I admire those of you who can your own food. I admire you but was never interested in following your lead.
Yesterday a friend gave me 40 pounds of apples. I don’t know how to can so decided to make apple butter and applesauce and freeze them since I figured this would be just a one time deal and we will be relying on storebought applesauce for our preps.
Small problem. The result was so delicious we couldn’t believe it. What were we eating all those years we were buying jars at the store and thought it was applesauce?
My husband sampled a spoonful and said “I think you should learn how to can.” He wanted to run out and buy more apples right then. So that’s why I called this my “canning disaster.” My freezer is too small to support more than a couple of jars so now I have to learn how to can. Scary.
How about posting the recipe? And what kind of apples were they?
My husband sampled a spoonful and said “I think you should learn how to can.”
to which you can reply either 1. why don’t you? or 2. sounds like something we should learn together. More fun when two work and it goes faster too.
I goofed this summer when a friend made the most delicious apricot jam. She gave me the recipe and I went out and bought a crate of organic apricots. Somehow I thought there would be a reduction (like when you buy a beef — a 1000 lb animal makes something like 400 lbs of freezer goods). Well, fruit is different. You add sugar and the stuff expands. One crate of apricots makes about 40 jars of apricot jam (I thought I’d get 8 or 10). I completely underestimated the volume, but, wow, the end product is fabulous.
There are several kinds of pectin on the market. My friend recommends a low sugar version that is carried at our local food co-op. The result is very fruity and not too sweet.
I want you to look at this click the link and click the letter A for Apples Http://web1.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/master01.html
Mackintosh apples make good apple butter and applesauce. Cortland makes good apple pie filling and spiced apple rings. I also made applesauce last weekend and added cinnamon to it (at my 5yo’s request) - It was yummy. A friend adds brown sugar. Once you taste home canning, you’ll never go back.
I’ve also made peach jam, spiced peach jam, canned peaches, peach pie filling, salsa, dill relish, and canned roma tomatoes.
I have yet to pressure can, but going to start learning soon.
Is it possible to can meat without a pressure canner?
Birdie – at 17:40
No, meat HAS to be pressure canned. Getcha a copy of the ball blue book at walmart. Canning meat is really really easy, but it has to be done correctly.
Birdie – at 17:40
Nope, sorry. Has to do with acidity levels and safety to prevent bacteria growth.
Now you can dehydrate meat very easily.
Birdie – at 17:40 Is it possible to can meat without a pressure canner?
NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT, DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. It is not possible to get the temperature high enough to kill all the bacteria. Also, canning vegetables requires a pressure canner because they do not contain enough acidity. The only thing you can preserve with a boiling water bath are fruits, jams and jellies, tomatoes, and salsa, but you have to follow the recipe exactly - use USDA recipies.
Has anyone canned applesauce? Growing up my mother canned everything but the one thing that didn’t work for her was applesauce. So she just kept apples in the cellar and made fresh whenever she wanted applesauce. Is there a trick to canning applesauce? (her cans would pop and/or explode)
I’ve never done it personally, but I know my grandmother did every fall (and it was delicious!!) until she went into the nursing home
check out the ball blue canning book recommended above.. it’s the “bible” of canning rules.
Just made rhubarb apple butter, green tomato and apple mincemeat, applebutter and canned it all. Yesterday I canned tomato soup and ham and bean soup (pressure canned.) I have also done onion soup, chicken broth with chicken, chili, it goes on and on. Tomorrow split pea soup and black bean salsa soup.
Sounds like she was not cooking them long enough, or the can seals leaked and let in air w/ microbes. About 20 years back, either it was Ball or Mason --- the jar ring seals were not a good batch of rubber and there were a lot of people having problems, they had to recall a lot of them and there were some lawsuits.
Maybe the cans started to ferment and turn into apple cider? I have heard of home brew beer and home made wine bottles exploding because the yeast continued to ferment and product carbon dioxide etc. in the bottles.
Also, my cook book says that modern tomatoes have been bred for smooth taste and shelf life, and have lower acidity than the ‘old fashioned’ ones. Instructs us to add tablespoon of lemon juice to each jar with the salt to increase the acidity to be sure that it kills the really fatal microbes. Salsa recipes also should be on the ‘acid’ side.
