Canning and Home preserving

[R2elk]

Would love to see you hot dill pickle recipe, if you care to share it. Sounds good!

I developed the recipe for small green tomatoes but it works even better with cucumbers.

Hot Dill Pickles

Small cucumbers or large cucumbers sliced into quarters and halved if too long.
Whole jalapenos
Garlic cloves

Dill
Grape leaves
1/4 tsp. pickling spices per qt. jar
1/4 tsp. mustard seed per qt. jar

Brine

3 qts. vinegar
1 qt. water
1 cup canning or pickling salt

Mix vinegar, water and salt together. Bring to boil and keep at a low boil until all jars are filled.

Fill sterilized quart jars with cucumbers, one jalapeno pepper quartered lengthwise, 2 to 3 garlic cloves peeled.

Add pickling spices and mustard seed and 2 heads of dill. Top with one or two fresh grape leaves (can omit if not available).

Ladle or pour boiling brine into filled jars. Immediately seal with sterilized lids and rings and turn upside down to cool.

Allow to cure in a cool place for 4 to 6 weeks. Refrigerate once opened.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have canned a lot of different stuff. Here are some of my favorites, let me know if you want recipes - I believe these all came from the Ball canning book.
Spirited peaches and cherries. Southern comfort seems to be the best, rum takes a close second. Peach Comfort on ice cream is heavenly (mashed peaches, lemon juice, a little sugar and Southern Comfort)
Rhubarb Sunshine Juice - my mom drinks it straight out of the jar, I like it with lemon-line soda. Rhubarb, oranges, sugar all simmered together and then strained and canned. Summer in a jar.
Cherry pie filling, Black Forest Jam, Danish Cherry Sauce.
Canned Chicken breast. That stuff is absolutely delicious and so convenient to have on the shelf. I didn't season them, just a little salt in the broth as I find that I can season them when I use it. That gives me a lot more options of how to use it when I open it.

 

[bobbi-j]

Meat is simple... For the best consistency brown it in a skillet or oven... Dont cook all the way through... just give it color.... Pack the jars. Top with Broth... and pressure can. Leave a one inch head space... make sure the bubbles are out... do the lids and rings finger tight... and Pressure can for 1 hour 10 minutes. (found it) pressure is dictated by altitude.

The deal is The pressure canners get up to 210 + degrees... enough to kill any botulism mold or fungus... Plus you start out with extremely clean product Jars, Lids, hands, funnel ... Yata yata...

I am going to start with chicken breasts skinned and cut into cubes... Then Season with pepper and Herbs De Provence and roast till lightly brown. Light on the seasonings because pressure canning increases their potency. Sage is a no go for pressure canning. Then Hopefully I will have some Chicken broth jarred up to use to top fill.

PROCESS filled jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure 1 hour and 15 minutes for pints and 1 hour and 30 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude.

deb

I cold pack all my meat for canning. Put a little canning salt in the jar, and pack as much meat into the jar as I can. Get the bubbles out and pressure can accordingly. (The Ball Blue Book is my friend.) It makes it’s own broth.

Look in the Ball Blue book for recipes There is also a canning book put out by the USDA called The Complete Guide to Home Canning. Its a free publication put out by the USDA downloadable PDF.

Here is a very useful link
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html

Here is the full 2015 version in PDF
https://www.healthycanning.com/wp-content/uploads/USDA-Complete-Guide-to-Home-Canning-2015-revision.pdf
You can read on site but Downloading it is better.

Or you can buy it on Amazon for 18 dollars.

I need to put together all my links and research. I am a Research addict I do a lot of my research Through YouTube But when I see a recipe on YouTube I research it throu the USDA or Ball Canning books. there are more but I dont have them.

Ball canning books are available on line as well

deb

Good resources!

I am curious about bone broth. Does some of the gell survive pressure canning? If it doesnt does the broth retain the healthful qualities...?

deb

My bone broth does not have gel. I cook a chicken carcass in my IP for about 1 1/2 hours with all kinds of veggies, strain and can the broth.

 

[ValerieJ]

I developed the recipe for small green tomatoes but it works even better with cucumbers.

Hot Dill Pickles

Small cucumbers or large cucumbers sliced into quarters and halved if too long.
Whole jalapenos
Garlic cloves

Dill
Grape leaves
1/4 tsp. pickling spices per qt. jar
1/4 tsp. mustard seed per qt. jar

Brine

3 qts. vinegar
1 qt. water
1 cup canning or pickling salt

Mix vinegar, water and salt together. Bring to boil and keep at a low boil until all jars are filled.

Fill sterilized quart jars with cucumbers, one jalapeno pepper quartered lengthwise, 2 to 3 garlic cloves peeled.

Add pickling spices and mustard seed and 2 heads of dill. Top with one or two fresh grape leaves (can omit if not available).

Ladle or pour boiling brine into filled jars. Immediately seal with sterilized lids and rings and turn upside down to cool.

Allow to cure in a cool place for 4 to 6 weeks. Refrigerate once opened.

Thanks so much! Sounds so good!

 

[ValerieJ]

Canned Chicken breast. That stuff is absolutely delicious and so convenient to have on the shelf. I didn't season them, just a little salt in the broth as I find that I can season them when I use it. That gives me a lot more options of how to use it when I open it.

Definitely want this recipe! Thanks!

 

[perchie.girl]

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.

I have heard of fermenting veggies... Not heard of fermenting meat....

Going to do some research on that.

