Having a pout- I can't can what I want to. Hmf! Or can I? Help!

[hqueen13]

Moolie, wish you were close so you could help me!! I really want to expand and have things like that available to us, it would be a HUGE help to our schedule and diet, but I just haven't gotten that confident with canning yet. One thing at a time I guess...

 

[moolie]

Moolie, wish you were close so you could help me!! I really want to expand and have things like that available to us, it would be a HUGE help to our schedule and diet, but I just haven't gotten that confident with canning yet. One thing at a time I guess...

Aw, that's so nice of you to say!

I've actually only been pressure canning for a couple of years, although I've been canning (or helping my Mom) all my life. My Mom canned all kinds of fruit and pickles when I was a kid, my Grandma and Oma also made jam, and my Grandma was an old hat at pressure canning because they didn't have power until well into the 1960s so she taught my Mom to pressure can salmon (which was abundant when we lived on the coast). Grandma canned a few diferent kinds of meat (hamburger, deer), but I don't think she canned "prepared" meals, she was thinking more about preservation than convenience.

I started on my own with peaches and tomatoes when I first got married 19 years ago. Then I added more fruits, jams and pickles, then baby food. My Mom gave me her old 1970s Presto 18 Litre a few years ago and I finally got the nerve up to try it a couple of years ago. I had a lot of support here on SS actually

I started out with plain beans. By following the recipes in the little cookbook booklet that came with the canner, to the letter. I realized quickly that it's possible to can just about anything and just went for broke, trying all kinds of things (including the chili with beans, for which there are no "canning" recipes--they all say to can the meaty part and the beans separately). A big impetus to having a variety of things on the shelf is our busy life with two teens who are constantly on the go.

They've always made their own school lunches, and making a pot of soup or beans or whatever each week to keep in the fridge as a break from daily sandwiches meant some monotony each week because it was only one kind of soup, even if I froze half for another time. So now I make a big batch of soup one week and can it, then do the same with something else the next week or so--building up the pantry to the point where today my kids can choose Turkey Veg Soup, Borscht, Split Pea with Bacon Soup, Tomato Soup, Hamburger Veg Soup, Baked Beans or Chili with Beans. Last week we also had Tomato Veg, but we ate the last one the other day. Our lunches have improved because of the choices, and they don't get tired of one kind of soup.

Because of this thread, I'm going to be whipping up a batch of Chicken/Turkey (whatever stock I have in the freezer) Corn Chowder (sans milk) in the next while and canning it to see how that goes. Whenever we have a roast chicken or turkey, I make stock and freeze it complete with meaty bits included, so making soup is a no-brainer.

My secret weapon in thickening pressure canned soups is yellow split peas or dhal. Green split peas have that "split pea soup" flavour, but the yellow ones are much milder. And when you cook up a batch of soup with a cup or two of dhal added (depending on how big your recipe is) and then pressure can it, the dhal sort of disintegrate and make the soup "creamy". And they're dirt cheap in the Indian Foods aisle at my local Superstore.

Maybe I should post up my soup recipes?

 

[KnittyGritty]

Moolie, I vote yes - PLEASE! And thanks!!

 

[hqueen13]

Wow, Moolie, that is still so amazing to me! I watched my mom and grandmother can a lot as a kid, but never really helped all that much. Not enough to really have the hang of it or anything.
I do have a couple friends that can in the area, I just wish I had more time available. I'm afraid of ending up getting sick by doing something wrong, but at the same time I want to be able to do things that we can grab and go. We have a major issue with not having time to cook, and for us the ability to have wholesome food that we have prepared in about 5 minutes is HUGE.
I guess I"ll get there eventually. And YES, you should post your soup recipes!!!

 

[moolie]

I make stock when I have time and stuff to cook up, usually after dinner. We eat the chicken, while the carcass goes into the pot with a coarsely chopped onion, some celery, and some carrots and maybe bits of leftover tomato. I cook it till bedtime, then pull all the nice meaty bits off the carcass and chuck them back into the broth, pop the pot into the fridge on a potholder to cool overnight, then next day into a container for the freezer.

Then when I feel like making soup, usually while I'm cooking dinner or something else, I'll pull the container of stock out of the freezer and dump it into a pot, and throw in veggies until it looks good. I let it cook only till hot if I'm canning it, otherwise all of my soups cook for hours, then go into the fridge to cool overnight while the flavours "meld" some more, then I cook it a few more hours the next day.

If I'm canning it right away, i just cook it till heated while I run the jars through a hot "rinse" cycle on the dishwasher to made sure they are clean, ladle the hot soup into the jars, lids onto jars then into canner, and process while we eat dinner. Timer goes off, turn off burner, wait till pressure goes down to zero, jars out onto towel on countertop till I check the seals and put them away the next morning.

