot apple pie filling!
I can and do eat things that go past a year in storage. Never had any complaints. In fact, I found a “lost” box of salsa that had to be over 10 years old. Since I’ve developed a severe allergy to vinegar I couldn’t taste any of it, but my! It smelled just as fresh and wonderful as the day I canned it when I put it down the drain! All those lovely hot pepper rings… boo hoo…
Thanks, Shad! Now let me get this straight… for hot water bath canning, I want the _regular_ not the _instant_, right?
Yes ma’am! Instant Clear Jel is not recommended for home canning.
Good luck!
Shad.
Busy day for us all! Thanks for all the knowledgeable answers!!!
I’m-workin’-on-it & Northstar, Thanks for the information on boiling hamburger. I’m definitely going to try that. I really like your method of canning, too, Northstar.
Kathy in FL & Shaddup, Thanks for your answers about the rice. I’ve just come back to canning after a number of years when I didn’t can, so a lot has changed. For now, I’m trying to stay as close to USDA recommendations as practical so I’ll probably forego the porcupine meatballs for canning. I’ve always had good success with freezing them.
One thing I haven’t been able to wrap my mind around is cold packing meat/poultry. I think what I can’t figure out is how the meat creates its own juices for canning---especialy something like boneless chicken breasts. Anyone have a picture of the finished product?
Hi!
Northstar…If you live near any Amish or Mennonite Communities, you can buy Clear Jel from their own little stores. If you e-mail me, I could pop some in the mail to you!
My cow is still in the freezer and we check that freezer door a dozen times a day. Don’t want anymore foxes! Anyway…I’m waiting for everybody to duke out the rules, before I do anymore new recipes….I’m too lazy to go look up anymore…..PLUS stupid me…I passed out twice last night and the second time, I hit my head and ended up with a concussion and two layers of stitches…Chicks told me they could see my skull…DANG! To think I just missed Halloween! That would have been an extra TREAT!…TeeHee!!!!
Tomorrow, I am going to the big city, to get 15 sheets of MDF…My #5 is building, lots of big, heavy duty storage shelves….For all my canning! They are really cool, 24 inches wide, and the chicks can even lay across the shelves and NOT break them. He has already made me one 4ft.wide, floor to ceiling unit, now going for the 8ft. ones. #7 has been painting the kitchen, bright yellow…We won’t need any alternative light source, if we lose the power, this kitchen glows!
mom11 – at 23:02….I passed out twice last night and the second time, I hit my head and ended up with a concussion and two layers of stitches…
What on earth made you pass out?? I’m sooooo sorry you got hurt so badly and I’ll bet you’ll be sore for a few days! lordy, Girl, be careful with yourself…..:-)
Hi I’m-workin’-on-it!
I don’t know. I had felt kind of sick to my stomach all day and rememeber feeling that way when I woke up during the night. My kidneys had been hurting and I had gone and picked more apples, for an elderly couple, that own an orchard and couldn’t get anyone to pick the apples. Maybe, I just got too tired and cold, but I’m pretty tough, so wouldn’t think that would have done it. I rememeber kicking off the electric blanket. I must have gotten up and just passed out. Baby Madonna was by me asking if I was ok. I must have gotten up, to try and get to the bed and the next thing I knew, I was bleeding everywhere, but I don’t remember anything about why and I didn’t feel any pain…THEN! NOW! WHEWWW! Didn’t get a single pain pill out of the deal, either! Guess I’m just klutz!!!
The two chicks that took care of me…Just can’t handle blood and guts, but they did everything you would hope they would do. They took care of me and called a friend to take me to the hospital. I really wasn’t fully aware of what happened. Their little hands were just trembling. They didn’t go to bed, until I got home and even had my bloody sheets in the wash. Thanks!
Genoa – at 22:27
I can take pictures of my cold packed chicken and beef but I don’t know how to attach a picture on this message board…any ideas?
Shad.
Shad, the easiest thing is to go to www.photobucket.com and put them there then give us a link to your photo page.
mom11 – at 00:10 that must have been scary for you and the chicks, sweet little things, they showed their love for you every way they could. Meanwhile you keep your blood pressure in check!
Well, until I get the pics of the chicken, here’s several posts with attached pictures of SOME of my canning…I have it everywhere in the house…lol
In the picture of the canning in my bottom cabinet you can see a broth I canned where I didn’t take the time to skim off the majority of the fat. The broth is no good and I just need to pitch it.
(click on *attachment* at the top of each of the posts to pull the picture up)
Shad.
I’m going to try and get a round of canning in today. Might not happen as I have to clean the house before I get to “play” and the kids also have some activities tonight … soccer and then two oldest (highschool) are in a renaissance dinner theater fund raiser. My oldest is the “queen of hearts” and the 14 year old has a couple of bit parts as a jouster, page, and Lord Something or Other (Bedford?) in a scene from King Henry V.
Watching how quickly they are growing up and maturing into areas I would never have guessed is what makes me pray that the pandemic never occurs and I’m just practicing a frugal lifestyle and not prepping for the end of the world as we know it (temporary or not). Getting to know their friends makes it doubly difficult because I know that their parents just wouldn’t get it. I try and say things here and there but I know it will never be enough if a pandemic does occur.
Well, I must be in a mood this morning. Think I’ll go sample some of the lovely weather we are having to get my equilibrium back.
Kathy in FL ~
I know what you mean. I need to finish painting the laundry room. I hafta go rent a car because my youngest son’s car was stolen by some undesireables (I’ve been fuming all morning and have had many high powered tool thoughts). I’m going to make homemade pizza for dinner tonight which means I hafta get the crust made so it can start rising this morning, and maybe make a cherry pie.
Time flies with kids, the older I get the more I try to hang on to every moment. I hope and pray too that the world as we’ve always known it doesn’t change too drastically for them…they deserve to have the carefree freedom that we enjoyed. Who knows how it’ll all go down, but just in case things do get bad, one thing my children know is that mom is prepared and that makes them feel safe in their todays (even though they think I’m nuts).
I give mine lots of hugs…it feels wierd hugging my sons…one is 6′6, the other is 6′5 and all I can think of when they do give me hugs is how I held them in my arms when they were babies…
Shad.
