WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[Beekissed]

You know what? This canning of apple juice/cider is a foolproof thing. If one doesn't seal or "goes bad" later, I still have some great ACV! It's a win/win situation!

What kind of spices do you all put in when you can your chicken soup? I am using garlic, onions, sea salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage and lemongrass.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Ldychef2k]

I have heard from others that sage gets a funky flavor when canned. Do you find that to be true?

 

[Beekissed]

I'll find out! How about rosemary and thyme? The herbs did seem to darken the broth a little more than usual...of course I really put the parsley to it....you know how it goes, a little is good, a lot is better......

For now I have canned 13 qts. of chicken soup base and 32 qts. of juice.....my estimates this morning were, of course, a little off.

But I will be juicing all evening and my son will be canning those tomorrow. I think we will save the sauce and dog food until a later date. Time got away from me today with all this multi-tasking.

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

The soup will get onion, garlic, salt & pepper, and some parsley.

I do season to taste so it's a little of this and some of that....

 

[Ldychef2k]

Why do I keep doing this? I get started with a huge batch of soup or whatever about 2 in the afternoon, realize that it's going to take three batches for all 21 quarts, and then stay up all night cooking MORE big batches to do the exact same thing tomorrow.

Okay, /whine

Today I made 21 quarts of chicken soup with veggies. About 1/3 of the jar is solid, the other 2/3 broth. I am giving them as gifts, so wach family will get two quarts of soup and one of those half-sized packs of little pasta which I get 3/1.00. Should work out about right.

I also am cooking some black bean chili AND some 15 bean soup with ham hock. There will be about 25 quarts of the first and 10 of the second, the way it's looking.

Re organized my jars yesterday, so I guess I am feeling there are empty spots in the pantry. My granddaughter (10) says it best: Grandma, you just can't stay out of the kitchen, can you?

 

[Dace]

You can can 15 bean soup? Why can I NOT get my head around this canning business??????

 

[Ldychef2k]

That was my reaction when I heard about meat loaf and chicken breasts!

Ever since I got my pressure canner, I have tried just about everything under the sun. 15 bean soup is next. I just jarred up my black bean chili soup and ended up with 24 pints and 7 quarts.

I am still boiling the ham hocks for the 15 bean. The split pea I made last week was insane. I only have 5 quarts left after the fam got wind of it.

 

[Beekissed]

Ldy, I'm glad you mentioned the beans.....I am going to can up some left over crockpot brown chili beans when I can juice tomorrow. I would have forgotten....

 

[prism]

Many of you get soooo much canning done! HOW? Do you can in your sleep?

Personally no... but sometimes I get REALLY sleepy!

I try to can a little bit at a time and can often. I usually will do a canner load after cleaning up from dinner for example. I may snap the green beans while I watch some TV and then put on the canner. I keep a close eye on it while it is cooking, then back to TV, laundry or another task while the canner cools down.

Canning gets to be more of a habit the more often you do it.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that it's the prep that feels so time consuming for me. I did a little bit of canning quite a few years ago and then nothing for years. Got back into it this year with chokecherries and crabapples for jelly and butter. While I did get several batches of each, it seemed like it was an all day affair to clean, extract juice, and then make the jelly and butter. I come here and see 50-60 quarts of apple juice by beekissed and can't get my mind wrapped around it. The recent relish took me several hours but most of the time was in chopping all the tomatoes, onions, etc - yes with a food processor. And oh my.... it takes forever for my water bath to come to a boil it seems. Even with multi-tasking (which I also do), I still have a hard time imagining how so many of you get sooooo much canning done. Maybe I need to figure out a way of getting my clock to slow down so I have more time.

 

[Beekissed]

I didn't get the 50-60 done that I had wanted.....maybe if I hadn't been doing 2,000 other things yesterday, I could have hit that goal!

Only 32 qt of juice and 13 of chicken soup. Never fear.....son #1 will be juicing and canning for me today and finish out my juice canning. Love that boy!

My mother is the queen of canning and still cans literally hundreds of jars each year of tomatoes and such. She used to do about 200 of each veggie and fruit back when we were off grid, as the cellar is the best place to store foods when you don't have many storage options.