Canning

[LeeB]

Any one doing any canning? I'm looking for recomendations on a canner.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Renee' does and you have two kinds of canning.  There is "wet bath" and "pressure canning".  Some things like meat you have to pressure can them and like tomatos you you can wet bath them.   She does both.

[zopi]

http://canningusa.com/

these folks have a good deal of info on canning, and they sell suplies pretty reasonably...two kinds of pressure canners if you need one..presto and wisconsin aluminum...we have a presto that is about
50 years old..

most veggies need not be pressure canned..we just use a big stock pot..preferably on a burner outside..hot work..

[LeeB]

Lindy is wanting to try pressure canning, put away some meats and such. Any recommendations appreciated. We know nothing about it.

[zopi]

If you do a google search for ag extension and canning you come up with a bunch of free info..or call the local extension agent..there are a bunch of books, but most of them a regurgitiations of the same info.

[splitter]

LeeB, my wife and I hot water can tomatoes and beans every year its not that hard and besides saving money the taste is a lot better in my opinion. Ball puts out a book on canning that is very helpful and Kerr may also put out a book. My mother canned all her life, if it wasn't for canned food I wouldn't be here.  Good luck----Splitter

[LeeB]

Lindy bought an All American canner while I was gone this time. It's a biggun. Looks like we're in the canning biz now. We'll see how it goes.

[olyman]

the all american--that the one with a machined area for sealing??--no gasket??--if so--there a honey---

[iffy]

Coupla things I like to can:
Carp - Fillet fish, remove mud stripe, cut into chunks. Pack tightly in pint jar, 1/4 tsp salt, 15 lbs for 90 minutes. Note: do not add any liquid to the jar before sealing. When it is done the jar will be 2/3 full of fish oil as well as the fish chunks. Use it like you would salmon for salmon patties.
Deer, elk, etc. - Remove fat and membranes, cut into chunks, pack tightly in pint jar. Add 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp beef bouillon granules or powder. 15 lbs for 75 minutes. Excellent in stew, beef & noodles, etc. This is great for the tougher cuts of meat that would normally end up as burger.

[Dan_Shade]

most extension service bulletins recommend pressure canning all vegetables now in order to kill botulism spores.  the spores are killed at 240^oF, a water bath can't get this hot.

Pickles can be water bathed due to the vinegar content.

there's a lot of info out there on canning, but some of the older stuff has been superceded by additional discoveries covering food safety over the past 50 years.

[LeeB]

I been gone to Houston all week for a seminar for work.  While I was gone Lindy out up 18 quarts of bread and butter pickles. She couldn't use the new canner though. It won't fit under the stove vent. Too tall. >:( Looks like I'll have to do a little redesign on the cabs.

Olyman, the all american is the one with machined edge for gasketless fit.

[Faron]

We are back in the canning business.  I grew up on home canned food, but we hadn't canned too much  since the girls left home.  Now faron'skid is raising a big garden, and we are back canning.  We bought a propane camp stove a while back, and a stainless steel table the other day.  Instead of canning in the house, with the mess and heat, we have turned the garage into a canning factory. This morning was the trial run, and the bosses were pleased. 8)





This is the stove.  They were able to use two pressure canners at a time.



Here is some of the finished product. 8)

We will be canning peas and tomatoes later.  We are figuring on canning peaches later on, and probably some apples.  We think during the canning season we will just leave everything set up and ready so we can process one batch or a whole bunch at a time.  I think I may have a stainless steel container built so we can cold pack half gallons.

[thecfarm]

Good for you.Don't know what part of IN you are in,but the Amish stores will probaly have what you need.

[olyman]

Olyman, the all american is the one with machined edge for gasketless fit.
[/quote]  after owning the canners with gaskets--and loosing them in the divorce--got a all american for near nothing--as i had researched them---

[CLL]

You can't buy green beans as good as canned ones, I don't care how long you cook then or how much ham or smoked hocks. Canning just has a different taste.

[Roxie]

We can perserves (strawberry, raspberry & grape), green beans, corn, beets, and apple butter.  My favorite thing to can is vegetable soup.  There ain't much better in this world, than walking into the house on a cool evening, and having some homemade soup!

[thecfarm]

My wife cans alot.She cans a soup starter in ½ gallon jars.She put everything in but the potatoes and the meat.

[LeeB]

Where do you get 1/2gal canning jars?

[thecfarm]

We use to get them from Amish stores in PA, because we could not found any in Maine.But now we can found them at wal mart and some hardware stores.
Another thing I've noticed.Just regular ½ gallon glass jars are getting harder and harder to find.Someone said Subway has glass ½ gallon jars.If they have any out your way.I have to check that out.Hard to find glass now.We have a bunch of them.We gave alot away.My stepson was dating a girl that worked at a ice cream place.She would get a few each week about 10 years ago.We had plenty at one time.Now most are plastic jars.If we would of known we would of kept getting them.

[Jeff]

Tammy and I just did up 10 jars of Blueberry jam.  Last week we did 10 jars of Raspberry and 10 jars of what we called Blasberry.  Not enought Blue berries for a whole batch so we topped it off with Raspberries. 

[Dan_Shade]

I did 24 pints of lime pickles this evening!

[Norm]

What are lime pickles Dan?

[Dan_Shade]

8 lbs sliced cucumbers
2 cups pickling lime
2 gallons water

dissolve lime in water and soak cucumbers in solution 24 hours. after soaking 24 hours, rinse 3-4 times using fresh water each rinse.

prepare pickling solution:
2 quarts 5% white vinegar
1 Tablespoon Cloves
1 Tablespoon Allspice
1 Tablespoon Celery Seed
9 cups sugar

Put Cloves, Allspice, and Celery Seed in a bag, and add to the vinegar/sugar solution, bring to a boil, remove from heat and add cucumbers.  Let sit for 3 hours, bring to boil for 30 minutes, then jar up the pickles.  Add a cinnamon stick to each jar at bottling.

They're my favorite sweet pickles, but I forgot to put in the cinnamon sticks yesterday.

[Norm]

Thanks Dan, sounds very similar to a recipe my mom used to make.

[LeeB]

Does the lime make them crisp or just impart to the flavor?