Wow! A lot going on here. Mom11 … Sorry about your injuries. Aren’t you proud your kids came through when they needed to? I hope you can figure out what caused your fainting, as it is NOT normal and there has to be an underlying cause.
Kathy & Shad … What a difference having children makes in our lives, huh? It’s such a joy to watch our children grow up and become their own person---someone we can like and respect. At the other end of the spectrum, I have a multiply handicapped child who needs care 24/7. I won’t lie, it is difficult and demanding and some days I’m not sure I can keep it up. But whatever happens during the day---good or bad---my first thought is always of this child and what effect the day’s events might have.
Shad … if it would be easier to post a picture on Mrs. S, I could check over there. I appreciate your taking the time to do that. When you raw pack the chicken do you pack it in the jar pretty tightly? Do you prefer this method over cooking the chicken first and packing it in the broth produced when cooking it?
Shad,Kathy, et all…
I don’t know if it’s the moon phase or what but I’ve been in the same state of mind today. I’d suggest that perhaps it’s in the air but you guys are in FL. and I’m in OR.! I really need to get a round of meatballs canned but both my little ones are sick and very clingy, their only 3.5 and 1. I feel that I really need to give them the quality and quantity of time they need at this point. So, perhaps this weekend when my husband is home and can watch them the meatballs will get done. The time flies, I can’t believe my oldest is already 3.5 yrs old and my baby is 1. Seems like I was just pregnant yesterday.
I look at the world and the pandemic threat and also hope that it doesn’t happen for a long time. The change in the world would be a little easier on my younger kids because they don’t know much different yet, but I know. I want them to grow up with all opportunities they have today. The consequences of a coming pandemic scare me more for my kids than for myself. I have a full life, I’ve lived a full life. I am happy and content to be where I am in life. My kids, well, you moms know how we all feel about our kids. Talk about a motivator.
My daughter just thinks mom is canning for the winter and she’s right. I am preparing for the potentially long winter of a pandemics societal collapse and restart. It’s been a humbling experience, because you know that you can never really be fully prepared. So, with my “god given time” I am setting about learning and honing new skills. Skills I am normally happy to pay someone else to do for me. Skills that will make me as self sufficient as possible. I’m trying to take care of all those things around the property and house that might not be so easy one day soon. All the while knowing that to truly be competent and self sufficient would take a lifetime of work and learning, yet taking heart in every small step. In the mean time, unless I win the lottery and can get hooked up with an Eccles type solar energy system I am at the point of adding on and supplimenting to the core of my preps. I think I’ll always be canning now, I figure I can never have too much of that!
I am trying to make a conscience effort to live in the moment. I want to fully absorb every hug and snuggle I can while life is still “normal”. I’m laughing and playing in forts while my canner is steaming away. I am trying to stop multitasking and give those around me my complete and undivided attention when they need it and really connect. I’ve always been a live life to the fullest, stretch the comfort zone type of person. I always have to be learning and growing to avoid my fear of stagnation. Yet, I must admit that this never ending journey to preparedness has challenged me in to grow in ways that I can’t yet express verbally. I am uneasy about the uncertainty of the future and am working on letting go of the things that I can’t change while continuing to pick away at those that I can. Regardless of what happens I am already a better person/mother/wife for the growth that has come out of getting prepared.
I wasn’t joking about the mood I’m in today. I think thats my longest post yet, please forgive my rant…. but keep the recipes and great canning ideas coming :)
I feel like we’re taking a break, sitting around the kitchen table, having a cup of coffee and sharing what we REALLY feel…it’s kinda nice actually.
Tomo, you said very eloquently what I think most of us are thinking and feeling. I think we’ve all grown in many ways since we discovered the art of prepping. Prepping has a way of simplifying life, of arranging priorities correctly and of getting our focus on what is really important in life. Like you, I’ve been very blessed to do many things financially, paying others to accomplish the things I wanted or needed. I hafta say though, that there is a part of my heart that just swells with pride since I started to learn and/or do these things for myself. I like the depth of knowledge that I’ve gained over the years. I like the fact that when the normal ups and downs of life hit, that I’m able to keep standing on two feet, while others are propelled into panic and fear. I like the fact that I can in turn, give and teach them the things others have taught me along the way, and I absolutely love watching understanding dawn in their eyes, as they start to feel a little less afraid and a little more in control. That is such a gift.
I have alot of chit going on in my life right now, I’m under alot of stress and pressure and yanno what? I’m doing pretty good. The investments I’ve made in preps is not limited to just food and water. My foundational prep is my spiritual walk, and with all the other preps I’ve learned how to also do, has built a pretty solid structure. I’m grateful for that. I’m praying and contemplating leaving the illustrious suburbs of Miami for a very rural farm in the mountains. I have a contract on the house, all I hafta do is sell mine here which won’t be a problem, I just hafta tweak a few things and I’ll be ready to go. That’s the easy part. The hard part is moving my children, leaving my parents and brothers, moving to a lifestyle I’ve never lived before. I have many concerns about the future, I see this opportunity to further cement my ability to take care of my family, even extended family if needed, and for now I just keep it covered with prayer, seeking direction for what ultimately will be right for me.
Talking with y’all about canning is always a pleasure for me. I’m ridiculously passionate about it, I believe in it with all my heart and I’m thrilled to pieces that ya’ll are discovering for the first time, or rediscovering how rewarding it is to create with your own hands. They make the most awesome gifts, I have given so much of my stuff away and find it sweet at the amazement of others when the realize they’ve been given something that isn’t too common today. They know it’s pure, and I know it’s pure and filled with love cause I’m particular with every jar I fill. We’ll all continue to have lots of fun here talking about different things we home can, trying new things and hopefully all growing in our knowledge.
Genoa, I think I’ll take you up on your suggestion…I’ll take a picture and have my daughter download it for me (I can’t find my cord to the camera *rolling eyes*) and just post it over at MrsS…that would probably be the quickest and easiest way to do it.
Thanks all for listening and God Bless.
Shad.
Shad, I have grown to love the rural lifestyle. It was an adjustment but I’ve found that this is where my heart is. You’ll know what is right for you and your family and will make the right decision. My thoughts are with you. Too bad we can’t all sit around and really chat, I’d love that!
shadddup – at 19:05 …and for now I just keep it covered with prayer
We can all stand in agreement with you on that!
I stack boxes of filled jars; never had a problem…just date the box !
