The Can-o-phobic's Corner

[Beekissed]

I just bought a new steam canner...can't wait to try it! Only takes 6-8 c. of water!

You guys could always take the adrenaline ride of water bath canning everything!

Just opened and ate the chicken soup I water bath canned last year.....it was tasty and I didn't die. Go figure.

 

[Wifezilla]

Since I am at 5500' above sea level, water bath isn't even an option.

 

[xpc]

We pressure can venison stew, beef stew, chicken chunks and beef chunks. The stews are a great 10 minute meal. The chicken is used for soups, chicken salad, etc. The beef is great for soups, beef and noodles, beef stroganoff, etc. All make for quick, easy and CHEAP meals.

I first read about canning meats a few months back in a different thread and thought that might be something to try at some point.

Your post makes me want to give it a go if not just for the testing, if my plan for a total off grid cabin pans out I was really not planning on having a freezer. Buying fresh meats and having a canning day may just be the thing to do, will a simple hot water bath work for pre-cooked or parboiled meats? or does it need pressure cooking from raw?

For some odd reason I have plenty of mason jars around here.

 

[Farmfresh]

According to the "experts" meats and low acid foods like most vegies MUST be pressure canned. Botulism and some other nasties do not die at 212 degrees. Pressure canners can reach 240 to 250 and kill the nasties.

It has just now occurred to me that some folks here are worried about using a kitchen tool that gets up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit - yet they use an oven which reaches skyrocketing temps up to 450 or even higher. Wow livin' on the edge.

By the way a year ago I was baking something in MY (two year old) oven and the stupid thing malfunctioned. When I opened the oven door a fireball came swooping out at me and singed off my eyebrows!!! I probably would have been injured worse but I had been working outside and washed up with a hose before coming in and my clothes were all still pretty damp. In the end a stupid mouse had caused the problem. So in my opinion OVENS are the most dangerous kitchen tool. I am STILL a bit gun shy with my new one.

 

[~gd]

I have wondered why certain food preservation methods are never mentioned on this forum? (No I don't mean this thread, I mean the whole website) Raise your hand if if you have heard of the following: Cured and Smoked meats, like Real Ham, Real Bacon, Corned Beef, Salt pork, all kinds of sausage, etc
Just plain old storage of many fruits and veggies like in a root celler? we used to put down, Apples, pears, Cabbage & family, just about any root veggie & EGGS.
also we stored things in oil, fats, syurps and alcohol.
Plus there was plain old dry storage for things like flour, grains, beans, sugar, coffee, Tea, Seeds for next year and even cash!
All I seem to read here is ferment, can, and freeze. I grew up in the North in cold winters. Many items were frozen for short term use by just leaving them out at night the same way we would make applejack (like brandy) from hard cider.
I can understand the hang ups on cheese making (we converted any dairy excess to butter which we sold for cash) fermenting all kinds of things. and canning. but you should consider some of the other methods. Once you have a root cellar/storm hidey hole/fall out shelter the rest will seem like child toys. Sorting a bushel or a barrel of apples and storing in a root celler can be done before you even have your canning water boiling!~gd

 

[xpc]

I grew up in the North in cold winters. Many items were frozen for short term use by just leaving them out at night the same way we would make applejack (like brandy) from hard cider.

Here's a fun fact for you ~gd,

Applejack made by freeze jacking aka fractional freeze distillation is illegal in the United States, any process that increases the alcohol content other then natural fermentation by more that 0.5% requires a distillation licence, otherwise known as pay the tax man..

Years ago I downloaded, printed, and bound the entire Federal alcohol beverage manual, read some but skimmed most of it - too daunting even for Popcorn Sutton.

 

[~gd]

I grew up in the North in cold winters. Many items were frozen for short term use by just leaving them out at night the same way we would make applejack (like brandy) from hard cider.

Here's a fun fact for you ~gd,

Applejack made by freeze jacking aka fractional freeze distillation is illegal in the United States, any process that increases the alcohol content other then natural fermentation by more that 0.5% requires a distillation licence, otherwise known as pay the tax man..