If you don’t want to risk botulism and pressure can, you can always find a book on pickling. People used to pickle EVERYTHING from water melon rind to peppers and zuchinni with vinegar, sugar, salt and all kinds of flavorings. Even pigs feet! Somewhere around here I still have a couple of my grandmother’s old pickling crocks — haven’t used them for years ---
Thanks guys, I may have asked the same question in haste on another post. Will invest in a pressure canner this week.
Mmmmm, Safety Lady, that rhubarb apple butter sounds wonderful, care to share your recipe? (pretty please :-)
I can applesauce every year with no trouble..Follow the directions in the blue book…If your can is popped then discard.It really is that easy.
I wish I could edit or modify or delete a message. but I missed it 2 times I will try agan for my last time. http://web1.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/master01.html I had this one checked out before I sent it now if you click the link and click A for apples it will tell you alot about caning and frezzing Apples
We always canned pickled cucumbers and beets with water bath method and it was just fine. Since there’s vinegar the acidity is safe to process in this manner. Ours were so good they were always a request from friends and relatives for gifts. The secrets were apple cider vinegar and double the recommended dill.
Enjoyed all your posts but the more I read on canning and freezing the more I’m convinced it probably isn’t for me. My weekends now are filled with improving my breadmaking and learning how to cook in a solar oven while researching digital police scanners and water filters.
Am trying to stay focused on things that are priorities for us. We can live without delicious applesauce but can’t live without water. So thanks for your ideas. Maybe down the road for me.
Saddle Tramp - she didn’t know what kind of apples they were. Do you have horses too? We are concerned about water for ours.
mj - great ideas but I prefer to do the cooking myself. He likes to clean up the mess I make in the kitchen. Works for us.
farm girl - No need to research freezing apples after all. Went to a fundraising meeting tonight and gave everyone a jar to eat TONIGHT. But I did save that website just in case :)
farm girl – at 21:17 GREAT link-you’ve shared it before & it’s a great one to keep handy!!
I know that one must can meat with a pressure canner but what about dehydrating cooked ground beef? I read one site that gave instructions on drying cooked hamburger and thought about giving it a try.
It`s great. Easy. And fast, only takes about 3 hours to do a batch. And, I got about 8# uncooked weight into 1 quart jar, after dehydrating.Saves a lot of room.
Cool! I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks.
cactus – at 00:35 It`s great. Easy. And fast, only takes about 3 hours to do a batch. And, I got about 8# uncooked weight into 1 quart jar, after dehydrating.Saves a lot of room.
So I’m about to start experimenting with dehydrating, and I’m wondering about your comment. When you come to use it in a recipe, I’m assuming you need to rehydrate or factor extra liquid into your recipe to allow for rehydration, right? And would you use 1/8 quart for recipes that, say, call for 1# of hamburger?
kim- at 20:03
I second that!! Please Saftey Lady, do tell!
Along with farmgirl’s link for canning is this one from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. It address safe practices to home cannine, freezing, drying, smoking, fermenting, pickling, etc of foods:
sam in az – at 22:40 ~
If you cook meals at home, home canning does not have to be any more difficult than doing it like this (home canning left overs from a meal prepared at home):
Personally, I don’t do it this way because my sights are sent on volume. But I know a few people that have health concerns and are not able to can ‘a bushel at a time’, so they are able to reap the benefits of just home canning the extras left over at the end of a meal.
As far as applesauce goes, generally speaking, it requires 2.5–3.5lbs of apples to make a quart of applesauce. The general rule of thumb, depending on what type of apples you use, is 1/4c sugar/lb of apples. I use a mixture of apples, I feel it gives it a depth in the taste. I don’t use the firmer/tarter apples, as those (to me) are best suited for pies and such because they hold their form. The softer, sweeter apples are suggested for applesauce because in the long run, they’ll require less sugar.
Shad.
Texas Rose – at 23:55
I have been drying all but just a few pounds of my hamburger since I found the instructions. (we keep a few pounds in the freezer for burgers) Just make sure to rinse, rinse, and rinse again, then rinse one more time, all with boiling water. You want to get as much fat off as possible. Then dry it till it resembles rocks. Its so nice to not have to brown burger all the time.
Can anyone recommend a pressure canner for use with a flat top range? Also someone mentioned above using a water-bath method for jelly etc. Can you use a dutch oven for that? Thanks guys.
Sam in AZ - yes, we have horses. About 50 Arabians, Welsh ponies and Welsh-Arab crosses. Water will be a major issue here. We use about 500 - 1000 gallons a day, depending on the time of year.
