Caning

[Acre4Me]

Sure, it's all on my blog here. I could hardly gather any this year as I was late. My daughter told me we need more and where can she buy some. I had to tell her no one sells pawpaw as they are a lot of work for small reward. But man do they taste great. I love our apple butter and pawpaw beats it hands down in flavor.

pawpaw butter looks interesting. Definitely the right texture. Do the fragrant notes come through after all the cooking?

we’ve harvested some and made ice cream -it was delicious!

when harvesting, we have found that walking known pawpaw areas in July/August gets you an idea of the crop size. In our area it seems that paw paws go through a cycle of 1-2 light years, followed by a heavy year. So, we can assess in July/Aug if it’s worth trying to harvest some come September. But even 1-2 is a nice fresh treat!

 

[Tre3hugger]

I learned to can this year. I had just harvested 90lbs of chicken meat, and my solar stopped working! Hence no freezer! I couldn't imagine wasting all that chicken, so I ran out and bought the canner. 324358434 hours later, all the chicken was saved and I was converted lol. Raw (cold) pack breast and hot (3/4 cooked)pack dark meat is how I will preserve my chicken from now on!! Also will can some rabbit this year if my breeding plans cooperate. If I ever get any excess from my garden I will can that too. It is such a nifty skill!

Here is just a bit of my haul. Raw pack breast on top. Broth in the background. Hotpack in the foreground.

Close up of hot pack. My friend runs a barbecue catering business and gave me some spice mix. That is the darker one on the right. BBQ yummm

 

[Sally PB]

@Tre3hugger, did you can it under pressure? Meat MUST be pressure canned to be safe!

 

[Tre3hugger]

@Tre3hugger, did you can it under pressure? Meat MUST be pressure canned to be safe!

Yup!! It was 10 lbs pressure for I believe 70-90 mins depending on jar size and method (hot or cold). A month+ later I am eating/loving it. Should last about 18 months. Appreciate the information though!

 

[Winter Creek Coop]

We can lard when we butcher hogs. We also do some jellies and sauces. We have started freezing our green beans and such more than canning for several years now. I need to can more.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

We can lard when we butcher hogs. We also do some jellies and sauces. We have started freezing our green beans and such more than canning for several years now. I need to can more.

how does one can lard? if you don't mind me asking.

 

[Winter Creek Coop]

how does one can lard? if you don't mind me asking.

Out if caution we pressure can it. After rendering we fill the jars and pressure can as usual.
I don’t know if this is the right way, but this is how granny always did it. She rendered the fat by heating it to separate the solids from the lard. Then in well sterilized jars she poured it in still sizzling hot. Seal and leave to cool.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

Out if caution we pressure can it. After rendering we fill the jars and pressure can as usual.
I don’t know if this is the right way, but this is how granny always did it. She rendered the fat by heating it to separate the solids from the lard. Then in well sterilized jars she poured it in still sizzling hot. Seal and leave to cool.

thank you,

thinking i might can some bear lard next time i get one.

 

[Sally PB]

@Tre3hugger, thanks for replying. You hadn't mentioned pressure, so I just wanted to make sure you knew.

My boss told me a story about a friend of his. The friend liked to go through old cemeteries to check out the old gravestones and do genealogical research. He found one set of gravestones with several family members of varying ages dying within days of each other. So he did some research and found out they died of food poisoning at a big family reunion.

The culprit was canned beans. They died of botulism. No one knew at the time that beans had to be canned under pressure to be safe.