Any 'canners' Out There?

[notme]

i may be early for alot of other parts of the world, but our growing season is pretty long and we are already getting killed by an overabundance of beans, zucchini, yellow squash, (my beets are probably ready to harvest but i am afraid to look lolz!)  and i have had 2 cherry tomatoes turn ripe.  

 

so.  here it comes!!!!!  the dreaded pressure canner haha 

 

i put up 8 jars of pickled green beans last week - 2 qts, 6 pints (would've been 3 qts but one of my jars blew out - IN THE CANNER!  ugh.  start over.......)  

 

anyways, i was wanting to see what y'all are canning - aanybody got a better green bean recipe?  not sure how these are going to be but i'm waiting a few weeks for them to 'mellow'

 

also, did 3 day half-sours like the kind you get in nyc jewish/polish deli - they turned out *awesome* - i thought i would need all kinds of special crocks or whatnot, but i just used a food grade bucket my kid got for me at the restaurant she works at (it had coleslaw in it so, gluten-free, just washed it out and GO lolz)

 

 

[love2travel]

Yup! I adore canning. Will post more later.

[Adalaide]

I grew up spending the entire summer and fall in the kitchen canning. And part of the winter too when we were still butchering our own deer and cows and pigs.

 

I will say that there is nothing in the entire world that tastes like homemade venison mincemeat. It is positively one of the most divine things one can ever eat.

 

In the most recent years we have mostly canned pickles because that is what my husband will eat a ton of, and plenty of jams and jellies. My favorite was always strawberry banana jam. Cursed bananas and strawberries hate me now. It still is amazingly good though and I should probably make up some jars with my frozen strawberries to have for Christmas gifts. I like to do the little teeny 4 oz jars for those. Since we did so many pickles last year and then I couldn't eat them any more I don't think we'll do quite so many this year. We haven't been able to even give them away enough to use them all up in a year. If I go count up what is left of our pickles I think maybe we'll stick with only doing 30 or 40 pints this year.

 

What I think I do want to do for sure is corn. Growing up that was always our biggest day of the year. We would just freeze half and can half of it. I just need to get one of those slicer thinger-mabobs that you use to get the corn off the cob. Or... I suppose a mandolin would work for that. Maybe I can finally talk my husband into one if its for corn!

 

I won't have enough of my own fresh tomatoes or peppers to can them, but I think this year I will make salsa for the first time as long as I tolerate tomatoes ok and can that. I'll probably do that in small jars too since I'm the only one who will eat it.

 

I may do some apple pie filling this year too. My husband won't eat applesauce and frankly I don't like it from a jar or can, I only like it fresh so there isn't a point to making any and canning it. Maybe apple butter. Too many apples to know what to do with around here. I'll probably buy a few bushels of pears and make spiced pears. *swoon*

[GottaSki]

Here I am...all be it a bit reluctantly...had to learn to can to preserve THE all-too-precious albacore and yellowtail that regularly bloodied my kitchen over the years......

 

Fast forward...now I am happy I dealt with all that bloody stinky fish...cuz now I know how to can and I get to do it with sweet smelling s$#& I make or grow

 

Looking forward to my silly pals teaching me all sorts of new tricks....bring it!

[come dance with me]

No, we sell at the markets what we can't use at home, or do a big cook up and freeze individual portions for when we're going away.

[GottaSki]

No, we sell at the markets what we can't use at home, or do a big cook up and freeze individual portions for when we're going away.

 

Hi There 'Come Dance With Me' -- I've missed your posts...how are you?  The family?  Glad to see you

[dilettantesteph]

With a pressure canner, can you can things like veggies without adding acid or anything else?  How hard is it to do?  My freezer is getting way too full.  I think I need to start doing some canning as well as dehydrating.

[come dance with me]

Hi There 'Come Dance With Me' -- I've missed your posts...how are you?  The family?  Glad to see you

 

Hi, we had quite a traumatic time last year but back on our feet now.  At least, almost.  Another 6 months and we'll be very much back to a good place within ourselves, thanks for asking

[frieze]

With a pressure canner, can you can things like veggies without adding acid or anything else?  How hard is it to do?  My freezer is getting way too full.  I think I need to start doing some canning as well as dehydrating.

