Who oven cans, and how, and wouldn't that be better anyway? You can surely reach well above botulism murdering temps in an oven. Anybody got the scoop on the logistics of that? I wanna can meats, and I hate pressure canners...thought maybe I could find an alternative in oven canning. Go! 
As I said in my previous post, my belief is that the writers of those cookbooks/manuals are just trying to cover their butts should someone not follow the guidelines to the letter, but I don't know the true reason.frustratedearthmother said:Moolie you are a wealth of information!
"For meat to be heated to the point where not only the botulism organism is destroyed but also the spores, the meat inside the jars must reach 120C/248F. This cannot be done in a boiling water canner."
I get that - and I do follow the guidelines and pressure can for the same reason that you do. I see no reason to take an unnecessary risk.
What I don't understand is this: we pressure can to reach the internal temperature of 248F - so what good will it do to boil the food (at 212F) after pressure canning? If the botulism spores weren't killed at 248F - they're not going to be killed at 212F! (And that alone is why I pressure can instead of boiling water bath for low-acid foods.)
I guess this is just their way of trying to cover their.....selves?
I'm not in any way unhappy.Beekissed said:
Last I checked, pressure canning isn't something "new". My mother used a pressure canner all the time I was growing up...granny didn't, mother did. The last thing I fear is trying something new. But I'm not above keeping old, tried and true either....never did like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
There aren't too many things I fear on this Earth.
It seems weird to me that we can't each have different methods of canning without disparaging one over the other. No one is saying pressure canning is not something folks should do, they are just saying that some prefer not to do it and do not fear canning in a water bath or steam canner...and that should be okay without all the long, drawn out dissertations on how foolish we are being by not being "prudent" enough.
Each to his own, for pete's sake.
And I've said over and over, each to his/her own. Please re-read my posts, I think I've been clear on that point--I don't care what others do, I care what I do. And I care when wrong information is disseminated as it was above.
Moolie, I did not give the wrong information. I simply did not use the words "internal food temp." I gave a simplified answer to the question of why commercially canned food might not be under the "boil warning". Please google it as per your own suggestion and regardless of what your canner and methods produce, testing in a lab has shown that home canners "do not reach an internal food temp." of 250 degrees. Now, I do not really agree with that either but I have not scientifically re- produced the results in a lab, so my oppinions don't count on this. That is why safe food handling techniques prior to canning are so important.moolie said:And I've said over and over, each to his/her own. Please re-read my posts, I think I've been clear on that point--I don't care what others do, I care what I do. And I care when wrong information is disseminated as it was above.
And I really don't like someone labeling my prudence, and that of anyone else who chooses to follow certain guidelines, as "fear". It has absolutely nothing to do with fear, that is your "label" and it is incorrect.
I've been accused of "arguing" my point on this topic in this and other threads and via PM, I'm not arguing--I'm presenting a point of view (and defending my personal choices against someone else's label of "fear"). Last I checked, presenting a point of view is part of a healthy discussion process
You are very welcome to your method of canning. Doesn't bother me a bit what you or anyone else choose to do.
Beekissed: how about we take the discussion further? How about you tell us what, how, and how often you can via your method? How about if we take Cindi WBF's question into consideration and add that to the discussion?
Cindi, I don't think that oven canning can reliably get food in jars to the correct temperatures. From what I've read and what my friend has told me there are always hot spots and cold spots in an oven and no two ovens are the same, thus why there are no guidelines or processing times given anywhere that would allow home canners to achieve the same results as anyone else.
Technically speaking, one would think that a convection oven would take care of the hot/cold spots. Convection is nothing more then a cirlulating fan in the back of the oven for which you pay big bucks. The questions that need to be asked are; how long and at what temp. would you need to keep the oven to obtain the desired results? Does the convection adaquately address the hot/cold spots? How does one place the jars and how many to avoid too much heat from the oven walls? Does your oven cycle on and off to maintain the required temp. and how does this effect the temperature variances inside your oven and jars? Assuming these are answered to ones satisfaction, how do the parameters change for acid, non acidic foods and textures? As Cindy said, all this will change from oven to oven. Personally I wouldn't go near anything oven canned in a wood fired cook stove and would have to be fairly confident on the quality/reliability of my stove/oven. Not. I'll stick with water bath and pressure canning. I can be a fraidy cat too.moolie said:Cindi, I don't think that oven canning can reliably get food in jars to the correct temperatures. From what I've read and what my friend has told me there are always hot spots and cold spots in an oven and no two ovens are the same, thus why there are no guidelines or processing times given anywhere that would allow home canners to achieve the same results as anyone else.
Again, I'm not looking for a fightanimalfarm said:
And that doesn't tell the whole story.animalfarm said:
