Cat Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Lots of great stuff! And on we go!!! Link to Part 4 Link to comment
susie Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I'm not canning...but I'm thinking about it. Another 200 kilos of potatoes are sitting here, looking at me. Link to comment
Canned Nerd Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 If they are Russet potatoes I would be thinking of french fries, steak poatoes, hash browns, potato pancakes, potato chips...........all dehydrated or frozen. Russet potatoes don't 'can' that well. Link to comment
Josephine Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I decided to vacuum seal the beans, and am now doing chicken stock. Link to comment
Mandomom Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 I did it! I canned for the first time and it didn't even hurt! I have a dehydrator I've played with often but I've never canned anything. Didn't even own any canning jars. I have a nice apple butter recipe though and decided it was worthy of some canning. I checked my local extension office for canning at my altitude, followed basic water bath guidelines and it worked! It was easy too. I have seven pint jars of apple butter that gave that nice snap sound after they were out of the hot water, so I assume they sealed well. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up some half pints and do smaller batches to give away, as well as more for us to store. Apples are on sale right now at my local store. It's not a fantastic price, but better than I've seen it in a while. I'm pretty excited. That was quite easy. If I can get some good prices on produce come spring time, I'm going to try some strawberry preserves and other things that do not require a pressure canner, something I've not been able to get yet. I'm checking craigslist regularly though, as well as trying to get some more cans. I remember my grandmother used to send us home canned strawberry preserves and it was wonderful tasting. Link to comment
Homemaker Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Good for you, Mandomom!! Things are usually not as difficult as we think they will be. Glad you jumped in and did it. Soon you'll be a pro. On Monday I canned 8 more pints of the raw pack chicken. Tuesday I canned 7 quarts of chicken a-la-king. Today I will can bean soup. I'm getting closer to my one year of food storage plan!!! Boy, it sure will be nice when I only need to can enought to maintain levels. Link to comment
kathy003 Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Congrats on your first canning experience! I'm sure the apple butter will taste great! Have fun when you make and can your strawberry preserves,, Yum!! Link to comment
Homemaker Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Oh poo!!! Looks like I've been side-lined. A piece of my pressure regulator came off. It's a little washer type thing. I found it sitting around the vent pipe. Guess I'll be sitting out from canning for a few weeks till I can get a replacement. I was on a roll too. Oh well, my house does need a good cleaning. This is where having a second canner would be a really good idea! Link to comment
Josephine Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I had 10 lb of carrots to can. NCHFP said 11 lb = 9 pints. HA! I got 16 pints! The carrots were on the large side, but I cut the big ones length wise before I sliced them, besides, 1`0 lb is 10 lb... Now I have to do the potatoes. I think I will have to do those in quarts, as I used up all my pints for the carrots. Link to comment
Crazy4Canning Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I got asparagus for .99 / lb. I bought 14 lbs. So today, I put up 11 full pints, and 9 1/2 pints of ends & pieces. Yummy! Then, when cleaning, I found some open jars of honey that had solidified to a crystalized mass. I melted it down, added some cloves and cinnamon and canned up 6 1/2 pints of spiced honey. I forgot how tiring this was. I'm beat. Link to comment
Canned Nerd Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 How does one "can" honey, especially when it is stable as is? Link to comment
Crazy4Canning Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Well, canning honey....the same as canning anything else, I guess. Sterile hot jars, hot product. Hot lids, Boiling water bath for 10 minutes. My honey was all crystallized and really unusable. I heated the containers slightly to get out the rock-hard honey, re-melted the honey, added a bit of water (because it was WAY too thick) and added some cinnamon and cloves, then let it come to a boil. I removed the cinnamon stick & cloves, then re-poured the honey into 1/2 pint jars. In times past, I've added dried citrus zest for a nice touch as well. I've kept honey for YEARS like this and will use it up quickly if its in smaller jars like this rather than one HUGE jug. Usually, I'm very good about using up honey when it's open. For some reason, I found several opened containers...I'm not quite sure where they came from. I didn't want 3 open containers, so I wanted a way to save them but put them into something smaller. Since I had my water bath canners out anyway, I just did it. I don't know if I would recommend this for ALL honey purposes, but it worked for me. Now, that ugly sticky honey it beautiful again and sits in tiny jars, available for nice portion sized use or to give away as a nice gift for those who like honey in their tea. Link to comment
