Canning with flour & butter?

[Evergreen]

I am still trying ot decide exactly what I will be canning today...

 

and I ran across THIS recipe - it is in the Blue Ball book too -for Chicken A La King- How do they get away wiht the flour and the butter?

 

not trying ot be agrumentitive- just trying to understand canning better...

[Darlene]

My Blue Ball books are still packed somewhere so I can't look up the most recent edition to that book, but i'm wondering if that is from an older Blue Ball book that they revised.

 

Regardless, that is not a safe recipe and screams "WARNING WARNING WARNING" to me when I read it. I would can it minus the fats and flour, but not with it. After opening, I'd add those things to finish it off to serve, but not before to process like that.

 

And don't be afraid to ask the same question over and over again...whatever it takes for this whole thing to make sense to you, is what is important.

 

I think we had a discussion on Chicken a la King recently here too...perhaps look through the threads.

[Violet]

That is an old recipe, not in the new books. There is also an old tomato soup recipe with butter and flour that should not be used. It is too thick and dense to be sure it is safe.

Never use any flour or butter in you canning.

Flour will lower the acid level, also not let the food heat properly due to the density.

Butter and other fats, unless in a very few safe tested recipes can coat the food particles. ( In those cases they are HIGHLY acidified and tested for other safety factors, too. Not all foods can be done in that manner. ) It blankets the botulism spores, and can allow them to survive even pressure canning.

Please be sure to use a new, current Ball Blue Book or other USDA tested information.

There are lots of old books, lots of misinformation online, and even in current books that are not safe to follow.

Some well meaning folks publish things when they have no training in food preservation safety.

Just omit the butter and flour. Make a roux when you open the jars of food and add it when you heat your food to serve it.

The ONLY foods that are safe to thicken are pie fillings and jams. Not anything else, not even with Clear Jel.

Even the pie fillings will often need some added bottled lemon juice to keep them safe.

 

[Aggie]

When you say flour, do you also mean bread crumbs? As in meatballs or meat loaf?

 

Canning is way more complicated than it used to be (also, safer ), so I'm really glad I found some folks who really know what they're doing. Don't want to poison anybody, doncha know. LOL

[Violet]

No breadcrumbs, either. Meatballs need to be just meat and seasoning. No egg, either.

If it is any kind of starch then it cannot be used in canning. This includes dried seasoning packs that have some sort of food starch, flour, etc. You need to use dried herbs.

No barley, rice, pasta, flour, cornstarch, arrowroot powder, etc., either.

 

[Aggie]

Thanks again, Violet.

 

I've never canned meat, so this is new to me. But I'm finding that almost everything I ever "knew" about canning - veggies, jellies, pickles, even plain ole tomatoes - has changed. Learning new rules at my age is a bit overwhelming.

[Darlene]

Just a little bit at a time Aggie...feel free to ask whatever you want...it'll be a joy for us to help you as you go.