On rings: I take them off the next day, wash jars carefully; wash rings and when dry; replace the rings on jars of meat products only.
I’ve canned tomato juice in quarts for just me; and used 1/2 gallons for family; never had a problem.
Also on canning meats; ( cooked everything first; strained broth…I like the looks of a strained broth )…..canned cooked porcupine balls in sauce, too.
can you can corned beef? Also, I’m looking for a mango chutney for pressure canning recipe, anyone?
thanks
Tomo – at 12:49
Tomo, I’ve seen both but don’t have the time to get back to looking today.
Over at Yahoo there is a group called canning2 that started up to get away from a canning group that lost its owner/moderator and became subject to “adult content” spam. They have a lot of folks on there that are really great and a ton of files as well. That’s probably where I saw the recipe. Hopefully I’ll find it by Monday. Kids have me running in circles trying to get them to all their activities this weekend.
Mom11: I hope you are feeling better today! Any idea what caused the fall? (Other than overwork!) I’m glad your kids could handle the situation! Thanks for the tip about checking an Amish store… we vacation in an Amish area (the anti-Vegas!) and there should be one I can look into.
Shad, Tomo, thanks for your thoughts. I too, am taking care to enjoy so much this time with my kids… there seems so much to do that I’m sure I miss a lot and feel guilty about it, but time with them seems so much more precious now.
Madamspinner, that’s an elegant solution to the rings on/rings off conundrum. (s) You have a lot of good ideas!
«Tomo – at 12:49..Also, I’m looking for a mango chutney for pressure canning recipe, anyone?»
>>>I found a recipe for mango chutney here:
Shannon has been an occasional poster here, also.
Would anyone happen to know of a Canadian source for a good quality pressure canner. I’d like to get one but I can’t seem to find a source here. I’d like to avoid the whole customs policy of ‘we’ll just hold your parcel for 2 months for no good reason’ and the exhorbitant shipping charges involved. Any help would be very much appreciated.
MaMa…have you tried ebay in Canada?
Shad.
Thanks for the suggestion shaddup, I have looked and no Canadian source listings right now. I do intend to keep checking there as new items are always being listed. Not to be a whiner but we’re on a pretty tight budget and I’d hate to double the cost of the canner in shipping and duties if it can be avoided. That way we can get more beans too :-)
MaMA, Try Berry Hill Limited (they’re based in Ontario I believe):
Ottawan, thank you so much! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that link- thanks again!
bgw in MT – at 17:35
Thanks for the mango chutney recipe, it sounds great! I can’t wait to try it.
Tomo,
I have made that mango chutney and it is beyond delicious. I’ve now made dozens of jars. It is time-consuming but worth it.
If I wanted to pressure can the chutney instead of water bath canning it would anyone have any idea where to find a safe process? I want to do it in 1/2 pints with a mind out for not being able to refrigerate leftovers easily and can get a lot more into a pressure cannner batch!
Hey, am I the only one that’s wondered this?
If I’ve cooked chicken breasts in slow cooker, the liquid left is chicken broth right?? So all I have to do is strain it then put it in a jar and can it, right? I know there’s all those ‘recipes’ for putting vegetables in it & cooking for awhile then throwing out the veggies, but do I really have to do that? If I’m going to put stuff in the broth, like when I make soups, isn’t that enough without having to put stuff in now before I can it, and later when I open it as well?
As thanks for you all putting up with my questions, I was given my husband’s mother’s cookbook a few weeks ago (she died before DH and I met) and it has his favorite recipe for meatballs in it that I think I can CAN! I wanted to share it with you — it’s sort of labor intensive (not a one pot clean-up), but he said it was terrific so I thought I’d share it and get your opinions of it as a canning recipe.
I made a notation if I knew I should change something for canning purposes but I may not have learned about something listed here that I shouldn’t put in. Here it is:
3 large green peppers, cut in strips
4 canned pineapple slices (old ckbk before they made pineapple chunks to buy)
1 lb ground chuck (switch to extra lean meat)
4t. soy sauce
3/4t. salt
1 t. seasoned salt
1/4t. pepper
1 T. flour (leave out for canning)
2 T. butter or margarine (for browning so could use Pam or nothing)
1 c. canned chicken broth
1/2c. pineapple juice
1/4c. vinegar
1T. cornstarch (again, leave out for canning)
1T. sugar
Fluffy hot rice or chow mein noodles
Cover green pepper strips with boiling water and cook for 3 minutes, drain.
Cut each pineapple slice into 6 pieces, drain.
Combine meat, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, salt, seasoned salt, and pepper, blend well.
Shape into small meat balls. Roll balls in flour and brown in butter over medium heat. Simmer 5 minutes. Reomve to hot platter to keep warm.
To butter in skillet add 1/3 cup chicken broth, green peppers and pineapple pieces. Cover and simmer 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine 2/3 cup broth, pineapple juice, vinegar, cornstarch, 2 t. soy sauce and sugar. Add to green pepper mixture. Stir constantly until thick and clear.
Pour pepper mixture over meat balls, Serve Hot with rice or chow mein noodles.
Yield 6 servings.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 16:22
Your recipe looks good to me, minus the alteration notes you made. Like I had said in another post, you might want to do a test batch, can just a few, let them sit for a month, pop them open, heat and try them. For some reason, some things just get yucky tastes after sitting for a while.
As far as your chicken broth idea you had, yes, you can home can just the broth without any veggies. All that the veggies do is add some vitamins, depth of flavor, etc, but there’s no reason you HAVE to use veggies to simmer a chicken broth.
Looking good!
Shad.
I hate to ask such a dumb question, but what do y’all do with that mango chutney? Use it as a meat sauce?
Northstar, I use it as a condiment on top of an east indian curry dish. shreaded chicken with curry sauce topped with coconut, raisins, french fried onions, peanuts, and mango chutney, over rice. Yum!!! think I may have to make some this week!
Pretty much a good condiment on anything. It’s great mixed with cream cheese and a bit of curry powder as a spread/dip for crackers/veggies
I use it on chicken, it is very good.
Hey, one last question before bedtime…..someone talked earlier about sausage being canned — patties I think it was.
