WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[sparks]

10 and 1/2 quarts of spaghetti sauce, 5 qts and 4 pints of Bloody Mary mix and 10 pints of cowboy candy.

 

[Corn Woman]

7 pints of peaches and 12 pints of tomato soup.

 

[Mickey328]

Today I am canning chicken. I love canned chicken in a casserole or chicken salad.

I've never canned just meat...it's always been things like chili. I've dehydrated chicken which is great in a casserole.

Can you give me a brief idea of how you can your chicken...cuts, prep, etc?

Thanks!
Mickey

Oops, just saw the later post about how you do it. Do you remove the bones first?

 

[ORChick]

Sounds like these are newer stoves then? I can just about every week during the summer months, and probably a couple of times a month throughout the rest of the year--much of it pressure canning--with no troubles with my stove. Weird.

I have a glass stove top as well - was in the house when we moved here almost 11 years ago. I am not fond of it for many reasons, but have never had any trouble with canning. It heats up reasonably quickly, and, once heated, holds the heat well. Once the pressure canner is up to pressure I can turn the knob down to almost LO, and have no trouble keeping the pressure.
Perhaps there are safety features on the newer tops that prevent this?

I will be picking up tomatoes at the farmers' market today, and plan on canning them as sauce.

 

[moolie]

Apricot jam

 

[Mickey328]

No actual canning today but lots and lots of prep work! Picked the plums from our tree this morning; should get a nice batch of jam from them.

Hit the farmers' market at 11am and scored 3 boxes of Romas that were picked just this morning...woohoo! The last ones we got all went into 9 quarts of spaghetti sauce and I also want some just plain for adding to chili and stew and such. Also grabbed up a bag of assorted fresh veggie.

Got home, dumped the tomatoes into a cooler and hosed 'em down to get the dirt off. DH got out the food mill and ground 'em all down. We strained a couple gallons of just juice off them (we like thicker sauces). Then we hauled out the Champion and juiced the skins from the tomatoes, beets, carrots, parsley, basil, onion, garlic, celery and lettuce. After the tomatoes are processing tomorrow (I anticipate 10 or 11 quarts) I'll mix all the juice together till it tastes right and can that as well. I'm figuring about 10 or 11 qts from that as well.

Sure glad the prep is done...that's always the hardest, messiest and longest part of a canning project, LOL. Actual processing should be quick tomorrow.

 

[ORChick]

I have to agree about the prep work, Mickey. I put 32# of tomatoes through my Squeezo strainer this afternoon - took me the better part of the afternoon to do it, what with washing, cutting, and (once or twice) disassembling the Squeezo to clean out the screw. After cooking the juice/pulp down somewhat I have 20 pints of plain tomato sauce cooling on the counter, and several dehydrator trays spread with the skins and seeds. When they are dry I'll put them through the blender for tomato powder.

 

[terri9630]

Our farmers market closed. The store that "sponsored" it closed and the property is off limits now. 65 miles to the next one. Don't know what everyone is doing with their produce.

 

[Mickey328]

Aw, that sux, Terri. We have about 4 of them within 20 miles, thank goodness. There's no way I could grow enough to make canning worth the effort. There's also a small farmer less than a mile down the road from us who has a little roadside stand, although his hours are a bit odd...we see the sign but almost never anyone in their little lean to, LOL. We also have a co-op store that does the organic/herbal thing...they often have postings on their bulletin board from folks who have stuff for sale. Might you find something that way?

 

[me&thegals]

Apricot jam

Oh, yum! My SIL gave us some once and my mouth still waters when I think about it. Truly the best jam I've ever had!

18 pints spaghetti sauce got finished yesterday

Today:
21 jars of chocolate raspberry jam
23 jars of canned raspberry jam
16 jars of freezer raspberry jam
8 pints pickled beets
20 quarts diced tomatoes

Mickey--can you describe your vegetable juice more? It sounds delicious and like something I'd love to try making!