NOt fermenting but a form of preserving:

My dad and I put up Olives one year we had a small olive tree in our front yard. we stripped the tree to a canvas and cleaned off the leaves that came with... Dad bought a brand new Eighty gallon Trash can mad of plastic... this was in the seventies.

We rinsed them off then put them in the trash can and rinsed them twice more... By then the trash can was parked in the garage where it would spend the curing time. He made me stand back while mixed up the lye... Yep plain old lye for clearing drains. He had to hold the mixing container with a pair of pliers it got so hot. He poured the lye in and stirred it well with a broom handle. He had cut off for the job.

After that once a week hed pull out a couple of olives and slice through them to see how far the lye had penetrated. The meat would become translucent as they cured. After four weeks he announced that they were done and time to nutralize the lye.

So In went a gallon of vinegar. Bases and Acids cancel each other out... Then he poured off the Now neutralized liquid surrounding the Olives. In went fresh water and another gallon of Vinegar.... now he did another month tasting and waiting. Salt went in as well.

I have NO idea where he got the recipe Probably one of his buddies at General Dynamics... Dad was a tool and die Designer and a Manufacturing Engineer at the time. Unless he was remembering a recipe his dad used... Dads family were share croppers.

Any way we put the olive up in jars Just regular Jars that had contained food at one time. They werent Vinegary or Salty they were just plain Good. Some of the jars we put Garlic in and hot peppers... But eighty gallons worth Covered the shelves when we were done... Half got given away and the other half made it almost a year before we ate them all.

I have since learned of several different ways to cure olives. There are old stand olive groves all over the place in San Diego. The grow well here. Some line sidewalks. They are a mess when they drop olives. Most people will let you harvest because of that. There are even classes through online where you meetup and can learn how to make olive oil.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

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.

Welcome aboard... I SO Want an All american canner... one that can double stack.
especially when I graduate from the presto.

I have heard about the Tomatos being easy to peel after frozen... Not a fan of canned tomatos but I may give it a try to see if there is a difference.

deb

 

[ValerieJ]

I have heard of fermenting veggies... Not heard of fermenting meat....

Going to do some research on that.

NOt fermenting but a form of preserving:

My dad and I put up Olives one year we had a small olive tree in our front yard. we stripped the tree to a canvas and cleaned off the leaves that came with... Dad bought a brand new Eighty gallon Trash can mad of plastic... this was in the seventies.

We rinsed them off then put them in the trash can and rinsed them twice more... By then the trash can was parked in the garage where it would spend the curing time. He made me stand back while mixed up the lye... Yep plain old lye for clearing drains. He had to hold the mixing container with a pair of pliers it got so hot. He poured the lye in and stirred it well with a broom handle. He had cut off for the job.

After that once a week hed pull out a couple of olives and slice through them to see how far the lye had penetrated. The meat would become translucent as they cured. After four weeks he announced that they were done and time to nutralize the lye.

So In went a gallon of vinegar. Bases and Acids cancel each other out... Then he poured off the Now neutralized liquid surrounding the Olives. In went fresh water and another gallon of Vinegar.... now he did another month tasting and waiting. Salt went in as well.

I have NO idea where he got the recipe Probably one of his buddies at General Dynamics... Dad was a tool and die Designer and a Manufacturing Engineer at the time. Unless he was remembering a recipe his dad used... Dads family were share croppers.

Any way we put the olive up in jars Just regular Jars that had contained food at one time. They werent Vinegary or Salty they were just plain Good. Some of the jars we put Garlic in and hot peppers... But eighty gallons worth Covered the shelves when we were done... Half got given away and the other half made it almost a year before we ate them all.

I have since learned of several different ways to cure olives. There are old stand olive groves all over the place in San Diego. The grow well here. Some line sidewalks. They are a mess when they drop olives. Most people will let you harvest because of that. There are even classes through online where you meetup and can learn how to make olive oil.

deb

That was a fascinating read!

 

[perchie.girl]

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.

I forgot about the Rings Thanks RJ.... One of the things that may happen when you leave the rings on is it will give you a false seal. After you have canned and then Cooled down the jars.... over night. The next step is to test the seal. Remove the ring and gently lift the jars by the pressurized lids... Then Gently wash the Jars off incase there was any oil or debris in the canning water.

Then the jars get stored in a cool dark place...

For now my jars are being stored in the Cardboard cases they came in... But I am designing a storage system for my house when i move. I live in the desert and temperatures can get upwards to ninety degrees in the house. So I am coming up with a design for a Chill space that will keep it Cellar like in temperature during the summer. Not electric...

I will let you all know what the result is when I am done.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Are you saying you can meat without a pressure cooker?

No what she is saying is cooking the meat again when it comes out of the jar. YOu dont have to do that if the jars are sealed.... If the jars are not sealed the FDA has steps that you need to follow for disposal.

When you take a jar off the shelf and its completely sealed you can eat the food right out of the jar... no heating required. I would want to taste before making a casserole or a side dish to see how much salt it needed or Seasonings.

I plan to can just the basics.... Some people call that an ingredient canner. Just minimal seasonings for me is salt pepper and garlic. Herbs de Provence for chicken... But all should be used sparingly.

I have some middle east spices I want to try in a cooked dish for the table before I use it in canning as well. One is called Zaatar which has a form of Tyme as well as a few other seasonings. I have tasted it and Its wonderfully aeromatic.

Some Zaatar also has Sumac berries in it. They give a lemony flavor to the food. Mine doesnt have them.

deb