canning chicken noodle soup and soup stock

[kathy003]

I was thinking this morning,,, the experts on here should write a book called "Canning for Dummies", cause i would buy it. I think this is a pretty simple answer but I am still in the stages of canning where I don't want to make a mistake,, so here goes,,,

 

I am making chicken noodle soup today to can. I add celery, onions, parsley, carrots and salt. I am going to can this. I read in a book that when i can the soup to fill the quart jar up 1/2 way with chicken and vegetables, then fill the rest of the quart jar up with broth. Is this correct?

 

My other question is I want to use the remaining broth for soup stock. From my Ball Blue Book it says to strain everything out, allow to cool and skim fat off top. Bring stock to boil and add to pint jars. so, the way I read this is what goes into jars is just the broth from the chicken. I can make gravy from this, am i correct in this?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[Stephanie]

I'm no expert, still very much the student. Darlene did a pictorial/tutorial on canning chicken soup, it's sooooo helpful. I'm going to go find it and give you a link to it.

 

I do want to make sure you realize that you do NOT add the noodles or rice to the soups. Be right back with that link.

 

 

[Stephanie]

Here you go, you're going to LOVE this!!

 

http://www.mrssurvival.com/forums/ubbthrea...ge=1#Post103696

[kathy003]

Thanks Stephaine! I'm going to look at the link right now.

 

About 15 minutes ago DH walked into the kitchen and got really excited about the soup he thought it was for dinner,, I didn't have the heart to tell him I was going to can it,,, so I guess i'll be making more soup Friday to can!

 

I'm going to look at the video right now

[etp777]

Darlene's soup recipe is great.

 

I follow her directions to make the stock, chill over night and skim fat. Then use it to make soup or can it way it is. Use same directions for turkey stock, and going to modify it just a hair for rabbit stock this weekend.

[Jakk]

I made Darlenes chicken soup tonight and my entire family gobbled it up! My son hung around the kitchen telling me how goooood it smelled. I have four quarts of soup and two pints of stock in the canner right now. After getting the jars in the canner I added large egg noodles and that is what we had for dinner. I would have canned more but I am out of JARS!

 

[Robert Z]

I buy 2 of the big 10# bag of chicken thighs at walmart ($4.40) put them in my pressure cooker along with an entire package of celery (root and all no need to cut it up), a whole bag of carrots (whole), and a 5# bag of onions (peel the loose paper leave the rest then halve them). I then add enough water to cover.

 

I pressure cook just until the meat is ready to fall off the bone, but not falling apart (about 5 mins after the pressure weight begind jiggling). cool rapidly, I turn off the heat, and remove the weight and as soon as the pressure is at 0 I remove the lid. I then seek assistance from as heafty of an individual as I can find to pour as much of the broth through a pasta maker (think 5 quart pot with a bunch of holes in it) into a bucket.

 

The disasssembly line begins. I dump as much of the chicken as I can at once into a big bowl and set out 2 more big bowls. the veggies are falling apart, I pick them out as whole as I can and nibble on them and pitch some at the dogs. In one of the bowls goes the skin and bones, in the other bowl goes the meat the broth in the bottom of the bowl when you empty goes into the "broth bucket", then refill with more chicken and repeat until done.

 

After this I take another whole bag of carrots, celery, and onions and cut them into good size eating bits. I put an equal amount of each into each jar I think I can fill with soup, then add a decent amount of the chicken to each jar. I then fill each jar with the broth, and process as meat.

 

This will give you a very potent and flavorful broth, almost too flavorful to eat without watering down, so I usually get 1.5 quarts of soup out of one quart canned.

I like lots of noodles. I use the "amish" noodles walmart sells in the bag, they are thin noodles that are about .5" wide and about 1.5" long. What I have found is that if I heat up my quart of soup and make a whole bag of noodles, then pour off all but about .5 quarts of water from the noodles then dump my soup in I end up with a big pot of chicken noodle soup that is out of this world and will feed 4 people (stuffed) for very little money, and all is shelf stable!

 

 

You will also end up with a bunch of broth and chicken to can up. I put as much meat as I can into pint jars and fill up with broth, then process, and process whatever broth I have left over.

 

 

Super cheap!

 

the canned chicken is great for all kinds of things from impromptu chicken Alfredo, to chicken tacos!

 

 

[Josephine]

Originally Posted By: Robert Z

I buy 2 of the big 10# bag of chicken thighs

I like the idea of using chicken thighs instead of the whole chicken. I hate deboning/dealing with a whole cooked chicken.