Yeah; pressure cooker for low acid ite s.  elsewise the te p too low...for safety. 

[GottaSki]

Hi, we had quite a traumatic time last year but back on our feet now.  At least, almost.  Another 6 months and we'll be very much back to a good place within ourselves, thanks for asking

 

So sorry to hear you had a rough time this past year...but glad to hear things are improving.

 

At any rate...good to see you back

[GottaSki]

Yeah; pressure cooker for low acid ite s.  elsewise the te p too low...for safety. 

 

What does the 'p' stand for -- I have just this past year started canning things other than tuna -- hence I like the idea of this thread.

 

 

 I think I need to start doing some canning as well as dehydrating.

 

i also dehydrate quite a bit now -- dried fruits and jerky are much easier to carry if I'll be out longer than a few hours.

[notme]

With a pressure canner, can you can things like veggies without adding acid or anything else?  How hard is it to do?  My freezer is getting way too full.  I think I need to start doing some canning as well as dehydrating.

get the 'ball blue book' aka the bible of canning lolz - mine is dog eared (and probably smells like vinegar haha) it has step by step and pretty foolproof recipes.  i started out there and now i experiment with all kinds of stuff.  some of the recipes on the internet are pretty good, some give 'bad' canning advice.  i watched a cooking demonstration on a gardening show where they half-submerged jars of tomatoes in a pot of water to seal the jars - tomatoes are low acid and should be pressure canned!  the ball bible has safe techniques and will prevent botulism <can kill ya.  

[notme]

What does the 'p' stand for -- I have just this past year started canning things other than tuna -- hence I like the idea of this thread.

 

 

 

i also dehydrate quite a bit now -- dried fruits and jerky are much easier to carry if I'll be out longer than a few hours.

pounds of pressure of steam, makes the temp in the canner higher than boiling.

 

did you get a new dehydrator (or new plastic trays) when you went gluten-free?  ours has been used for teriyaki deer jerky in the past and i'm sure it had (wheat) soy sauce in the marinade

[notme]

 

 

I will say that there is nothing in the entire world that tastes like homemade venison mincemeat. It is positively one of the most divine things one can ever eat.

enlighten me, addy - i thought mincemeat was (gag) raisins and nuts that my mother-in-law makes into pie......  i would probably like it if it had no raisins and meat!  

[notme]

well, it's supposed to rain here until friday (yay) so all our outdoor activities are a bust!  except blackberry picking; we can do that rain or shine (so long as it's not thunder & lightning)  we have about a half acre covered in wild blackberries and we have a thingy that will remove the seeds and leave just the juice and pulp, so i will be 'jamming' at some point in the near future  if i crank up the radio i can jam while i jam yuk yuk 

[GottaSki]

pounds of pressure of steam, makes the temp in the canner higher than boiling.

 

did you get a new dehydrator (or new plastic trays) when you went gluten-free?  ours has been used for teriyaki deer jerky in the past and i'm sure it had (wheat) soy sauce in the marinade

 

I just bought an inexpensive plastic one on amazon a few months back...then got more trays to do more with the same energy....I make jerky on bottom trays while drying herbs on top trays -- works great.

 

Thanks for the Ball Blue Book note...going to find one -- we use pressure to can tuna...so i just need to know the basic rules for everything else -- Thanks

[frieze]

What does the 'p' stand for -- I have just this past year started canning things other than tuna -- hence I like the idea of this thread.

 

 

 

i also dehydrate quite a bit now -- dried fruits and jerky are much easier to carry if I'll be out longer than a few hours.

I lost a few keys.  lol...the space should be occupied by the 17th letter of the alphabet. 

[come dance with me]

We dehydrate mangoes and pineapples, they are great travel snacks.