We use a boudin sausage (Louisiana type cajun sausage packed in a ….well, we don’t want to talk about what it’s packed in, but I take it out of the package, heat it in a little water in a pan on both sides, split open the stuffed lining & empty the contents into a bowl of stewed okra and tomatoes. Any reason anyone can see why I can’t treat it like a soup and mix it up and can it?
I don’t see any reason you can’t home can it, but you would need to remove as much of the grease as possible before adding it to your recipe…same with regular sausage. I make my own sausage so I tend to make it on the leaner side anyway, just for health reasons and personal taste. Just remember that fats will potentially interfere with the seal during/after processing and they also tend to get rancid faster.
Shad.
OK, I’m soooooo worn out from jumping up and down to go check my canner to make certain that it’s working right all day long yesterday! My electric stove doesn’t keep the pressure consistent so I have to turn it up and down to keep it between 11#s and 15#s of pressure—another reason I make certain that I let the steam vent for a full 10 minutes or longer before putting the weight on the lid each time I can something. So I wear myself out hopping up and down to check to make certain it stays within that range!
So I have a new request for my Christmas stocking! I need a webcam that I can set up in the kitchen, focus it on the pressure dial & then monitor it from my computer in the family room! How’s THAT for high-tech canning!!!????
The only thing better than the webcam would be to have a remote control for the stove that works from the family room ;-)
There you go — I need to re-read my Smart Home book to see how to do that with those “X” thingies!!!
Got another couple of questions for you….when I soak beans & put a covering over them like a pizza pan or oven burner cover, in the morning when I remove the cover, the beans are topped with foamy white stuff. Is that the gas in the beans coming out?? :-)
And if so, why does it leave rust spots on my aluminum pizza pan bottom??
I had a jar actually change shape during the canning process I think!! As far as I know it went in with straight sides, but after processing one side sort of got wavy. Didn’t know that would happen! Also had 2 jars that didn’t seal with yellow split peas….messy! I got careless somewhere I guess.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 08:34 “ So I wear myself out hopping up and down to check to make certain it stays within that range! So I have a new request for my Christmas stocking! I need a webcam that I can set up in the kitchen, focus it on the pressure dial & then monitor it from my computer in the family room! How’s THAT for high-tech canning!!!???? “
Workin- I used to waterbath can on an electric range- what a pain. Instead of the webcam, ask for a propane burner. Husband bought me one from Dicks sporting goods when I got my pressure canner, for about 100.00. They have them in the Cabela’s or Gander Mountain catalogs (and probably lots of other places too) Mine’s a 2 burner and has legs so it stands about 30 inches high. I LOVE that thing. I can do 2 water baths or a water bath and a pressure canner at the same time. Once I get the pressure right I just listen a bit here and there for the jiggle. I have it in my garage so it’s just a hop out the door and also I have it near a back door to the garage so it’s vented. It’s also great in the summer when I want to can jams and such or cook up a few pounds of bacon to freeze or pan fry fish. My kitchen doesn’t get hot and steamy or smelly. I think you could probably also use the base of a turkey fryer. The propane flame is constant and takes a lot of hopping up and down out of the whole canning process
Well now, that’s an idea, but I don’t think I could do it since we don’t have a garage & no screened-in porch. We have mosquitos 3–1/2 seasons out of the year and to keep something at an even temp and not have cold outside air interfering, it would limit the seasons I could do canning outside. We don’t even BBQ outside ‘cause of the ‘squitos….although we have the equipment — we set up smudge pots, fans etc if we HAVE to cook outside. Another good reason to try to get the Home Owner Assoc to approve screened in decks!
I think I’ll try putting a clothes hanger under the canner & turning the heat to med-high to see if I can leave it there — maybe the little gap the hanger makes will let me regulate the canner evenly like I do my peanut butter fudge.
Actually got some canning done today, and I’ve set myself up a flexible schedule that I hope to get two types of items canned 6 days out of 7.
Today was 4 pints of kielbasa in BBQ sauce … didn’t make as much as I had hoped it would; will know to double the amount next time.
I also canned 6 quarts of meatballs in spaghetti sauce.
I turn my ac vents off in my kitchen when I am canning on my electric stove. I’ve also found the “knack” with how to set my canner up so that I’m not having to fiddle with it as much. It is easier to do with quarts than pints though.
Ok, how much water can I add to chicken broth to ‘stretch’ it? Or is that a no-no?
Mine seems more concentrated than what I buy in a can!
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 11:30
Add as little or as much as you want. I’ve seen chicken canned with just water and salt which then creates its own stock.
If you are just re-using what comes out of your home canned products … e.g. the “broth” made from canning chicken … then just dilute it to taste.
Here is an example …
When I can ground beef I hot pack it with beef stock and a little salt per quart. When I go to use the ground beef in a recipe, rather than waste the stock, I use it to make gravy with. Sometimes the stock is a little “powerful” and I dilute it with a little water first. It all depends on your personal preference.
Thanks Kathy, I’ve redone some of my canned beans because I wasn’t totally happy with the finished product, & I’ve been cooking chicken breasts in my slow cooker to can & freeze & had the broth but I’ve never canned it before — maybe I’ll get to it this afternoon — gonna pressure cook some stew first.
I’ve been experimenting with an “unstuffed cabbage” recipe… finally got my proportions about right, so when I “do up” a big batch to can I’ll post the recipe. I just love coming up with stuff to serve over rice… God knows that’ll come in handy!
Mmmm, cabbage rolls… comfort food. (S)
Hey, anyone see any problem with canning my stew meat in broth WITH the vegetables in the same jar? I SURE don’t want to have to separate the two….I have onion, carrots, corn, tomatoes, celery and potatoes in with my stew meat. I pressure canned it and I’m waiting for it to cool down. If one of you is nearby, I’ll look for an answer, otherwise don’t worry, I’ll check some of the canning sites & find out…..just wanted to go ahead and start meatballs while I was waiting for this stuff to finish cooling instead of staying on the computer! :-)
No, I-W-O-I; that’s almost the whole idea. Meal in a jar! (s)
Just reading all the work you gals are doing is making me exhausted. I was reading this 1907 book on Home and Health that I dug out of my basement last nite. Here is what it says about canners. “ The best housekeeper that ever lived can not approach Mother Nature in the matter of canning fruit. Every ripe apple, or plum. or peach, or cherry is a perfect little can of fruit, closed and sealed, air-tight and water-proof. Each can is labeled by its form and color. What a beautiful storehouse every orchard is.”
