Canning & Preserving Food

[John Brunner]

Just a followup to this post. I have done extensive research on electric pressure canners and uncovered the fact that NO canners of any type have been approved by any government agency. (USDA provides guidelines but no "approvals."). So people clutching their pearls over electric canners must have overlooked that tidbit.

Also, not that anyone cares, I ended up returning the stovetop pressure canner to Amazon. The process for stovetop canners requires too much "oversight," plus they are heavy and unwieldy to deal with. I'm sticking with the electric canner and small-batch canning.

Have you seen the steam canners? They are the new recommendation to replace water bath canning.

 

[Don Alaska]

Yes, it's possible to add a very small amount of meat to a jar, but it seems that the pressure cooking intensifies flavors a lot. The tiny amount of bacon grease was really almost too much flavor for a pint of beans. Next time I'm leaving that out.

Yes, you have to be careful with flavors, especially smoke. The intensity seems to be doubled or tripled when pressure canned. I have no idea why. A few bacon bits might be nice though.

 

[Don Alaska]

Have you seen the steam canners? They are the new recommendation to replace water bath canning.

Ironically, like the automatic canners, steam canning, which had been done by the Amish and others for decades was a real no-no according to "experts" for years. It is especially useful for large batches of "safe" foods like jellies and pickles.

 

[John Brunner]

Ironically, like the automatic canners, steam canning, which had been done by the Amish and others for decades was a real no-no according to "experts" for years. It is especially useful for large batches of "safe" foods like jellies and pickles.

I posted on SOC v1.0 that I bought a pressure canner before thoroughly researching, and don't even use it because I wanted to can leftovers or batch meals, and every canning website says to stick with the USDA recipes, which are geared to putting up bulk quantities of garden produce. Spaghetti sauce recipes start with "1 bushel of tomatoes." No one deviates from it.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

Have you seen the steam canners? They are the new recommendation to replace water bath canning.

Yes, there was a discussion about steam canners on the old forum. When you consider it, pressure canning is a form of steam canning. The canner has to have the air vented for 10 minutes before putting the weight on to bring pressure up, so the vessel is filled with steam. Of course, it is under pressure where regular steam canners are not.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I posted on SOC v1.0 that I bought a pressure canner before thoroughly researching, and don't even use it because I wanted to can leftovers or batch meals, and every canning website says to stick with the USDA recipes, which are geared to putting up bulk quantities of garden produce. Spaghetti sauce recipes start with "1 bushel of tomatoes." No one deviates from it.

There are a lot of tested recipes available now. You should watch some of the Youtube videos by the Rose Red Homestead woman; she cans stroganoff, chili, soups, etc. using USDA/UGA recipes. Generally speaking, canning leftovers is not recommended. Smaller batches can be canned by dividing the recipe, but usually the processing time doesn't change.

I'm interested in canning chicken and ground beef, which I will be trying soon out of curiosity. Canning is kind of the ultimate "prepping" food storage method.

 

[Earl S. Much]

Tomatoes the only thing I can successfully grow and preserve, I just use a dehydrator to dry them.

 

[John Brunner]

Tomatoes the only thing I can successfully grow and preserve, I just use a dehydrator to dry them.

I have a dehydrator that I use off & on, but I've never preserved in bulk with it. Don't you live in a semi-desert environment? Do folks around you preserve stuff by letting it air-dry?

 

[Jake Smith]

Didn't see a canning thread; and "searched", it too; here is one for it, I did notice that talk about canning things, are in a lot of different threads. So here we go. These are black beans, baby limas, and pintos, quarts and pints.

 

[Marie Mallory]

We used to buy bushels of green beans, tomatoes and corn and can those.
And of course we canned lots of beans, lima, pinto, black-eyed peas and black beans which have the most protein.
What we don't like canned are potatoes, we heard later not to use water when canning potatoes, by then we just didn't can potatoes or want another experiment.

