Canning and Home preserving

[Folly's place]

I do crabapple jelly, several types of jam (all low sugar with the pink boxes of sure gel pectin) and tomato sauce. I haven't pressure canned, since seeing my mom's pressure cooker blow once when I was very young. It was impressive, and it's not happening here!
Once you do home made jams and jellies, store bought is terrible.
Marmalade! It's the best, and different every batch, depending on what mix of lemons, oranges, and tangerines, and their varieties, go into the pot.
Otherwise, love the freezer!
Mary

 

[BlueBaby]

@perchie.girl Doing the meat sound's interesting too. How are we going to do it?

 

[Folly's place]

I've also done pears, pear sauce, apple sauce, and peaches, all spiced, and so good!
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

My home canned stuff isn't less expensive than the cheaper store bought, but it tastes MUCH better, and I know what went into each jar. Like having chickens at home. Better, not less expensive.
Boiling canned veggies and meat for 15 to 20 minutes when planning to eat it, before tasting even a little morsel, will destroy that botulism toxin. Food safety and survival!
Mary

 

[CindyinSD]

Don’t forget fermentation. Lots of things (salsas, lemons, garlic, ginger, eggs, veggies & much more (Even meats ) were customarily fermented long before canning was invented. They won’t keep for years and years, but maybe they’ll keep long enough to eat them slowly.

 

[hispoptart]

Glad I found this thread, I love canning. I have an All American pressure canner that I love. I also have water bath canners. I can veggies, beans and meat. I have pressure canned my own corned beef hash and it turned out really good. Just a bit drier then the stuff you get from the store, so next time I will add some fat to it. The one thing I don't can is tomatoes. Unless you want the store them for longer then about 8 months, it's a waste of time. I just wash, core and put them in a freezer bag and freeze them. When you take them out, let them thaw and the skins slip right off. Then I just crush them with my hands and add to whatever I am using them for. They are just like the canned ones.

 

[rjohns39]

For all who fear the pressure canner, almost all come today with a safety relief valve. If you error, well worst case scenario you'll peel the paint off your ceiling.

About botulism. Always take the rings off your jars after canning. Never use the contents of a jar that pops it's lid. Inside the pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure at low altitude you'll achieve sustained temps of 240+ degrees, which is the temp that kills botulism.

I'm not going to get into the science and I can't spell a lot of the words without a dictionary at my side, but botulism spores are in the air we breath. The most toxic substance many of us have is that jar of olive oil setting on the counter with garlic and herbs. Botulism needs an anaerobic environment to grow the toxin. Oil meets that requirement. Most of us will take that oil and put it a pan heated to 350 degrees to cook with... That's enough to kill the toxin. Those who dip their bread in it, are generally ingesting such small amounts of the toxin that it just doesn't matter.

 

[Folly's place]

It doesn't take much botulinum toxin to kill!
I always boil my canned tomatoes before tasting too, acidified and all.
I remember my mom and aunt canning meat and veggies without the pressure canner, and we all survived. Very scary in hindsight!
The 'good old days' weren't so good, in so many ways.
Mary

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I'm hoping to get a pressure canner for xmas. Not that there's anything wrong with my water bath canner... I just cant do nearly as much with it. I've had the dang thing on my xmas list forever because its something I wouldnt buy myself. Its a big want

 

[Goats4life]

we used to have quail, and we pickled their eggs whenever we had too many. There are lots of recipes on the internet that you can look up.