Years ago I downloaded, printed, and bound the entire Federal alcohol beverage manual, read some but skimmed most of it - too daunting even for Popcorn Sutton.

Well I knew that, Did you never break a law? Come clean never never? A whole community of german speakers scattered in our own orchards. Outsiders come around and suddenly no body could speak English. The first rule was never sell any 'jack or even hard cider because many of the households were also breaking the 200 gallon limit. During WWII the gov set up a POW camp, mostly submarine crews. These boys didn't want to go home before the war was over because they would be stuck in a sub again. The farmers were allowed to use the guys for farm labor which was in short supply. The POW was allowed to pick who to work for so some of the farmers would offer incentives like some good Cider for productive workers, many times the POW would hold the shotgun while the farmer drank! No one ever excaped and only a few tried.
One of the places I worked for used a lot of undenatured Ethanol. Any we couldn't account for we had to pay the beverage tax on(at that time $31.50/proof gallon). The ATF could check on us at any time (usually every six months or so) and we would 'stick' the big 4000 gallon tank and weigh every drum in our special security area and the guy would pull random samples so we couldn't get away with watering the booze. Once the inventory was done we would sit with the batch records since the last visit and account for every pound. this took about 3-4 days. One guy took 5 weeks! Ok in the morning but would come back from lunch loaded and screw up what he had done in the morning. After 3+ weeks my boss decided he had had enough, but what to do? If we blew the whisle on the guy he might have buddies that could make us pay for our complaint. Finally had lunch catered in for the whole office staff and invited ATF to join us (strictl illegal, bribe) and I was told to never let him out of my sight. That is when I learned that real drunks can do better with a little of "the hair of the dog" then they could sober, and even enforcement agents break the rules.~gd

 

[freemotion]

I have wondered why certain food preservation methods are never mentioned on this forum? (No I don't mean this thread, I mean the whole website) Raise your hand if if you have heard of the following: Cured and Smoked meats, like Real Ham, Real Bacon, Corned Beef, Salt pork, all kinds of sausage, etc
Just plain old storage of many fruits and veggies like in a root celler? we used to put down, Apples, pears, Cabbage & family, just about any root veggie & EGGS.
also we stored things in oil, fats, syurps and alcohol.
Plus there was plain old dry storage for things like flour, grains, beans, sugar, coffee, Tea, Seeds for next year and even cash!
All I seem to read here is ferment, can, and freeze. I grew up in the North in cold winters. Many items were frozen for short term use by just leaving them out at night the same way we would make applejack (like brandy) from hard cider.
I can understand the hang ups on cheese making (we converted any dairy excess to butter which we sold for cash) fermenting all kinds of things. and canning. but you should consider some of the other methods. Once you have a root cellar/storm hidey hole/fall out shelter the rest will seem like child toys. Sorting a bushel or a barrel of apples and storing in a root celler can be done before you even have your canning water boiling!~gd

This has all been discussed quite a bit, but there is only so much you can say on the subject. We tend to spend more time on what we are learning or want to learn to do. If you use the search feature, you'll find some of the past discussions on the best way to store flour/grains, root cellar ideas, smoking meats, etc.

 

[xpc]

I don't which one of you guys owe me but you better send my $100 pronto. Couldn't sleep at all last night and finally got up for good at 5am and was out of coffee, so off to town I go. Decided to swing by walmart and check out the pressure cookers and ended up with a 16qt 15psi model and 5 pounds of test meats.

I have my arc flash suit for electrical explosions, my scba for caustic ammonia spills, a fire extinguisher at each of the kitchen doors, 2 pitbulls in case of food spills, but nothing for a pressure cooker explosion. I do have a full size replica Mark V diving helmet but weighs 50 pounds and the port holes are hard to see out off.

I should of just dug a root cellar that way if I died of a heart attack I would of been good to go.

 

[Farmfresh]

I have wondered why certain food preservation methods are never mentioned on this forum?

Then you certainly have not done enough reading on this site. All of these things and more HAVE already been discussed and in depth. Why on earth would you think otherwise?