[Juliebove]

I quit canning because it was so much work and nobody would eat it.  I only did applesauce and pears.  Daughter loves applesauce and pears but...  She prefers the cute little expensive cups.  Whatever!  No sense in my putting up a bunch of stuff that won't get eaten.

 

As for your half sours...  Does it make a huge batch?  I love them but...  I would like to have a recipe that makes a very small amount so that I can make them when I want them.  I would likely be the only one here that would make them.  You can't can those can you?  I still have my canning stuff but only a BWB and not the pressure canner.

[dilettantesteph]

Thanks for the advice.  I've been thinking about pressure canning, but hadn't gotten to buying anything yet.  I've barely done any regular canning.  I much prefer the taste of frozen, but the freezer fills up fast.  Any advice about pressure canners?

[GottaSki]

I've use a regular family pressure cooker for some things recently -- it holds about 6-8 jars -- for tuna we found a huge pressure cooker on craigslist so we can stack the jars and get many done at once -- been awhile since hubs brought back enough for canning -- I think we did 20- 24 jars at a time with it.

 

I am no expert -- gotta get one of the Ball's Blue Books soon.

[kenlove]

i may be early for alot of other parts of the world, but our growing season is pretty long and we are already getting killed by an overabundance of beans, zucchini, yellow squash, (my beets are probably ready to harvest but i am afraid to look lolz!)  and i have had 2 cherry tomatoes turn ripe.  

 

so.  here it comes!!!!!  the dreaded pressure canner haha 

 

i put up 8 jars of pickled green beans last week - 2 qts, 6 pints (would've been 3 qts but one of my jars blew out - IN THE CANNER!  ugh.  start over.......)  

 

anyways, i was wanting to see what y'all are canning - aanybody got a better green bean recipe?  not sure how these are going to be but i'm waiting a few weeks for them to 'mellow'

 

also, did 3 day half-sours like the kind you get in nyc jewish/polish deli - they turned out *awesome* - i thought i would need all kinds of special crocks or whatnot, but i just used a food grade bucket my kid got for me at the restaurant she works at (it had coleslaw in it so, gluten-free, just washed it out and GO lolz)

 

I developed and administer the Master Food Preserver Program in Hawaii and have been teaching canning for many years among my other jobs.  Feel free to ask questions if needed.  I use 1 little chili pepper with beans when i can them and also kosher, canning or Hawaiian salt. Have also sliced some onions in the jars.  Did you use 5%  vinegar?  Why do you think the jar blew up?

[kenlove]

Try to find SO Easy to Preserve from the Univ. of Georgia.

 

Thats the "Bible" of safe  canning recipes.  Does your cooker/canner have a gauge or just the  numbered weight?

 

 

I've use a regular family pressure cooker for some things recently -- it holds about 6-8 jars -- for tuna we found a huge pressure cooker on craigslist so we can stack the jars and get many done at once -- been awhile since hubs brought back enough for canning -- I think we did 20- 24 jars at a time with it.

 

I am no expert -- gotta get one of the Ball's Blue Books soon.

[Adalaide]

I've only lost one jar in the past few years. A fairly significant amount of our jars are rescues from thrift shops and while we try to inspect them for flaws there just is no way to know how old they are or if they have a weak spot. We don't buy or throw away any that seem like they aren't okay of course, and reinspect every time we are canning but that one time I guess maybe we missed something? I don't know. We don't pressure can. I've never used one, it just cracked and broke right in the regular hot water bath! I've seen this happen just a few times over the years to my Grammy too. It is the most bizarre thing. It seems to be extremely rare, a jar just cracks up the side and if you don't see it and take it out, it'll just "explode" in the canner.

 

I'll admit, I didn't know there were canning "Bibles" to be had. I gotta get me one of those! My husband will think I'm nuts.

[GottaSki]

Try to find SO Easy to Preserve from the Univ. of Georgia.

 

Thats the "Bible" of safe  canning recipes.  Does your cooker/canner have a gauge or just the  numbered weight?

 

The large one is a pressure gauge -- the small 'regular' pressure cooker just the weight.