It sounds like a lot of steps, but I already made soup for years the same way, so adding the jars and processing step just added time for the most part

Tomato Soup

4 quarts chopped tomatoes
3 large onions, chopped
2 cups celery, chopped
3 red bell peppers, chopped
5 carrots, chopped
salt, basil, bay leaf

Cook tomatoes till soft, run through food mill to remove skins and seeds. Cook rest of veggies in just enough water to cover till soft, run through food mill. Combine tomato and veggie pure in pot, season and add bay leaf. Simmer about an hour till thickened, remove bay leaf. Pack into clean hot pint jars, leaving 1/2" headspace, process 20 minutes at 10 lbs pressure (adjust for altitude, I need 12 lbs).

Split Pea Soup with Bacon

1 lb split peas
3 cups water
6 cups chicken broth
1/4 lb thick bacon, cooked and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 tsp dry mustard
salt, pepper
1 cup diced ham

Combine all ingredients except ham and simmer 2 hours until peas are tender, add ham and heat through again. Pack into clean hot pint jars, leaving 1" headspace, and process 75 minutes at 10 lbs pressure (adjust for altitude, I need 12 lbs).

Turkey Veg Soup


2 onions, chopped and sauted
2 quarts turkey stock with meat
1 quart water
4 cups assorted chopped veggies
salt, pepper, herbs to taste (rosemary is nice, parsley is classic)

Add sauted onions to stock and water, simmer till veggies are cooked but not too soft. Can pure half the soup with immersion or regular blender if you wish it creamier OR can add 1 cup yellow split peas while simmering veggies (this will also thicken the soup). Season to taste, pack into clean hot pint jars, leaving 1" headspace, and process 75 minutes at 10 lbs pressure (adjust for altitude, I need 12 lbs)..

Cream of Whatever Soup

3 quarts of veggie or meat stock, no meat
2 cups veggie of choice
2 cups yellow split peas
salt, pepper to taste

Simmer veggies and split peas in broth till soft, pure with immersion or regular blender, add water if too thick (should be eating consistency for creamy soup), season to taste, pack into clean hot pint jars, leaving 1" headspace, and process at 10 lbs pressure (adjust for altitude, I need 12 lbs) for 75 minutes.

Hamburger Veg Soup

1 lb ground beef/bison
2 onions, choppped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 quarts chopped tomatoes
2 quarts beef broth
4 carrots, chopped
1 cup assorted mixed veg (can be frozen, we like grean beans and corn)
salt, pepper

Saute onions and celery, brown meat and spoon off fat, add tomatoes and broth along with veggies and cook till heated through, season to taste. Pack into clean hot pint jars, leaving 1" headspace, and process 75 minutes at 10 lbs pressure (adjust for altitude, I need 12 lbs).

 

[hqueen13]

OMG, Moolie you rock!!!!! Can't wait to try some of these!!
That split pea and bacon sounds awesome!!

We tend to run our stock on the stove for 12 hours or better really cooking it down. I like your rhythm, though. But eating dinner at 7:30 or later doesn't lend itself to this kind of style. I am just praying that changes after the fall and he gets moved closer so that he can get home at a decent hour so we can cook more than we do!

 

[moolie]

We tend to eat dinner around 6pm, and don't usually get to bed until midnight or thereabouts, so my stock usually gets at least 6 hours. If we eat later (like now that it's summer and the kids have fewer things on the go) then I crock pot it overnight

Let me know how things turn out for you--the only "official" recipe in there is the Tomato Soup, which is from my 1983 copy of Ortho Books: The Complete Book of Canning, the Split Pea with Bacon is based on a recipe in the same book, the rest are just how I tend to make soup and the amounts given can vary widely.

 

[KnittyGritty]

Thanks for posting all those recipes, Moolie! Do you know about how many pint jars to prepare for each of your recipes?

 

[moolie]

My soup pot has quart markings on the inside, so I prep my jars once I know how much soup I've made--sorry, probably no help, but I cook a lot by feel and the recipes are just guidelines.

Probably 6-8 pints for each recipe?

I usually get one layer of jars, sometimes a couple more extra for a second layer.

 

[hqueen13]

Oh don't worry, I will! I can't wait to try them! I also have 12 oz jars, which I am thinking might be nice for a slightly larger serving. I'll have to do a little experimenting and see what happens!
What kind of rack do you have to be able to double stack pints? My cooker doesn't have one, and that would make a lot more sense to handle more pints and smaller jars at a time. My canner can handle 7 quarts and it is full, but I am sure pints could be layered if I had the right setup.