Unfortunately, Mother Nature’s cans don’t last as long as those you gals are making.
Northstar….that’s what I thought too, but my little book that came with my canner said otherwise…..I’m reading along and read to separate the vegetables out and then I’m suddenly thinkin’ Dinty Moore was sounding better and better!
Anyway, I did it all together….the pressure is almost to zero now, then I’ll be able to see how big a mess I made…I’m sooooo warn out, I don’t see how you folks do this all day and run a family and do chores as well. lord help me. I’d be just dead before I went to bed.
I’m not used to standing up as long as I’ve been standing the last few days and my back and feet are killing me — I need some Aleve!!!!
I pressure cooked the stew in the canner/cooker, then cleaned it and canned the stew. Amazing — this is the first time I’ve ever used that pot as a pressure cooker — that was fun!
I gotta go get some Aleve — I said that already. I’m gone.
Wow, you’re working hard, I-W-O-I! Go get that Aleve! I suppose if one wanted to be a purist and can the vegetables separately at a lesser time for optimal quality and the meat at its time for optimal quality and later combine the two… nah, a bit to Martha for me, YKWIM? That’s why I either roast my meat and chunk it up, or chunk it raw and boil it in the broth until almost done, and then add my raw vegetables, bring the whole thing back up to boil and THEN can it at the meat processing time… the veggies cook and add their flavors to the broth in the jar while the meat processes appropriately.
I _just_ got a pressure cooker from Aldi… LOVE IT! I have been cooking up a storm in it. Already burnt something, though, by not making sure I had it locked tight. As far as I know they are still on sale at Aldi for $35, a really good price for a good stainless steel cooker.
Newname, good to see a new person on this thread! I love hearing from all those heritage books… some of the best recipes I have come from Depression- or war-era cookbooks. (I have egg-and other food-allergic kids and a lot of the recipes are great make-do ones without eggs or butter. )
I’m-workin’-on-it ~
Home canning a beef stew as you described is something I’ve been doing for years, and I’m sure many other people have too. Just process for the time required for meats and you should be good to go!
Ain’t this fun?
0:)
Shad.
I’m just beginnng to second guess everything I thought I knew about canning…….My back is sore, my ankles are swollen from standing all day and my hands are so dry they hurt from all the jar and hand washing, I burned my arm on the side of my canner trying to cook supper around it, and I just discovered a knot in between my index finger and my middle finger’s “upper knuckle” up where my fingers connect and have no clue what caused it. Fun?
Torture.
I’m workin on it, it’s a SWEET torture, kinda like giving birth to a child…. you may be screaming in agony now, but once all those jars are cleaned and cooled and sitting on the shelf “smiling” at you, you’ll forget about the pain you went through and be happy (and at least your canned goods will never ask you for money, throw up on your new dress, or wreck your car)! ;-)
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 22:30
I never said I was like other people…lol
I’m passionate about cooking so that easily translates over into the home canning. I have the burns and knife cuts and sore hands…I had double knee surgery a year ago and it didn’t help one bit so I know how standing for long periods of time is painful.
I guess I’m just relentless…kinda like Kim was just saying, it is so rewarding and fulfilling and satisfying opening up MY jars of food, knowing they’re healthy, knowing all those things I won’t bother to say for the umpteenth time lol…
You’re doing awesome.
Shad.
Well, now, THAT explains it……..I’m a WIMP!!! HEHEHE….I never had children, just cats and no one warned me that canning was only one-half step lower than the pain of childbirth!! You girls deserve purple hearts!!
I like that image of my jars smiling at me….since my cats won’t ask me for money, throw up on my new dress, or wreck my car, maybe I’ll draw a little cat face
=^..^=
on each jar!
I’m much better today….ankles back to normal, back and knee ready for another day….the only hold-over is the knot on my hand….musta hit it on something to cause it to swell.
My stew jars turned out fine! Today, if I put up some instant potato soup mix in some jars and vaccuum seal them, then I can pack up my boxes with white beans, green lima beans, pinto beans, pork, chicken, beef stew, powdered milk, and powdered potato soup and put the boxes away so they’re not blocking the kitchen doorway. I’ll have chicken broth & tomato sauce in another smaller box to compliment the stuff in the big box!
P.S., you guys are wonderful helping us all out and being so encouraging — it’s great to know we’re really doing this right! THANKS!!!!
Good Morning all, It has been at least 30 years since I have canned. I have a glass top range and was told that pressure canning is a no-no on them. I also saw a reciepe for mango chutney (thanks girls) that only required a water bath so I thought I would try it. Tastes great but 4 jars did not seal. Can I just start over? Reheat everything and try again? I wish now that I had gotten a gas range when we redid the kitchen. Thought I was too old for canning. Guess not.
Argh!! Schedules are nice and all but they get rattled way too easy. <sigh>
I had planned on canning some ground beef and chili today but I have too many errands to do. I hate having to put things off, it bothers me.
My little canner only holds about 6 quarts so it takes longer to get a significant supply built up than it would with a larger canner. <shrug> But considering that my mom gave it to me to use and nothing came out of my own pocket, I’m not going to complain about size.
Hopefully I’ll be able to make up the difference Friday night … hubby and son are out of town for the weekend and oldest daughter is at a sleep over. Only 2 soccer practices on Friday night so I should hopefully have a little extra time if I can get everything else prepped tonight.
Saturday is a little strained, but hopefully I’ll be able to get some canning done then as well. I take Sunday’s off! <grin> Then I’ll start it all back up on Monday.
I just gotta keep telling myself this hectic schedule is worth it in the long run.
PBQ: I think the problem with glass tops and pressure canning is the actual weight of the canner; they can get pretty hefty and crack the top. There may also be an issue of the pot overhanging the edge of the burner for a long time but I don’t think I entirely grasp what the problem is, not having a glass top.
You could try redoing the jars that didn’t seal, just running them through the process again if they were fridged since cooling… but if they didn’t seal, there might have been a problem with the lids themselves. I’ve been having a greater seal fail rate all season because of the new lids-on packaging of the jars. They have an indent as if they’ve been used. Jarden sent me a questionaire about the failures but I haven’t sent it in yet. Or some of the food may have come between the lids and jar rims, maybe if it was greasy or filled too high.