[kathy003]

I just use chicken breasts with the bone and skin on it. This was my sister in law's recipe so dh is used to it.

 

Tonight I made chicken soup to can,, instead tonight I made two pots, one to eat and one to can!

 

Just waiting for the canner to loose all the pressure to see how it turned out.

[JCK88]

I was thinking this morning,,, the experts on here should write a book called "Canning for Dummies", cause i would buy it.

 

 

 

There IS a book by that name! Yes, there IS. It's pretty good, too. I got it for a couple of newbie canner pals. http://www.amazon.com/Canning-Preserving-D...d/dp/0764524712

 

(It's more fun to ask the folks here, though, LOL)

[kathy003]

it seems your right, everytime I read something, I read it then come right here and ask for people's experience and advice!

 

 

 

[NaeMo]

I buy 2 of the big 10# bag of chicken thighs at walmart ($4.40) put them in my pressure cooker

 

I'm excited about trying this! But I read elsewhere that there is a difference between a pressure cooker and canner. So if I just bought a 23qt pressure canner, I can't use that to pressure cook the soup? Or did I misunderstand something?

 

In any case, I adore making chicken soup from scratch and would love to can my own for later use. Thanks for posting how you do it. I'm off to look at the posted link, also.

[Canned Nerd]

A Pressure Canner can easily be used as a cooker, just not the other way around.

 

[TurtleMama]

A Pressure Canner can easily be used as a cooker, just not the other way around.

 

I am so confused about this -- a very reputable store/cooking school in my town offers classes on how to can with a perssure cooker. I've canned beans and chicken in my cooker so far using her instructions, but now I'm nervous about whether those things are safe. Why are you not supposed to use a pressure cooker to can? I pressured both my beans and my chicken at 15 lbs pressure for 90 minutes. Why would she offer classes if it weren't safe? I know this lady and she is very ethical and feeds her own family what she cans in her pressure cookers. But I'm still concerned...I trust everyone here and would like to know what y'all have to say.

 

[Canned Nerd]

I don't know your Instructor or her qualifications, but just let it be said that a Pressure "Canner" is designed bigger and heavier for the sole purpose of heating "jars", with a slow build up of heat and a similar slow drop in temperature. A "cooker" is designed smaller and lighter weight for the purpose of cooking "food" under pressure with a fast rise in temperature and a fast drop in temperature (often under running water). Pressure cookers usually have a single handle extension similar to a pan.

 

But like the canning process itself, there are people that choose to step out of the realm of canning standards of safety and procedure and do their own thing. That's up to you and them.

 

Pressure canning foods at 15# when the standard is 10# to maintain the quality of the preserved product, well I just think that is a waste.

 

 

 

[Crazy4Canning]

Turtle Mama,

 

A pressure cooker and pressure canner look similar, but are different things.

 

Pressure canners usually have a gauge, an over-pressure valve, and a weight set. They come in sizes from a few quarts to HUGE sizes. Pressure canners are used to preserve, in jars, low-acid foods like beans, corn, etc. by creating a vacuum and heating up the food beyond boiling point to kill bacteria. In the canner you have a rack to lift the jars off the bottom of the canner and they are sized to fit 5-9 or more jars, depending on the make and model.

 

Pressure cookers only have a weight set. They are sized from stockpot size to a huge size, and are used to cook items quickly, under pressure - such as potatoes, roasts, etc. Same principle as a pressure canner, you are creating a vacuum and quickly cooking something.

 

As someone said, you CAN use your presure canner to cook food as well.

[Violet]

Turlemama,

She may know how to cook, but that doesn't mean she has training in food preservation safety. She probably doesn't know any different.

There are MANY recipes/methods online and in canning books that are not safe to follow. This is why we stress that you know your source of information you are using. Not just Aunt Millie's canned salsa. The resources you use need to meet current USDA standards for safety.

If you used a cooker that did not hold at least 4 quart sized jars, then your food is considered underprocessed and not safe to consume. You never can at 15 lb. pressure unless you live at high altitudes, but you would still have to use a pressure canner, not a cooker.

The cookers heat up too fast and cool down too quickly to insure safe processing times. The time it takes for the canners to heat up and cool down are also included in the testing that has been done to insure the correct time has been used in processing that food. The time lost during that heating and canning has shortened the time your food was actually at the right temperature/pressure.