 

[Jake Smith]

I will try it again, the way they say to can potatoes, we have canned a lot of meats, like beef roast, chicken, and planning to try the turkey. Nita one of our neighbors said it is the very best tasting meat, that she ever ate before. Said just cut in strips pack jars and can. I was at their house one day, and she was canning the heck out of them, showed me inside their canning building they built just for canning; it was hundreds of quarts, but she still said that the turkey was the best ones. She passed away a couple years ago; and I don't think her husband does it anymore, he was older than her. He told us he has a hard time anymore, just getting around with a "walker".

 

[Don Alaska]

@Jake Smith the canning food is covered in the Preserving Food thread, but I reckon if you want a separate thread for just canning that is fine.

 

[Don Alaska]

I will try it again, the way they say to can potatoes, we have canned a lot of meats, like beef roast, chicken, and planning to try the turkey. Nita one of our neighbors said it is the very best tasting meat, that she ever ate before. Said just cut in strips pack jars and can. I was at their house one day, and she was canning the heck out of them, showed me inside their canning building they built just for canning; it was hundreds of quarts, but she still said that the turkey was the best ones. She passed away a couple years ago; and I don't think her husband does it anymore, he was older than her. He told us he has a hard time anymore, just getting around with a "walker".

Dry canning potatoes is frowned on by many and advocated by some. We don't can potatoes unless it is with something else like a meal or a stew.

 

[Jake Smith]

@Jake Smith the canning food is covered in the Preserving Food thread, but I reckon if you want a separate thread for just canning that is fine.

Oh; that one went over my head, just kept seeing post on different threads about canning, and thought, where's the canning thread, searched it and only "preserving" thread came up, so I was thinking they're isn't one, should start one for "everyone". I'd have never said when fixing to can some; I'm gonna "preserve", some beans, even though it's the same thing. Maybe Ken can fix it, I wasn't really trying to get a thread this time, just trying to help.

 

[Jake Smith]

Dry canning potatoes is frowned on by many and advocated by some. We don't can potatoes unless it is with something else like a meal or a stew.

That would be the way to go for me; stew beef and potatoes caned.

 

[Mary Robi]

My grandma (who grew up in the city) told me that when it came time for canning, they'd load up the woodstove, jars and pots and head for the country.

They'd camp out and buy produce from the farmers. Her mother would can for a few days out in the open and when she was done, they'd load everything back in the wagons and head back to town.

I guess it was just too hot to do it all in the kitchen.

 

[John Brunner]

My grandma (who grew up in the city) told me that when it came time for canning, they'd load up the woodstove, jars and pots and head for the country.

They'd camp out and buy produce from the farmers. Her mother would can for a few days out in the open and when she was done, they'd load everything back in the wagons and head back to town.

I guess it was just too hot to do it all in the kitchen.

That's actually fascinating. I've never heard of anyone doing that...but it makes perfect sense.

 

[Don Alaska]

Some people here take an RV or a trailer done to the river and can the salmon as they get it out of the river. It is only legal for Alaska residents to do that, but I don't know if it is enforced or not. Most of what we can is produced on our place or is caught wild, but my wife sometimes orders a case of fruit from somewhere (usually Azure Standard I think) and we can that. We just had some of her canned apricots last night and we cannot grow those here.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

Oh; that one went over my head, just kept seeing post on different threads about canning, and thought, where's the canning thread, searched it and only "preserving" thread came up, so I was thinking they're isn't one, should start one for "everyone". I'd have never said when fixing to can some; I'm gonna "preserve", some beans, even though it's the same thing. Maybe Ken can fix it, I wasn't really trying to get a thread this time, just trying to help.

Maybe @Ken Anderson can combine them into a single "Canning and Preserving Food" thread when he has time. No big deal either way.

 

[Jake Smith]

My grandma (who grew up in the city) told me that when it came time for canning, they'd load up the woodstove, jars and pots and head for the country.

They'd camp out and buy produce from the farmers. Her mother would can for a few days out in the open and when she was done, they'd load everything back in the wagons and head back to town.

I guess it was just too hot to do it all in the kitchen.

The kitchen is too hot, due to the length of "time" canning takes, and heats up your whole house. We've always done it outside, using this tail gaiter cooker. Our Grandma, was smart about a lot of things, like remedies and other things too.