Canning question...

[Guest Guest]

I've been thinking about doing some various canning recipes to give as gifts at Christmas...one idea I had was to can some homemade chicken soup...

 

In all the recipes I've seen, it always says to skim off the fat from top of broth...perhaps it's an old wives tale, but I've always thought that there was nutrients in the chicken fat in chicken soup that were important if you're fighting a cold, etc...that's why I always use chicken with it's skin on vs. chicken with skin off when making Chicken soup...

 

Does anyone know why they say to skim off fat before canning?

 

Thanks!

[Guest Guest]

A little fat is fine, but too much fat will affect the sealing of the jar.

 

Personally, I think some of the chicken fat is good when you're sick.

 

Someone had a story here a long time ago about low-fat vs cooking with fat, and said it was a proven fact that during starvation-level prisoner marches in WW2 those who had fat to eat survived. I've wondered about that and want to research it someday.

 

You could freeze the fatty broth and give dry noodles to add in...

[Guest Guest]

There is a certain amount of flavor that is added to the broth when the skin is cooked. The biggest problem with fat is that is goes rancid quickly. You will never be able to skim all of the fat off the soup but you do want to get as much as you can.

 

 

 

we do we eat?

[JuliaunasNana]

Darlene, this site: http://extension.usu.edu/files/foodpubs/cangui5.html says to skim off "excess fat." This seems to imply it's a food quality issue rather than a safety one. And I agree, it's impossible to remove all the fat, and if we had to, it would hardly be worth canning the meat, I think! Also, I took a master food preserver course years ago through the state college extension office, and we heard lots of stories of people being poisoned by improperly processing their food. Please be sure to use modern methods (pressure canning for poultry) and tested processing times rather than historical or traditional methods, because foods have different acid contents now (tomatoes and beans, for instance) due to altered soil quality and chemical residues, and a can of green beans not boiled long enough really can kill a whole family. Lots of people get lucky making jam the way their Gma did years ago with parrafin , but I don't think it's worth the risk to ignore modern research- (medical research has come a long way, for instance, but I doubt we'd go back to old ideas about germs and using leeches to strengthen a sick person, rather than following a doctor's advice...) The extension office websites I've seen all show their food preservation manuals online, so you shouldn't even have to buy a book or take a class to be sure you're doing everything you can to protect your family

thanks,

chx

[Guest Guest]

Thanks chx for the info...I know exactly what you're saying.

 

I had lost the pressure canner my mom had given me, when I had my house fire, and recently inherited my grandmother's pressure canner after she passed away.

 

While I was doing research on the net for different things about pressure canning, I came across a few articles that talked about having the pressure gauge checked out, etc etc etc...

 

That really scared me cause of the concerns you already mentioned. First of all, I don't wanna go through all this work to have it all come out spoiled, and I certainly do not wanna cause injury to anyone, so what I decided to do, is go buy my dream pressure canner...lol

 

It hold 19 quarts and 32 pints, so that'll really speed things up as far as processing things. More importantly, I'll have the secure knowledge that the different items will be processed safely and will enjoy sharing it with my family.

 

Thanks again for your suggestions!

[Guest Guest]

DARLENE!!!!

 

WAIT!!! before you purchase the dream pressure canner... I have some comments about the large ones:

 

I have the next model down...14 quarts and 19 pints.. All American model 930.

 

It did NOT fit on my stove top! I had to get one of those Turkey Deep Fryers for the propane burner. Now this proved to be a good thing as I now set up a kitchen outside to can in so I don't have to heat my house up.

 

It is kind of heavy when it is empty I can hardly lift it..mostly because it is so akward in size and can't see myself lifting this thing in my 80's! When it has water in in it there is NO way I can lift it, slide it or budge it.

 

Storage is a major problem. I keep it in the box so that I can stack stuff on top of it.

 

What I do like about it is...when I butcher a goat and don't have the freezer space, I can load it up with 14 quarts which saves me 2 hours in canning. So each load equals the time of two loads.

 

http://www.pressurecooker-outlet.com/americancans.htm

 

I noticed that these are all gauges and not weighted. My 930 is weighted, my antique one has a gauge.

 

So when you gettin' your dream canner?

[Guest Guest]

WESTIE!!!!

 

lol

 

I'm getting it tomorrow...weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I'm so excited...

 

And yes, I understand your heating point...I have a commercial gas stove with 6-12" burners, so I'm hoping that'll be adequate enough...

 

Dontcha think?

 

I can't wait, I'm SO excited! You wouldn't believe all the plans I have for canning...if ya have any good recipes for canned meals, I'd really appreciate them...*hint hint*

 

 

[Guest Guest]

not sure about your stove...maybe I ought to bring mine over and see if you like it or not?

 

Probably a lot easier then you bringing your stove over to my house!

[Guest Guest]

Oh geeeez, Westy. There's a disaster brewing in Miami.

 

Good fodder for storytelling though.

 

 

[Guest Guest]

*darlene SWAT's homey...*

 

shadddup chica...lol

 

Ummmmmm...I dunno if the stove is adequate or not either ROFL...I think it is...if I remember correctly, some of the burners go as high as 15,000-18,000 btu's....

 

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...I'm soooooooooooo excited!