Anybody home canning.

[mjarrels]

Some of the best meals I ever had was canned pork tenderloin gravy and canned pork sausage gravy.

mark

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I've been canning for quite a few years, learned from mom as a kid. Didn't start planting a garden again until about 7 years ago.

I have a big pressure canner, use it outdoors, a little leery of using it on my 5 burner stove, it is gas but has a glass top under there. Also have a water bath canner.

I noticed last year the jar lids on a few of my tomatoes had something black on them never saw that before. I pitched them, had bought the Harvest Brand, I see they are all made by the same company but something wasn't right. I've also read they are putting less sealant on them, nothing surprises me anymore. Mom used to reuse the bands but I've quite doing it anymore.

I ordered 10 dozen wide mouth and 10 dozen smaller ones over the net, went to Walmart and none was out. Went the other day and saw a few but I hae my supply laid in now.

If you are just starting to can an excellent book to buy is the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, its my bible and I've had it for years. You can still buy it online and likely at a bookstore, you won't go wrong getting one.

I have noticed some of the different jars you buy like from Big Lots are slightly bigger. They seem to fit kind of tight in the water bath canner rack, don't know if they are making the racks smaller or the jars a bit bigger. Kerr and Ball are the best. And maybe you can pick some up at estate sales still. Just make sure the jar edges aren't chipped. Mom used to use the zinc lids and the rubber gaskets on the chipped ones as they sealed at the edge where the lid tightened down against the gasket instead of sealing at the top. My husband found some brand new ones when he cleaned his dads garage out and I found the gaskets at Lehmans online but haven't used them. I also have a few of the old blue jars but the tops were chipped. May have given them away but hope not. You just get to the point you can't keep everything.

Good luck with your canning.

 

[YesDeere]

I'm almost out of beans!! Summer please!!

 

[Duffster]

Last week I canned 14 quarts of Mulligan :licking:, 9 pints of pork loin, 17 pints of dry beans. Now I am out of jars again.

 

[MossRoad]

Last week I canned 14 quarts of Mulligan :licking:, 9 pints of pork loin, 17 pints of dry beans. Now I am out of jars again.

O.K. What's Mulligan? It it is edible, I am interested. :laughing:

 

[Duffster]

O.K. What's Mulligan? It it is edible, I am interested. :laughing:

It is somewhat of a secret family recipe. It has chicken, pork, beef, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onion, peas, green beans, kidney beans, celery...........

And it looks like this before you cook it.

 

[MossRoad]

It is somewhat of a secret family recipe. It has chicken, pork, beef, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onion, peas, green beans, kidney beans, celery...........

And it looks like this before you cook it.

MMmmmmm....... :licking:

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I can sliced green tomatoes for frying in the winter, taste better then fresh. But it takes a lot of bacon grease to make them taste really good so have to save some up to have them.

We still have some tomatoes, beans, green tomatoes, and carrots, but only 1 jar of pickled beets left.

I'm hoping my veggies come off together this summer so I can make relish.

Also I need to plant these seed potatoes, maybe tomorrow.

 

[SPIKER]

I have been around canning all my life, as a kid I got to help with all the chores inside and harvesting the garden as well. we NEVER used a pressure caner/cooker so those people who say that green beans must be pressure caned are flat wrong...
we hot water bath every thing, make our own maple syrup & can that too did little over three gallons this year of finished product.

Leamonds hardware is a neet place, the people who build my barn got the materials there so I'm very local been there maybe 10 times in my life.. last time was 2 years ago when I needed some more sofit material for the barn

Mark M

 

[MossRoad]

I have been around canning all my life, as a kid I got to help with all the chores inside and harvesting the garden as well. we NEVER used a pressure caner/cooker so those people who say that green beans must be pressure caned are flat wrong......

You are simply incorrect. Just because you have never gotten sick from it doesn't mean it is safe. Here is some good reading as to what causes botulism in home canned foods and how to minimize the chances of it happening to you.

Botulism and Food Poisoning in Home Canning: What Causes It and How to Prevent It

And here's a link to a nice horror story about a family that had been home canning for 50 years.... at the time the article was written (2008) they were only in their 7th week of hospitalization!

Home-Canned Beans Lead to Botulism in Ohio : Food Poisoning Law Blog

"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of only 145 people a year in the U.S. are infected with Botulism. Of those, only about 15 percent are foodborne cases. In most of those cases, there is a link to home-canned foods with low acid content, according to the CDC.."

