WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

Who has canned sweet potatoes? There's a good sale on them right now so I'm considering buying some extras and canning them. Recipe I saw said to pre cook them for 15 - 20 minutes before processing. Why? They'll be cooked when processing - so why the pre-cooking? I'll be using little to no sugar also. Has anyone done them without a sugar syrup?

I'm on my last class right now (via Zoom) for my Master Preservers class.

Yes, many approved recipes are canned without sugar. BRB with recipe.

Lecturer is talking. So I've turned off my audio and video to respond to you.

Choose small to medium sweet potatoes. Wash and then boil or steam until partially soft. (use whole potatoes). Cool slightly and remove skins. Cut into chunks. (learning: steaming boiling stops the enzymatic reactions of raw veggies, which leads to discoloring and degradation) (learning: never can pulp)

Fill hot jars with warm chunks. Leave 1" headspace. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Cover with fresh boiling water (or a light syrup). Debubble. Leave 1" headspace with the water. Wipe rims, don't boil the lids anymore cus the rubber is much thinner than years ago). Finger tight rings.

Pressure can Pints: 65 minutes, quarts 90 minutes at 10-11 lb pressure at under 1,000 ft elevation.

You know the rest.

Yep, that's exactly how I did mine. . Cut in similar size pieces. I steamed until peels were loose, nothing more. I used water & salt. Also I buy lids with the thicker rubber, made in USA

murphysranch said:

You know the rest.

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Thanks so much for that! Sweets are .20c a pound this week so I want to get some canned. At that price it's worth it - much easier than growing them, lol.

20 cents per pound???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? It might be cheaper for me to fly there to Texas and buy some than pay the 79 to 89 cents per lb here.

murphysranch said:

20 cents per pound???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? It might be cheaper for me to fly there to Texas and buy some than pay the 79 to 89 cents per lb here.

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I remember the huge, cheap sweet potatoes in the store at harvest time back in Virginia. I do miss those. Except for having to cut them up to even attempt to cook something that huge.

for those reading along who may not be familiar with this process. the reason for cutting them into chunks after pre-cooking and peeling is to make sure that there is no part left inside that doesn't have a chance to be fully and completely cooked during the pressure canning to kill off any residual bacteria that can be around.

When I was checking the sales ads today my normal store, Kroger, had the sweets for .39c a lb. I thought that was pretty good until I checked HEB prices and found the .20c. Can't pass that up!

I need to do some more beans too. We eat a lot of beans because they really help keep DH's blood sugar steady.

LOTS of sweets grown close to me in NC. They sell all the cull shapes/size for animal feed. Most stores here they're 20-30 cents a lb before Thanksgiving. Otherwise 59-89 a lb. It's a good time to buy/can. They're a good nutritional item!

P-nuts, too....p-nut country here! Bulk for feed 20-30cent a lb. They're good "forage" with protein as they'll eat them shell & all.