WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[FarmerJamie]

@FarmerJamie I wish I had half the energy you and your wife have for canning. I get tired doing one batch!

Thanks for the kind words. I am not superman. I work a full week, do volunteer work, my weekend is the only time I have right now, so I push through it. This is easy peasy compared to when the kids were small. Always have been a bit of a plow mule. Head pointed forward and just pull.

My wife's cardiologist wants her to exercise more, this is one way I can get her up and moving. She's also got adult ADHD and OCD, so anything I can keep her focused on is good.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm not canning today, but I'm going to put some zucchini slices in the dehydrator and see if they'll magically turn into zucchini chips that are delicious and as addicting as a potato chip.

 

[Hinotori]

Pulled some bags of pears out of the freezer and cooked them down into pear butter yesterday. Canned up it was 7 half pints.

 

[tortoise]

Okay, out of curiosity. How do y’all just can leftovers? Do you just pressure can or what? Before I started canning I was very thoroughly warned to follow recipes and exact times or risk death. Which sounds extreme now that I type it. But, seriously, how do you know how much time, what pressure, and what is safe to can?

I am very much in the safe / evidence-based group of home canners. I use National Center for Home Food Preservation website for canning information because it is most current.

• Always mind the consistency of the product and the size of the pieces. Very important for heat penetration. When in doubt, freeze it.
• Check the pH of your product before water bath canning to be sure it is acidic enough to be safe.
• Don't re-can commercial product.
• Don't can anything with dairy in it.
• Don't can anything with starch, like pie filling with cornstarch, or soup with noodles. Use ClearGel in place of cornstarch, or thicken it before serving. Similarly, add noodles etc. to canned soup when preparing to serve it. Starch slows heat penetration so your product might not be adequately processed if you use it.
• Don't can anything with processed meats (I believe it's because the spices/flavors will go off).
• Remember that in places where safe canning practices are not followed (such as countries where there is no funding or research into safe home canning, or where pressure canners are not available), people boil home canned foods for 10 minutes before consuming.

 

[tortoise]

what do you guys think of canned ground beef? ive never tried it. so far just chicken and rabbit and sometimes theres a wierd taste. im running our of room in the freezer and got ALOT more meat coming in

Ground beef and ground venison are my favorite canned item; it's so convenient! It's a bit different to cook with because of the extra liquid. Either remember to drain it, boil it off, or thicken it.

 

[tortoise]

That makes total sense. It sounded like you were making just a pot of soup and canning extras. Using the recipe makes more sense. Brain day lol.
I know on the canned pumpkin. It’s so unfortunate, I love canned pumpkin to bake with. At least it usually goes on sale.

You can pressure can cubed pumpkin - just not puree. Use regular mouth quarts jars for it if possible.

 

[FarmerJamie]

6 pints of mushrooms in the canner. *yawn*

 

[Mini Horses]

6 pints of mushrooms in the canner. *yawn*

Did DW do this??

 

[FarmerJamie]

Did DW do this??

Everything but the final ring tighten and locking/unlocking the canner lid. Progress

 

[FarmerJamie]

Water bathing 24 1/4 pint jars of the spiced orange honey recipe that I had posted somewhere here. She did all the prep work, I just helped with filling the jars and getting into the hot water bath.