So that means that only about 20 people a year become infected with food borne botulism and most of those cases are related to home canning. You don't want to be one of those 20 people. :thumbsup:

 

[Bird]

Yep, my family did lots of canning of fruits and vegetables and big pressure cookers were probably used for almost everything except fruit jellies and pickles.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep, my family did lots of canning of fruits and vegetables and big pressure cookers were probably used for almost everything except fruit jellies and pickles.

I have always used a water bath for tomatoes, pickles, peaches, pears and apple sauce because my canning books say I can. However, since we bought our large pressure canner last year, I am using that for everything. It takes longer, but makes a lot less mess than the water bath canner when doing quarts. We have to get the water level within an inch of the top of our water bath canner and it never seems to fail that we get boil over, splashing, etc.... the pressure canner eliminates that, but takes a lot longer to cool down between batches.

(I also used it to cook corned beef and cabbage last week! :licking

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

Mom had a pressure canner way back I was a kid she used but we used a water bath canner also.

I can remember when we canned sausage, cuts of pork, and dad sugar cured hams and bacon. We didn't have a freezer back then. Don't ever remember mom's meat jars opening and I'm sure we used a water bath canner.

The Ball canning books tells what foods are safe to cook each way and I follow it.

 

[SPIKER]

I didnt say you could can them anyway you want, but the pressure cannier is not the only way. You still have to can them correctly with proper precautions as well as checking them when you open up for use later. If the canned goods end up getting cloudy off color or slight off smell then you shouldn't eat them. we usually end up tossing 2 or 3 out of 50 quarts in a season when opening or when a lid pops on its own.
Pressure canning is better but dont let people stop you from canning some good summer veggies for lack of a pressure canner. I do like to blanch & freeze them more than canning as there is actually less work involved and they come out of freezer tasting crunchier and greener. not to mention less salt in your diet. One thing we have been thinking about as we get older and higher blood pressure.

Citric Acid to the tomatoes is needed to keep the black spots down & fresh taste lasting longer short term canning without it can be done but should be more cautious for anything more than a few months worth of storage without it. We also wash clean & chunk peppers and toss into the freezer fresh in quart freezer bags, sometimes gallon size too but freezer space is always at a premium and defrosting a large bag often is wasted but a quart bag is just about right for a good meal.

Mark

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

Never in 40 years have I used citric acid or my mom either. We rarely lose a can of tomatoes.

 

[Duffster]

I didnt say you could can them anyway you want, but the pressure cannier is not the only way. You still have to can them correctly with proper precautions as well as checking them when you open up for use later. If the canned goods end up getting cloudy off color or slight off smell then you shouldn't eat them. we usually end up tossing 2 or 3 out of 50 quarts in a season when opening or when a lid pops on its own.
Pressure canning is better but dont let people stop you from canning some good summer veggies for lack of a pressure canner. I do like to blanch & freeze them more than canning as there is actually less work involved and they come out of freezer tasting crunchier and greener. not to mention less salt in your diet. One thing we have been thinking about as we get older and higher blood pressure.

Citric Acid to the tomatoes is needed to keep the black spots down & fresh taste lasting longer short term canning without it can be done but should be more cautious for anything more than a few months worth of storage without it. We also wash clean & chunk peppers and toss into the freezer fresh in quart freezer bags, sometimes gallon size too but freezer space is always at a premium and defrosting a large bag often is wasted but a quart bag is just about right for a good meal.

Mark

You don't need to add salt when canning either.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

i was wondering about this.....i've been trying to change my eating habbits and was thinking about our canned green beans.........

i can't remember whether we put one tsp or one tbls in the jar for the beans....

i guess i should be more concerned about the 1/2 cup of bacon grease we put in the beans!

You don't need to add salt when canning either.

 

[Duffster]

Now I am out of jars again.

Well this should no longer be a problem. Over the last few weeks between the local salvage yard, craigslist, garage sales and auctions I have purchased upwards of 700 mason jars.

I really do wonder if it will be enough though.

 

[MossRoad]

Well this should no longer be a problem. Over the last few weeks between the local salvage yard, craigslist, garage sales and auctions I have purchased upwards of 700 mason jars.

I really do wonder if it will be enough though.

You gonna eat 2 quarts of food every day for a year? :laughing:

 

[Egon]

[I have purchased upwards of 700 mason jars.

/QUOTE]

Hmmm - canning garden products eh?