I got a 12Kw generator that runs off my tractor PTO, plus about 3 months’ worth of diesel to run the pump. If we can’t get more diesel after 90 days, we’re screwed.
PS - I went out and bought the Blue Book.
lohrewok – at 09:50
When you say flat top range, do you mean glass top? If so, one of the lighter weighted canners like the Mirro or Presto many times advocates canning on glass top ranges. Depending on the volume of canning you plan to do, even one of the smaller All American’s would work.
With all the water bath canning that I do, I do NOT own a specific water bath canner. I just use my huge stock pots or turkey roasters…anything that is big enough to fit my jars in and cover with water. I’ve been doing this for years and never had a problem…boiling water is boiling water, so I can’t see why a dutch oven (as long as it is deep enough to cover the jars with water) wouldn’t work too!
Shad.
Meat is the easiest thing there is to can. You don’t have to peel it or shell it. LOL We can venison, fish and chicken. All you have to do is cut it up, put it in jars and add salt &/or pepper. It’s delish and the results make super quick meals.
I always admired my grandmother’s home canned jars of food, but I didn’t realize how much real satisfaction you get out of it(and I am definitely not the Suzy Homemaker type. It feels so good when you take those babies out of the canner and line them up. Ahhhh, future meals! Talk about a warm and fuzzy feeling.
We found a really easy way to can applesauce and boy was it ever good. We just washed the apples and used one of those apple sectioners that slices and cores. We didn’t peel them even. I’m on Weight Watchers and every bit of extra fiber you get is gold. I cooked the slices up in my big stockpot and added sugar and the spices that go in apple pie. We put the applesauce in jars and canned it. Oh boy, was it good!!! It will make great apple crisp, too.
And, when you have those jars sitting and cooling, the sound they make as they ‘Pop” is an amazing thrill…Lol
I have 8 qts of salsa black bean corn chowder in the pressure canner as I type. Picked my tomatoes, everything for the salsa out of the garden. Got the corn out of the garden this morning. Cooked up two pounds of black beans at 7 and had the soup processing by 10. Good day’s work.
I am not going to start canning. No, no. Not me. However, just in case…. could you post any beginner lesson sites or make book recommendations for absolute beginners? Checked around locally for classes and couldn’t find any. Already made a note of Farm Girl’s site.
Saddle Tramp - we have one Arabian (my husband’s) and one Thoroughbred from off the track. The joys of our lives. They are boarded not far from here at a stable reliant upon city water. We are concerned how to get to the horses in an emergency and where to get enough water for all the horses in their barn.
The instructions I have talk about using canning jars for storage but I was wondering if sealing the dehydrated burger with a food sealer would work as well.
Would it not be easier and cheaper to just buy whatever canned food you want than to can it yourself?
Canning would be useful well into a pandemic after you have depleted initial food store, and are now canning vegetables grown (or game killed) since panflu started. I don’t see canning prepandemic as being cost effective. Sorry…
I am going to try to can chicken this weekend. I did this twenty years ago but now it seems so new again. My question is, what is the shelf life of canned chicken????
shadddup - thanks for the links.
JJF: A can of Progresso soup costs 2-freakin-79 where I live. With their itty-bitty pieces of meat that’s lunch, for maybe two, even extended with rice, and that’s the _good_ stuff. Now, compare that to a jar of my chicken soup, a quart each containing 1 1/2 bnls-sknls breast of chicken in chunks, vegetables and seasoning. I can keep it soup, make it stew, cream it, serve it over noodles, etc. Extended with rice or noodles, in lean times one quart could serve my entire family of 5 and have them go to bed with something in their stomachs. Even with the initial investment of about a buck in the reusable jar, I’d say my cost comes out about even with the Progesso.
I love Dinty Moore Stew but I couldn’t face a year of just that.
And sorry, you just can’t buy my Tuscan Chicken in a store. (Think chicken thighs, smoked sausage, black olives, artichoke hearts and bell peppers in a savory Italian tomato sauce.) Across noodles, now that’s some prep eatin’. (G)
Texas Rose – at 21:00 probably…..but keep in mind that a jar with an oxy absorb is an easy thing to get in and out of when the power is out. Unless you use up all in the bag, you won’t be able to reseal it with no power.
Northstar – at 19:06 dang it!! Don’t do that to us before supper!! Now you’re gonna HAVE to share the recipe!
IWOI— LOL! There is no recipe! That’s the recipe— now go make it! (GGG) Oh yeah, and onions… and lots of fresh chopped basil.
