Canned Nerd

Actually I was mistaken on the time frame. It was actually in 2008, not this year, when they were introduced. http://www.drcutler.com/diet/gm-cranberries-for-thanksgiving-18884177/ I seriously doubt that an 'organic' label makes any difference. The label or product code is your best reference and even that is no guarantee if the supplier does not want you to know. Fortunately there are lists on the Internet that you can search.

I would think "inches of water" in the canner when the filled jars are all in, rather than an amount you pour in, since it will change depending on the number of filled jars in the canner and the canner size.

This is the first year of GMO Cranberries in order to have enough for the holiday demand, which may be the reason for the difference.

I did a small batch (3 pints) of Pickled Cranberries for the holidays. Nice spicy aroma throughout the house.

Glad to hear that you liked it. I love mine and use it often to pre-soften dried beans when I forget to soak the night before. Far too simple and quiet. So much better than dealing with a stove-top variety. It has a permanent place on a side counter. I would not recommend using it for canning, though it appears to be the only electric cooker I've found that has a true 10# and 15# pressure settings.

It should freeze just fine. Even yeast can be frozen, which suspends activity until thawed.

Whey may or may not be technically a dairy product, but I personally would consider it a family member and not safely considered proper to 'can' IMHO. I'm curious if its beneficial qualities would survive being pressure canned.

You might improve your situation by using 'Silica Gel' packets into your bags/jars instead of OA packets. Silica Gel removes moisture and the nice thing about them is they can be reused over and over just by regenerating them in the oven.

I'm curious of the reason/purpose of inserting an Oxygen Absorber packet into a jar that is then vacuum-sealed? Both do the same thing, remove air.

Pressure "Cookers" are for cooking foods, Pressure "Canners" are for pasteurizing jars. They are not the same even though they may look similar. The difference between Boiling Water Canning and Pressure Canning has to do with the C. Botulinum spore that grows the Botulism Toxin, along with a bunch of other bacterias, yeasts and molds that tend to grow on/in foods. It's complicated. The botulism spore does not grow in a high-acid environment, which covers most fruits, jams & jellies, and pickled items. The other bacterias only require boiling water for a specified period for their spores and toxins to be killed...i.e, Boiling Water Canning. For other foods, such as meats and vegetables, is a great place to grow botulism toxin, but boiling water (212°F) will not kill the spore. Temperature must get up to 240°F to kill it. A Pressure Canner is needed to achieve that kind of high temperature. Unfortunately such high pressure and temperature can also turn your food into mush, so can't just put any food into a Pressure Canner and expect it to be okay. There's a science to it on several levels. I hope this helps a little.

I would avoid the unnecessary expense of the OA packets when vacuum-sealing the bags since the air is already removed. The OA might have added that extra bit of vacuum to pull the dried broccoli hard against the bag and puncture it. If anything, use the Silica Gel packet to remove extra moisture.

I would have a male orgasm if I came across chicken pieces at $0.39/lb. My recent excitement was finding some boxes of "Red Hots" so I canned some pears using them. Seeing the nice pink color is a nice change for my shelves of jars.

Here are a few from my recipe box: Cinnamon Couscous Cereal Servings: 4 4 oz couscous 1 Tbs dark brown sugar 1/4 tsp cinnamon 3 Tbs plain nonfat yogurt 1. In a small sauce pan bring 3/4 cup water to a boil. Stir in couscous, sugar, and cinnamon. Remove from heat. Stir in yogurt. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Divide evenly in four bowls. -------------------------------- Corn Couscous Servings: 4 1 cup couscous 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon base or granules 1 cup boiling water 1 tablespoon butter 2 spring onions -- chopped 420 g corn -- drained 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 1. Place the couscous,stock powder and water into a bowl.Cover and allow to stand for 5 mins.Fluff up with a fork. 2. Melt the butter in a pan,add the spring onion and corn,cook 2 minutes. 3. Stir corn into couscous with the parsley and serve. Prep Time:: 5 minutes -------------------------------- Couscous with Mushrooms This fluffy and flavorful couscous takes only moments to prepare. “I use couscous a lot because it cooks quickly and is so versatile-you can add almost any vegetable to it.” Claudia Ruiss - Massapequa, New York Servings: 4 1 cup water -- (1-1/4) 2 tablespoons butter 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 cup uncooked couscous 1 can (7 ounces) mushroom stems and pieces -- drained 1. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, bouillon, salt and pepper to a boil. Stir in couscous and mushrooms. Cover and remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Prep Time:: 15 minutes

Pending Violet's input, I'm not seeing anything wrong with the recipe and I notice you had enough faith in it to eat some before getting an answer here. The small amount of flour is obviously added to thicken the mixture, but I don't think it has much impact overall. Flour or any thickener is not really recommended and flour could change composition under the high heat which is why its not recommended. I would just cook the mixture longer to reduce it down from the liquid in the veggies.

Silica Gel packets (not Oxy Absorbers) are rechargeable by placing in oven (low temp) or a dehydrator for a few hours. If using an oven, watch the heat since you can melt or burn the packets if too hot.

I never thought about it before, but looking back I seem to be a scraper too.

Ridiculous yes, but that's the way we are allowing our country to go in, along with bake sales, lemonade stands and lots of other things.

Glass is always a good choice for a storage container. If the bottle cap is a screw-off type it should have enough integrity to screw back on and make a simple seal. Other types probably not so you might consider using corks or similar stoppers. I use the brewed iced tea bottles for storing water and other glass containers for dry goods. Good use for those old glass mayonnaise and similar jars, along with a Silica Gel packet. Did you know that Silica Gel packets are reusable? I steal mine from other commercial packages which makes them basically *free*.

I agree that your electric stove should be fine using the large coil, as long as the canner does not extend very far beyond the burner. Heat does gets trapped under it and may discolor the stove in that area. I would not trust the side burner to support your full canner and it may not produce enough heat to be effective. To get comfortable with your canner, do an empty run....just put in water, no jars, and put it through its paces so you can see how long it takes to build up steam, vent for 10 minutes, and then build up pressure. Once you are comfortable with that then you can move on to adding the jars.

If you don't have a duplex printer you can accomplish the same thing by printing ODD pages only, take those pages and turn over horizontally and put back in the printer so they will print on the blank back side. Print again using the EVEN pages only this time.

You can wait and save up for those items. If you aren't familiar with vacuum sealers I would recommend you purchase a new one, rather than take a chance on getting an out-dated one that may have problems. O2 absorbers aren't needed if you use a vacuum sealer, unless you need to store larger quantities in mylar bags.

Your pineapple is fine. Many fruits will remain pliable when dried.

My only bumper crop this year has been Creeping Charlie. I was surprised though with my discounted $4.95 Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree that I bought out of sympathy. After about 6 months of nothing, it suddenly started producing new branches and leaves and now has 3 lemons growing on it. What a shock to see that.

I put that article in the same category as claims that home canning is the same thing as commercial canning. Why do companies need millions of dollars worth of equipment and research to do what anybody can duplicate with a frost-free freezer....

I quit following the Backwoods website several years ago because of such issues and being criticized when I commented about potential issues.