Good luck! Never too old! This is an old, old skill. (s)
PBQ, please check with your manufacturer of your stovetop….I think some of them you CAN cook on, but within certain limits. Call ‘em and check! If you can’t do that, then get one of the burner stoves we talked about earlier that you can use instead of your stovetop! Where there’s a will….
Thanks Northstar and I-W-O-I. I did reprocess the 4 and 3 sealed. I guess we’ll just have to eat the other. :-) Thanks much for your encouragement and inspiration. I’ll be back but now I have to rest a bit.
Mom11 and my family both use our huge 14 qt. All American canners on our glass-top stoves with no problem, even though the box on the All American says not to use it on a smooth top. My family’s stove is just five years old though. It’s a Sears Kenmore and we asked at the time we bought it if you could can on it. They told us it was perfectly all right. Evidently, it must depend on the brand or age of stove you have.
My husband thinks our glass-top stove is the best he has ever canned on, because it is so accurate. He does all the processing. Once he gets the temperature adjusted correctly, it stays that way.
We have three canners right now. We have an old canner that belonged to his mother, that is a dial gauge. My husband much prefers a weighted gauge canner, because you don’t have to hover over them watching the dial. Just listening tells you if they are doing ok. For this reason, we also got a small 7 qt Mirro and the big All American. Both of these are weighted gauge canners. You’ve all heard how great the All Americans are from a lot of people, and they are, but my husband really likes the little Mirro, too. It’s very light and compact so it’s much easier to handle.You can use it for a large pressure cooker, too. The Mirro was way cheaper. I ordered it this fall from canningpantry.com and it cost me somewhere in the seventies with postage included.
PBQ ~
Like others said, there are some canners that can be used on the glass top ranges. I’m not sure if it’s the Mirro or Presto that has some that specifically say they are ok to use on glasstop.
Shad.
My old All-American is the old clamp-style with pressure gauge and pit-cock. Frankly, it may be older than I am but I love it.
I have a problem with my hearing … two sounds going at the same time makes both sounds get scrambled for me. My kids learned early that if they wanted me to actually hear and understand them, then they could only talk to me one at a time without the tv or radio on. My eardrums are round instead of oval. I can hear individual sounds fine … pass regular hearing tests with flying colors … its dealing with multiple sounds at one time that is problematic. So those jiggling weights on pressure cookers and canners just don’t work for me. LOL! My husband says I have all the weirdest things happen to me. <grin>
And I also use it to cook on a glass top stove with no problem … its at our second place and I try and get canning done with we go there. Have plans on canning 12–18 cans of Garbanzo bean soup around Thanksgiving (US) this month. But the canner only holds about 6 quarts at a time. But it is an old cast-iron version. <shrug> All I know is that it works for me.
For those that are new to canning and shopping for a canner, when I referred to a 7 and 14 quart canner I meant that they will hold that many quart jars. In their descriptions, manufacturers refer to the total volume first, which is a much higher number.Read on down and they will tell you how many quart or pint jars of food they will actually process.
You probably wonder why the heck we need 3 canners. Well, we plan on taking Gramma’s canner down to Texas for my two daughters to use, so we were going to get us a new one. I ordered the All American to take its place, then I discovered that the overall height listed on the All American was too tall to fit under our microwave-hood. I called and canceled the order immediately, then I ordered the Mirro. Unfortunately the All American came anyway, even though they assured me the order was canceled. Luckily, we found that it would fit on the big front burner on the glass-topped stove because the microwave didn’t project that far out. By the way, I didn’t order the All American from canningpantry.com so it wasn’t their fault that we got it in error.
I recently googled my All-American 921 because I was too lazy to pull out the brochure to look up a detail. I was shocked at the price variations at different places! PLEASE do not pay $300 or more for this item. I am not at all affiliated with Red Hill General Store (Pressure Cooker Outlet) but that’s where I bought mine for about $189.
The place Northstar referred to does have some very good prices. I bookmarked it for future reference.
If my neighbor gives me a bag of limons again this year (yep, that’s limons … cross between a lime and a lemon) I’m going to give this recipe a try. Or I might just buy a bag at the produce station and experiment. Would love to see if key limes worked this way.
Preserved Lemons
Sea salt
1. Pat the lemons dry.
2. Cut a thin dime-sized piece from both ends of each lemon.
3. Set a lemon on one end and make a vertical cut three quarters of the way through the fruit, so that the two halves remain attached at the base. Do not cut in it half.
4. Turn the lemon upside down and make a second vertical cut at a 90-degree angle to the first, again three quarters of the way through fruit.
5. Fill each cut with as much salt as it will hold.
6. Place the lemon carefully at the bottom of a sterilized wide-mouthed quart glass jar. Proceed in the this manner with the remaining lemons, compressing them in the far until no space is left and the lemon juice rises to the top. Seal and seat place on the kitchen counter.
7. More lemons may be added in the following days as the lemon rinds begin to soften.
8. Make sure the lemons are covered with juice at all times adding fresh lemon juice if necessary.
9. The lemons are ready to use when the rinds are tender, in 4 to 6 weeks. Rinse them lightly and discard the seeds before using.
10. Refrigerate after opening. Preserved lemons will keep for up to 6 months in the refrigerator.
Pumpkin Pickles
1. Steam the pumpkin cubes until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.
2. Put the spices in a tea ball. Simmer them with the vinegar and sugar for 15 minutes.
3. Simmer the pumpkin cubes in this syrup for 3 minutes. Set aside for 24 hours.
4. Start water boiling in a canner. Heat the pumpkin/syrup mix and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the spices and pack into 7 ½-pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace.
5. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes, counting from when the water returns to a full boil.
This is an old “Florida Cracker” recipe that I think I’m going to try when the oranges start coming in next door. I don’t usually care for fruit in a heavy syrup … as this appears to be … but I might change my mind if this is the only fruit I can get.
Sunny Southern Preserved Oranges
Peel good-sized oranges, cut in ½ inch slices and cover with cold water, allowing ½ pint to each orange. Let stand 24 hours. Cook until tender. Add ½ pint of sugar and the juice of 1 lemon for each orange. Cook until transparent. Place in jars, cover with syrup and seal.