Recipes are torture to me. Can’t follow ‘em, rarely write ‘em. Then I forget ‘em and am mad!
okey[doke! I just will make a point to do that — it sounds great!
northstar. tks for the insight.
i nominate to direct the cooking at the post panflu fluwiki reunion.
northstar. tks for the insight.
i nominate you to direct the cooking at the post panflu fluwiki reunion.
You can can almost anything that you eat … including greens like collards. Its a matter of what to leave in and what to leave out if necessary. If you have a particular dish that you are just ga-ga about, post it. Those of us who can frequently will try and help to convert it to a home-canned product. If we can’t, several of us are on canning groups and we should be able to get help from them.
As an example, my hubby loves Garbanzo bean soup … but the stuff is $2 a can around here and that is only about 1 serving. I’ll start out with all the normal ingredients … chick peas, chorizo, potatoes, etc. except that they won’t be cooked. I’ll let the pressure canning do the cooking. When it comes time to use the jar, I’ll test a bean and potato piece to make sure it is done through … which it probably will … and then just have to heat through to an absolutely delicious bowl of ethnic soup for less than 1/4 the cost of store bought.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 19:06: Thanks for the info. The idea I had was to package small amounts of hamburger with dried gravy or seasoned sauces(like for soup or chili) and seal them up as a sort of homemade MRE to toss into BOB or use as care packages.
I had wondered about using oxygen absorbers in the jars, if that would ensure a longer storage time. I assume one absorber in a quart jar half or three-quarters filled with dehydrated burger would do the trick. I know I need to do some reading on absorbers, since I got some the other day and now wonder how to use them.LOL
Texas Rose – at 14:24 I think you’re ‘good to go’ on both plans!
I now have enough jelly to last me until the end of the decade! I even found an old jar of jelly when I was rearranging the cupboard and it was still good. I put up three batches of Michigan concord grape jelly this weekend, mmm. I guess I’m done with the fruit and must go on to meat. yikes. Never done that before but I would love to have jars of chicken and beef on the shelves.
Oh, and the pectin I used must have been left over from Y2K cause the expirations were 02 and 03, but the jelly set up just fine.
Jumping Jack Flash – at 21:06 Would it not be easier and cheaper to just buy whatever canned food you want than to can it yourself?
Canning would be useful well into a pandemic after you have depleted initial food store, and are now canning vegetables grown (or game killed) since panflu started. I don’t see canning prepandemic as being cost effective. Sorry…
I just finished canning 40 lbs of chicken leg quarters and broth. The chicken was on sale for $.38/lb. 40lbs of raw chicken made 14 qts of meat in broth, and 13 qts of just broth. One qt, holds probably about the same amount of chicken that is in 3 of the little “tuna can” sized cans of chicken at the store.
Even if you don’t figure in the 13 qts of broth that I canned, those qts of chicken cost me $1.09 each in meat. And I bought my jars used for $2 a dozen, making them $.17 a peice. So lets say each qt of my chicken cost me $1.50, (I’m really rounding up here including the lid, ring, and energy to run the canner) Can you buy 3 cans of store bought chicken for $1.50? I doubt it. Plus, my ingrediants are chicken, water and a tsp of salt. What’s in that stuff you buy at the store? And don’t forget that I also have 13 qts of AWSOME chicken broth out of that same 40lbs of chicken.
One qt of meat, one of broth, 2 cups of uncooked rice and 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, and 2 cans of canned veggies is a WELL fed supper for my family of 6.
Canning can be VERY cost effective, you just have to be smart about what you can.
well once you buy the jar and the ring you wont have to buy them agan unless you break a jar are give it away and the rings can be used over and over so that will help bring the price down. also some of the jars that I use are 30 years old so how much do I have in these jars? $000.00 and I grow all my food planted 12 pounds of musterd and collard greens seeds and getting ready to can 200 to 300 jars it takes averge of 28 pounds of greens to do 7 quart so what will it cost me I dont know and dont care. but it well be good when time comes to eat it and I wont have to worry about E.coli like I been reading about anything else just good food and I know where it came from and who picked it also.
Farm girl
How many jars do you have? and how many separate lids do you have prepped?
Thank you.
I have over 3000 jars and I will have them all full when I get through putting up my greens. I buy my lids all through the year by the cases when I catch them on sale I have enough lids to last next year. if this is what you are asking
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