Wooo Hoo ! Canned potatoes.

[Violet]

The canned yukon gold and red taters I canned with the calcium chloride are good ! They are firm like store canned potatoes. I got 16 pints and all I had to pay for was the lids and cost of my other canning things. Got the potatoes free.

I just opened a jar to do a test since my neighbor was over. She loves them, too. I let her take them home for her supper.

Oh, Crazy, mushrooms are 99 cents a lb. at Gateway ! They have some good deals this week. Check the blue envelope of coupons in your mail. There is one for 5 lb. free pears if you buy $10 of produce at Gateway. Expires the 15 th. Good deal on the pears. You can dice and freeze, too, not just can them.

Ok, back to my German meatballs, layered salad, etc. for company dinner tomorrow night.

[CoM]

Hi Violet:

 

I have only canned potatoes once. I did 3 different kinds. I mainly use them to make mashed potatoes.

 

Is calcium chloride the same thing as canning salt? How much do you use?

 

Thanks.

 

CoM

[Canned Nerd]

Thanks Violet. I do potatoes fairly often and never thought of using my 'Pickle Crisp' for them. My notes have been updated and I'm looking forward to some firmer potatoes.

 

Calcium Chloride is a salt, but not the same as Sodium Chloride (table salt), and has lots of commercial uses so you have to be careful that you acquire the food grade version. Ball canning used to sell it as 'Pickle Crisp' to make pickles more firm, but they no longer sell it. One place you can order is is from BulkFoods.com.

 

Usually about 1 Tbsp is added directly to pint jars, 1-1/2 Tbsp to quart jars, for those that want to use it.

 

 

 

[Violet]

The amounts of calcium chloride ( Pickle Crisp) is 3/4 tsp. per pint, 1 1/2 tsp. per quart.

I used 1/2 tsp. per pint in the potatoes of the bulk calcium chloride. Just the right amount, I think. Pickles I want a bit more of it in the jars.

I know commercially canned carrots, tomatoes, all sorts of things have it added to them.

Figured it was in them, so why not try it at home. I just hope this is something we can always get.

 

[Josephine]

Harris Teeter has some new items in their canning section (some cute jars, but way over priced IMO); one of them was pickling salt. I thought it might be what you used, Violet, but when I looked at the ingredients, all it had was salt. So I should be looking for Pickle Crisp and not just pickling salt?

[Canned Nerd]

Canning/Pickling Salt is just salt, but without impurities in it. It should be used in any canning recipe calling for salt. "Pickle Crisp" is something totally different and, unfortunately is not sold in the store anywhere. It used to be sold by Ball Canning under that name. It can be purchased online or in some specialty stores under it generic name of "Calcium Chloride" but you have to make sure it is food grade since it is used for lots of other nonfood purposes.

 

[Crazy4Canning]

Last summer when I couldn't find the Ball Pickle Crisp ANYWHERE, I googled 'bulk calcium chloride'.

 

Imagine my surprise when 'brewing supplies' came up. I located a private brewer a couple of miles away who could order the stuff in a 15# bag. I don't remember what it cost, I think it was just under $1 a pound.

 

For about 6 oz of Ball Pickle Crisp, packaged into individual pags, it was $6. $1/oz vs $1/lb! What a savings to buy in Bulk!

 

I happened to talk to Violet around that time and she has a digital kitchen scale. So, this was a perfect opportunity for a girlie lunch (thank you again, Violet for the use of your kitchen and scale!) and some chatter.

 

I weighed this out and put it into 1# ziplock bags and double-bagged it. I think I was selling it for $3 or $4 a bag or something. I let all my canning friends know and while this wasn't a fine powder like Ball's Pickle Crisp, it was granular, but IT DOES THE SAME THING.

 

Evidently brewers use this in their mash for keeping it 'crisp' or something. I'm not a brewer, but the guy was tickled to sell it to me at his cost (because he also worked with the Extension Service) and he said to call him again if I needed anything.

 

Perhaps you could find something like this closer to you since I was running through 3-4 boxes a summer. For $30 you could get 30# of pickle crisp and have enough for YEARS. Just a thought.

 

I used it in pickles (of course) and last year I did 3 types: Dill, bread & butter, and sweet. I also did 2 kinds of relish: dill and 'cucumber' (BBB's version of hamburger relish). I also added it to some canned green beans because they were over-ripe and my test jar turned to mush. It saved the beans (even though we ate those first) and worked out wonderfully.

 

NOW - to use them for potatoes! Yeah! Thanks Violet for being our tester!

[Josephine]

Thanks for all the info. I'll look for a home brew supplier.

[nmchick]

FYI, calcium chloride is a rosacea trigger for some folks.