Will have to see if I can get grapes cheaply enough at the produce station to make this worth while. It sounds interesting. Wonder if it would work for wild grapes?
Pickled Grapes
(Makes one 4-cup jar)
1. Cut the grapes from the main stem, leaving a small twig on each grape. Wash the grapes well in salted water. Drain them in a colander, then pack them into a sterilized jar. 2. In a saucepan over medium heat, boil the vinegar and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the mustard seeds, cinnamon stick, black peppercorns, and bay leaf and return the mixture to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, then pour the hot vinegar over the grapes.
3. Cover and seal the jar. Store the grapes in a cool, dark place. Leave for 4 weeks before using.
DO NOT use the canning methods mentioned at the end of this recipe. Use modern canning methods. But the recipe is still delicious.
CUCUMBER MARMALADE
In big saucepan combine cucumbers, sugar, juice and peel. Mix well, add coloring, boil one minute over high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from stove, stir in pectin. Skim off foam, stir and skim 5 minutes to cool a bit. Ladle quickly into jelly glasses and cover with 1/8 inch hot paraffin. Makes about five jelly glasses.
I know that we’ve primarily have been putting canning recipes here … but I’m also going to include a few dehydrator recipes for those interested. The first one is below.
Orange Julius Roll-Ups
Yield: 1
In a blender mix all ingredients until pureed. Pour onto solid fruit leather sheets; dry at 135º for 4 to 8 hours, or until leathery. Remove from sheets while still warm. Let cool slightly. Roll in plastic wrap and store in dark , dry cool place or in the freezer.
I used my Pampered Chef Apple Peeler, Corer, Slicer for the first time. I got it used from Ebay, and it came without directions. I’m glad my husband is so mechanically inclined, because he immediately figured out how to work it, and all the adjustments you could make. It works great. I didnt realize that it cored it and sliced it in a spiral. This makes a nice thin strip which we think will be ideal for dehydrating. We/ve got two dehydrators and we have both of them working on the apples right now. I really love this little machine because it works so well… just love those gadgets that work!!! LOL We set it so that it didn’t peel the apples because we like the extra fiber the peelings provide. This gizmo is adjustable for different size apples and different thicknesses of peelings.
We canned nine quarts of pork chunks yesterday and they all sealed Hallelujah! I think I’m going in to get some more tomorrow from the Albertson’s sale. You can’t beat $1.00 a pound for Hormel pork. I’m going to take the meaty bones and fat and try to make broth to use for soups and gravies. I’ll chill it in the refrigerator to solidify the fat on top, then I’ll take the hardened fat off and keep it in the freezer. That should be just about like lard. Seems like my grandmother used to fry the fat in a big pot to render the lard from the fat, but I don’t see why this wouldn’t work, too.
Whoo-Hoooo! The apple spiral slices came out to be the best we’ve ever dried. They taste much better than the sectioned apples to us.
bgw:
Congrats, sounds like you’re a busy bee…those apple peelers really make all the difference when getting apple prepared. I have 3 of them…a cheapo one, a PC one and an antique one. When I came home with the 540lbs of apples in October, there would have been no way to get those apples all processed if I didn’t have one of those apple peelers.
I’m sure either way would work in preparing your broth…the only thing that comes to mind about your grandmother’s way is that once you fry the fat and discard the grease, the carmalized drippings that are left would be a great addition to the broth…they add a depth of flavor unable to be attained with simple simmering.
Shad.
Is there a trick to canning little lintels? I filled my jars 1/2 full and canned some of the yellow ones — soaked first, then canned. When you look at the jars, it all looks like mush with a 2–3″ white layer on top that looks like a creamy, slimy mess. You can’t turn the jars upside down & mix the stuff, it doesn’t slosh around, it just sits there. Are they a do-over?
Shad, you have a really good idea there. I will try that with the fat. I’m going to save the rendered fat in the freezer to use like lard in case we really need it. I usually use either olive oil or canola oil in all my cooking, but in a survival situation they say that fat seems to be one of the hardest things to come by.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 07:06
It doesn’t sound like the lentils you canned were done wrong. It isn’t unusual for beans to clump at the bottom and seperate from your liquid as they are denser and heavier. Crack open a jar and see how it is, to me I think they’re probably fine.
Here’s the NCFHFP’s section on canning beans:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_04/beans_peas_shelled.html
bgw in MT – at 12:43
That’s a good idea to store the fat in the freezer!
Shad.
I can set my apple peeler up to “just peel,” “just spiral slice,” or both.
I used it on canning pears and it worked great. I’ve also used it to procees fruit for jams and jellies which saved me a ton of time.
I posted this question on the Lone Star II site but I am thinking some of you wonderful cooks might have an answer to my delima.
My neighbor has offered all the tangerines, oranges, and lemons that we want from his trees. Does anyone know of a way to preserve or freeze these fruits for future use? I don’t want to waste. The fruits are just ripening, so I have a little time. I would appreciate any imput I can get. Thank ya’ll.
Unfreakingbelieveable.
I’ve lost my posts 2 times so far and now I’m having a temper tantrum. I dislike this message board program…
Suffice it to say in a brief recap that you can make jams/marmalades (used later for marinades, glazes, etc), extracts, canned fruit, etc. You can freeze and refrigerate citrus to preserve it in its natural state.
If you’d like some specific recipes, let me know and I’ll post them later after I get over being ticked…
Here’s 2 links with some ideas though:
http://web1.msue.msu.edu/imp/mod01/mod01c.html
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/grapefruit_orange.html
Shad.
Shad,
I have had the same experience of losing multiple posts. Now, when I post, I try to remember to make sure to highlight and copy the entire post before clicking on the “post” button so that if it disappears I can easily reproduce it by pasting it into a new post. Another way of accomplishing the same thing, I suppose, would be to write your post in your word processor and then copy it here—that way the post would still be in the word processor if it disappears here. I know it shouldn’t be necessary to take this extra step, but I’ve found it preferable to having to recreate the same post multiple times (or giving up all together on posting, as I have in the past).
lol @ Genoa…
Yeah, that’s what I’ve done too…spent an inordinate amount of time creating and writing a post, only to lose it and just give up.
I’ll make sure I copy and paste, or do Word on the posts that take some work, and aren’t just me running off at the mouth.
0:)
lol
Shad.
