how to can ground venison?

[bluegrassmom]

I have a ton of ground venison in my freezer that I would like to can. Where do I start? Do I just season, cook and then pressure can? I read that it's better to dehydrate regular hamburger(beef) because it has a lot of fat and the fat will go rancid after time. But, with the venison there is hardly any fat at all. Has anybody else canned deer? How did it turn out?

[Darlene]

I haven't canned ground venison, but I've canned tons of hamburger without a problem. With the regular hamburger, I cook it (without seasonings) and then drain and rinse it under water, pack it in the jars, add water or beef broth and a little salt and process. If you want to add seasonings to get it pre-prepared for certain type meals, there's no reason you can't do that too.

 

There is no difference in canning ground beef vs venison, they are both done the same way.

 

Center for Home Food Preservation

[Mother]

I've canned a lot of venison, both regular and ground. I agree with Darlene, it cans the same as beef and most times is lumped together with beef under canning instructions. I don't add any seasoning to mine unless I'm canning it as part of a sauce as that way I have a multi-purpose product that can be used in any recipe.

 

The reccomendations now are to cook all meat first before canning and normally I do that but in the past I have "cold packed" most of my meat, putting chunks of meat straight into the jar and adding no liquid of any kind as it made it's own. I always cooked the ground meat first though as it shrinks a lot in the jar. Venison has very little fat on it so it doesn't need rinsing with water first, just draining usually, but it certainly would take out some of the excess fat we don't need in our diets.

 

However you do it, be sure to use super hot water to wash the rims with and be very consciencious with that as a little bit of grease can keep the jar from sealing.

 

I have some venison in the freezer that I want to can also as soon as the weather moderates a bit. Canning is a good way to extend the shelf life of frozen meat if you can it before it gets too old. Your canned product is only as good as the original contents. I try to do mine when it's about six months old but have canned older meat with good results. Good luck with your canning.