Canned Nerd

A good recipe will often give two quantities, one is the anticipated amount of whole fruit needed. Since fruit comes in different sizes, it is only an approximation to help you prepare for doing the recipe. The second quantity given is the amount actually needed of prepared fruit in order to correctly do the recipe. If it only gives one quantity is should be what has already been prepared. In your case the 10 lbs would be the rough approximation of the whole fruit you will need. There should be another measure of what is actually needed to end up with to do the recipe.

I would never process jars that were only 1/2 or 1/3 full, even with liquid filling the void. I would move down to a small jar to use the remaining amount or put into the frig for a current meal.

I'm one of the lazy ones. I stuff chicken into jars, bones and all, though I remove the skin. Broth is optional depending on how much open space is left in the jars since the chicken will produce its own broth. Just have to remember that processing time is different between having bones and boneless.

I have one of those, though its not 25 years old, but quit using it when I began experiencing rust on the lids from the hole punched in the lid so the raw metal is exposed.

Yup, probably a much needed recipe for the current generations, but may not be noticed unless Tweeted or posted on their Smart Phone. Reminds me of Ziploc bags I give out to people occasionally....for including in emergency supplies.. Label on the bag says "Dehydrated Water -- Just add 1 cup H2O and shake well."

I try to brown the beef chunks in a skillet (little to no oil) to increase the flavor and then stuff in the jars and process in a pressure canner. You could add a small amount of flavored broth to the jars, but the meat will make its own liquid which you can use later to make gravy or a sauce.

I often buy chicken legs and thighs (bone-in) and 'can' them as is. Works out fine and bone is easy to remove when the jar is opened. You have less meat per jar of course, but I'm doing it for one person so it is fine for me in pint jars. I seem to feel that the bone seems to add more flavor too, but I have seen no study on that.

I wouldn't trust ziplock bags for any long term storage since these bags are semi-porous to air and will therefore fail over time. I would use nothing less than FoodSaver vacuum bags or Mylar bags with Oxygen Absorbers. Depending on the dry ingredient being stored I often will include a Silica Gel (moisture) packet in the bag. Both Glad and Ziploc offer a zip bag for vacuum sealing, which I use quite heavily for my dehydrated goods since I can open them, take what I need, and then reseal. They can lose their vacuum easily if not sealed completely so you have to watch them at first. Fortunately its not a disaster when they do.

I find it a lot easier to make pancakes or waffles and pour the syrup over them. Great for ice cream too.

I love canning chicken, with and without bones, and its so simple.....just stuff into the jars and process jars in the PC. I can usually get three boneless breasts into a pint jar. The chicken is fully cooked and only needs to be heated, about the same as the commercially canned stuff but without the additives, etc. I often use the liquid to make gravy.

I recently saw the following YouTube Video ) showing how to use a manual vacuum pump w/gauge to seal mason jars with the FoodSaver jar adapter. This seems to be an excellent option in situations where power is not available. Unfortunately the video does not show where to build or purchase such a vacuum pump. I did a quick search on Amazon.com (even better sometimes than Ebay.com for finding stuff) and found this link: http://www.amazon.co...and+Vacuum+Pump I also found a link at Instructables.com for converting a Bicycle Pump for about $20, but it does require some DIY expertise. http://www.instructa...$20-by-convert/

I just pack the beets until I run out of them. I prefer pint jars since I'm the only one eating them. How many jars I get depends on the size of the beets themselves. I prefer the large ones which are sliced before going into the jars. I almost always have brine leftover, which goes into a jar for the frig and pickles whatever veggies happen to be in the frig at the time.

Besides canning them, they are sliced and go in the dehydrator in my household and used with just about everything, especially in my breakfast omelets. I only get them when they go on sale for 50% or more off in the store.

13 pints of Grandma's Chili Sauce with about 3 Tablespoons leftover that went into the frig for sampling.

It's important to recognize that everything that shows up on the Internet (or emails) is the absolute and complete truth......NOT! Yes you can do it, but only if you want to ignore all known safety issues that have been learned over the years by the experts. I personally would not recommend anybody do this.....including pre-heating jars in the oven that was mentioned..... but there are others out there that know rules are not meant for them so, for them, go for it....with one request, keep and consume it for yourself and do not give it to innocent others.

Just finished putting up about 15 pints of Corn Relish. The hard part is not sitting with a spoon and eating straight out of the jar until its gone.

Everybody has different opinions according to their use, but I absolutely love my electric PC because I can put the ingredients in, set the time it has to cook, and walk away. It does everything automatically and switches to WARM mode until you come back to remove the food. I also now have a permanent place on my counter and tend to use it far more often than I would with one that sits on the stove, but must be stored away all other times.

If you have been canning all your life and doing it without ever knowing the correct procedures for doing it, you should have the beegeebees scared out of you. Like Violet recommends, buy the $6 copy of the current Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserve and read it from cover to cover. You might also bookmark the website for the National Center for Home Food Preservation. They both do a fantastic job of keeping people healthy and happy when you follow their guidelines. Canning and food preserving is easy, safe, and fun, but it does require an appreciation of the rules of safety.

I don't know if it "isn't any good" or not, but what you canned was not an approved and tested recipe (that verifies it is safe and stable to store at room temperature) and inclusion of rice is a general no-no for home canning. I assume you at least processed your jars in a Pressure Canner though I would be curious where you got the correct processing time from.

I just add dehydrated veggies directly to the pot since the liquid in the soup or stew will rehydrate them as part of the cooking process.

Today is several trays of sliced small Shallots that I got on special. I learned quickly that one needs to blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute before attempting to peel. This process loosens the skin. Probably not needed for just one or two, but for a bunch of them it is a time saver.

After doing some research I ended up getting the NESCO 6-liter 3-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker. The 3-in-1 means it also acts as a steamer and a slow cooker. I love the automatic feature, just dial in the time and walk away. It builds up the pressure automatically, starts the timer, cools down and then switches to 'warm' until you turn it off. It has a true 10 psi and 15 psi, which many PC's do not really have. The beets (large ones) took 20 minutes. Smaller ones would be quicker.

Today is Pickled Beets, which are my second favorite thing to pickles. Beets are cooked in my electric pressure cooker, which is fast and easy since I can ignore them until done and get everything else ready in the meantime. Once cooked, they will be cooled, skinned, and sliced for putting into the jars.

Did Leeks for the first time and they are turning out much better than I expected. Next is a batch of discounted Crimini mushrooms from the store and a bag of red onions.

I'm 'dehydrating' my used packets of Silica Gel. Anybody tried this before? I toss all my used packets into a jar until I'm ready to dry them out again in the oven and I always worry about the temperature and melting the packets so I have to watch them closely (a pain). I'm getting ready to run some produce through my dehydrator and realized it creates a less problematic temperature, so why not toss the silica gel packets on to one of the trays since I'm running the dehydrator anyway.