I’ve read on the mods thread that if 2 people are trying to post at the same time one post or both will be lost.
In the Ball Blue Book there are directions specific to canning citrus juice. I believe there are also directions specific to canning citrus fruit “sections.”
I intend on canning some of my Ruby Red grapefruits this year rather than letting half the crop fad on the tree. Its a big tree and the fruits at the top I haven’t even bothered trying to get to because the idea of climbing to get there is not appealing. I’ll probably make the whole hog effort this year though, if for no other reason than the juice.
You can also candy and/or dry the peels of most citrus … time consuming but worth it.
I also like to dry grated citrus peel to save for cooking.
Another use for some of those stored fats is for making soap. Now, the soapmaking sites rave over what wonderful, gentle soaps you can make at home with rendered fat and lye (!) but that it’s a careful operation; but it can’t be that hard. My husband remembers his father stirring up big batches of soap on the stove.
Now, learning how to get lye from wood ash, that’s another heritage skill I’d like to aquire.
Another use for (chicken) fat is for shmaltz as a substitute for butter. I’m not Jewish so I’m not sure, but as memory serves it’s used at Kosher tables because one can’t have meat and milk products at the same table. Render it up , scraping up the crackly brown bits at the bottom of the pan and add a little salt. Then pour it into a jar and fridge it. It takes a little getting used to but it’s delicious in its own right. I used a little shmaltz in my kids’ chicken and noodle lunch today in lieu of the butter called for — it was really good! And of course I don’t have to tell anyone how good bacon grease is to cook potatoes with… of course, with our great low fat diets these days, it’s taboo. :-( Alas!
Thanks for all your suggestions. I can see I have a lot of alternatives that I didn’t think about. I’m looking at juicers, too. I thought I might be able to icetray freeze some of the lemon juice to have to use instead of bottled lemon juice. Thanks again.
Hi ya’ll … will be out of town for the US Thanksgiving holidays from today through next Saturday. When I get back I’ll try and hook back up with FW assuming that I can navigate and use the new discussion forum. If you don’t hear from me after a while, its because of the new forum stuff and not because I didn’t like the company. <grin>
While I’m gone I plan on canning a big batch of Spanish Bean Soup (Garbanzo Bean Soup). It has chorizo, ham, pepperoni, onion, garlic, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, and a few other odds and ends including potatoes. Depending on how it goes I will try and give you the recipe.
Take care and happy holidays with your families.
Hope you and your family have the greatest Thanksgiving holidays ever. Don’t worry about the new forum. It will be a cinch for you. When you get used to it, it will be easier and much more powerful than our present forum.
Hope you and your family have the greatest Thanksgiving holidays ever. Don’t worry about the new forum. It will be a cinch for you. When you get used to it, it will be easier and much more powerful than our present forum.
Hey, has anyone canned hot dogs? I got the directions for doing them (10 lbs for 90 mins) but it said nothing about the shelf life after that so I was wondering if anyone routinely canned ‘em (I doubt you do) and had them sitting around for awhile??
IWOI: I’ve heard (but never done myself) that canned hotdogs are really mushy, like they were boiled on the stove for an hour and a half.
That’s what I’m wondering…..since actually that’s exactly what’s happening to them….another recipe said slice them & can in barbeque sauce, which would be better, but I know you can buy commercially canned ones on Amazon so I thought it might be do-able at home. Wonder how the Amazon grocery ones taste?
Probably like Vienna sausages, with which I’ve recently become reacquainted! (Bleah! But the kids’ll eat them.) Speaking of prep foods and meatloaf from above, I’ve found that the canned corned beef, usually not very good on its own, makes a pretty darn good quick meatloaf when combined with onions and seasoned bread crumbs. Lots of bread crumbs. (s)
I have canned about 10 pints, have not opened them yet. They obsorbed all the water that I pored over the weiners. I canned them to eat with kraut. Will try to open a jar sometime this week, they have been up about 2–3 months.
Arklatex: That’s what I was afraid of! But that sounds good with kraut. Now, packing weiners or sausages or pork with kraut could be really good.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 11:58
I tried hot dogs but didn’t care for the texture. I’ve done kielbasa and they are great. Much more palatable in my opinion.
The cocktail weenies are also great canned! Just can them in your chosen sauce for a quick and easy treat.
Kathy and all, I hadn’t thought about the cocktail weenines…..that might work….Arklatex – at 17:00 I’ll be interested in what you say…I may put some up in BBQ sauce & see if that makes any difference, since texture wouldn’t be such an issue.
Kathy, How did you can the kielbasa---in water or something else? Did you cut them up in chunks or just enough to fit them in the jars?
Genoa – at 15:20
I’ve canned them in BBQ and in stock. The stock is so that I can take them out and then turn the liquid into gravy … have done meatballs this way as well. For weiners and their kin, I prefer BBQ or spaghetti sauce depending on what you plan on using them for. And homemade BBQ is good too … you don’t just have to use commercially prepared versions.
This is a great thread, a virtual cookbook in itself. There is almost enough information and recipes here to publish a “Fluwikie Pandemic Cooking” Selling it could raise money to support the site.
I have a small contribution to make to this thread. Food preservation by dehydration, canning, jerking, smoking and salting are all viable options for food preparation in a time during the pandemic when refrigeration might not be an option.
I really enjoy canning my homegrown tomatoes and peppers. It is a very relaxing pastime as well as a useful skill to have for the coming pandemic. The canned vegetables are very attractive in their glass jars. It gives me joy just to see them lined up in the cupboard.
There are a number of excellent resources describing these various techniques, which I have collected and placed here: http://tinyurl.com/vyhg7 on the Bird Flu Manual website. The files are in PDF format and can be downloaded.
Cheers,
Grattan Woodson, MD, FACP
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Dr. Woodson, I don’t know why I’m surprised that you do canning, I shouldn’t be, but it was a very pleasant surprise :-)
I wanted to give you the link to where you can find ALL of the recipes from this site that Kathy and Mari have meticously formatted — entrees, sides, breads, Bisquicks, etc. so that you can have it all at your fingertips:
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Consequences.Recipes
Also wanted to mention that I learned that for years we’ve canned tomatoes in waterbath, but now, because the newer hybrid tomatoes have lower acid content, they are now saying those are better if they’re canned under pressure…it’s a never-ending learning process isn’t it!