You can read more about it here :

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchf...urecookers.html

[TurtleMama]

Turlemama,

She may know how to cook, but that doesn't mean she has training in food preservation safety. She probably doesn't know any different.

There are MANY recipes/methods online and in canning books that are not safe to follow. This is why we stress that you know your source of information you are using. Not just Aunt Millie's canned salsa. The resources you use need to meet current USDA standards for safety.

If you used a cooker that did not hold at least 4 quart sized jars, then your food is considered underprocessed and not safe to consume. You never can at 15 lb. pressure unless you live at high altitudes, but you would still have to use a pressure canner, not a cooker.

The cookers heat up too fast and cool down too quickly to insure safe processing times. The time it takes for the canners to heat up and cool down are also included in the testing that has been done to insure the correct time has been used in processing that food. The time lost during that heating and canning has shortened the time your food was actually at the right temperature/pressure.

You can read more about it here :

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchf...urecookers.html

 

Violet,

 

Thank you for the information. I am now convinced!! LOLOL The USDA trumps just about everyone else in my book, including (I am sad to say) my great-grandmother. So, the problem is that I have two quarts of beans and three quarts of chicken that I canned per that lady's instructions in my pressure cooker. I won't eat it for sure -- not going there now that I know better -- but can I keep the jars after throwing away the food? I know that someone on the forums said in another place that bleach will make them safe, but do you know the recommended process for cleaning jars that contain food that might not be safe, or are we supposed to just throw them away? I hate to waste food, especially with all that is happening in our nation and the world today, but I am not going to put my family's health at risk.

 

I would be very grateful for any information you might be able to share with me about cleaning these jars, Violet, and am grateful for the link that you posted that helped me to realize why the process I was using wasn't safe!!!

[Canned Nerd]

My grandmother did it the 'old' way too, but we can't blame them since the changes did not come about until 1990 when technology and research enabled us to understand more. The problem now is teaching old dogs new tricks and making sure the new ones don't learn the old habits.

 

The jars are fine. Just wash them just like any dish after dinner. No poison, if there is any, has had a chance to grow yet to be an issue. Bleach is not necessary.

 

One of the best places to visit is the National Center for Home Food Preservation and they have a great recipe book called "So Easy to Preserve" and even a free online study course to make sure your knowledge is accurate and up to date. Try it you'll like it.

[TurtleMama]

My grandmother did it the 'old' way too, but we can't blame them since the changes did not come about until 1990 when technology and research enabled us to understand more. The problem now is teaching old dogs new tricks and making sure the new ones don't learn the old habits.

 

The jars are fine. Just wash them just like any dish after dinner. No poison, if there is any, has had a chance to grow yet to be an issue. Bleach is not necessary.

 

One of the best places to visit is the National Center for Home Food Preservation and they have a great recipe book called "So Easy to Preserve" and even a free online study course to make sure your knowledge is accurate and up to date. Try it you'll like it.

 

THANK YOU!!!!! (did I ever tell you that your avatar cracks me up??)

 

[Violet]

I have to disagree about" no poison" since enough botulism can grow to kill a person within a day or two.....

You really should toss the jars, contents and all. If you open them, breathe in any botulism toxin, get them on the counters, the dishclothes, etc. you have just exposed yourself and your family to the toxin. I would not open them up.

The guidelines are to put any unopened suspect jars in black trash bags and throw them in the trash.

This is what is said :

If the swollen metal cans or suspect glass jars are still sealed, place them in a heavy garbage bag. Close and place the bag in a regular trash container or bury it in a nearby landfill.

If the suspect cans or glass jars are unsealed, open, or leaking, they should be detoxified before disposal.

Detoxification process: Carefully place the suspect containers and lids on their sides in an 8-quart volume or larger stock pot, pan, or boiling-water canner. Wash your hands thoroughly. Carefully add water to the pot. The water should completely cover the containers with a minimum of a 1-inch level above the containers. Avoid splashing the water. Place a lid on the pot and heat the water to boiling. Boil 30 minutes to ensure detoxifying the food and all container components. Cool and discard the containers, their lids, and food in the trash or bury in soil.

 

Thoroughly scrub all counters, containers, and equipment including can opener, clothing, and hands that may have contacted the food or containers. Discard any sponges or wash cloths that may have been used in the cleanup. Place them in a plastic bag and discard in the trash.

 

 

 

[Canned Nerd]

Okay, we disagree a little on that since I don't think enough time had passed nor the conditions for a Hazmat response, but I will bow to Violet's recommendation.