serendipity Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 I did up another canner load of chicken breasts. Adding up, little by little... Link to comment
Aint2nuts Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Tomorrow I am canning orange juice. I was going to freeze it but my little freezer on my fridge is packed. I have three cases of jars left, and abou 40 lbs of oranges. I might make some orange marmalade too, if I can find some pectin. I haven't been able to find ANY in this area. I am going to call around from store to store tomorrow and see if I can turn some up. Jars are hard to come by around here too. I have meat in my freezer I need to use, and when I finally get the money to buy a pressure canner, I will can up those and the vegetables in my garden (Which I particially planted today! Well I planted some herbs. Link to comment
Yart Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 I got 19 pints of kidney beans canned up this week Link to comment
indy gal preps Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Found chicken quarters on sale for 58cents a lb. bought a 10lb bag,cut them up into legs and thighs and got 6 quarts. My first time of raw packing. I added a bit of chicken bouillon to each jar( about a 1/4 tsp.) and 1/2 cup of boiling water,some said not to add water but next time I will add more because the jars aren't full.Maybe the chicken was not packed tight enough,oh well it looks good and all sealed so I'm ok with it.Processed for 90 minutes at 10lbs pressure. Link to comment
Homemaker Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 My canner part arrived yesterday so I'm back to it! I'm finishing up 9 pints of raw packed chicken. I replaced the gasket as well and it's nice not having water leaking out. Link to comment
etp777 Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 10 pints of split pea soup with ham, and 5 without ham. Link to comment
Homemaker Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Whew! What a week!! Ham was on sale at Kroger and split peas have been on sale at the Co-op, so I canned up 49 quarts of split pea soup. I also did 5 more pints of raw packed chicken. I have no canning on the schedule for this week because grand baby is due any day. I would hate to be in the middle of something and get that phone call. Link to comment
Violet Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 I have 16 pints of Yukon gold and red potatoes in the canner. I am trying to see if adding pickle crisp, aka calcium chloride helps keep them firm. The commercial industry uses it in theirs. Thought I would try it. No harm in using it. I hope they all seal and no siphoning of the water. Link to comment
TurtleMama Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 I have 16 pints of Yukon gold and red potatoes in the canner. I am trying to see if adding pickle crisp, aka calcium chloride helps keep them firm. The commercial industry uses it in theirs. Thought I would try it. No harm in using it. I hope they all seal and no siphoning of the water. Violet, I thought that canning potatoes was a no-no because of the botulism in their skins. Am I just behind the times, here? LOL I hope that your experiment with the pickle crisp went well... Link to comment
brendajo Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 You have to wash them, peel them then wash again. That is the way I can mine. Link to comment
Canned Nerd Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Potatoes are a great item to 'can', just remember to peel them first. The previous discussions were about canning with the peels still on. Link to comment
Crazy4Canning Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Do let us know how the Calcium Chloride works. I'm eager to know. I'd MUCH rather cook my potatoes at home than buy those nasty dehydrated things. Link to comment
Violet Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Violet, I thought that canning potatoes was a no-no because of the botulism in their skins. Am I just behind the times, here? LOL I hope that your experiment with the pickle crisp went well... You do need to peel them due to botulism. Once peeled they are safe to pressure can. All are sealed in the jars. Look good. I have to open one later and do a taste test. Today is beef chuck meat in cubes. Cleaning out the freezer so I can put something else in there. I have no freezer space. I have onions to dice and freeze. My daughter got me 20 lemons for a dollar ! Big ones, too ! Yes, 20, not just 2 ! I am thinking of freezing them whole and see how they turn out. Soft on the peels, I know, but I can't see a problem with it. Link to comment
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