Preserving the Harvest

[Nestled Chickens]

I posted in the turkey forums and it was suggested that I post here too:

We've managed to raise quite the flock of turkeys this year. In the past, we've butchered and frozen the turkey in smaller batches, but this year my freezer is full.

Has anyone canned heritage turkey? I've canned chicken breast (following all the safety guidelines of course). Any advice? Blogs about raising and preserving heritage turkey meat?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I don't know about canning but what about some jerky as well?

 

[Maeschak]

I pressure can (raw pack) non-heritage turkey just as I pressure can chicken and really like it. I use it the same way as well- shredded for tacos, burritos, stew, turkey salad, etc.
Basically, I skin the turkey (and save to skin to render the fat) and simply cut off all of the meat. No need to be particular about how it is cut off since it ends up sort of 'shredded' with the raw pack method... except that it can be really helpful to keep some jars of 'white only' and some of 'dark only' meat. That way if you want to make turkey salad or something you can use the white meat for better presentation. Then I pressure cook the carcass to make stock and pressure can that as well.

Oh yeah- I actually do not can the wings and drums- I freeze those (they take up very little room). I love to get some turkey wings and smoke them in batches- the drums I use in tomato based stews sort of like a beef or lamb shank. For some reason I just cannot get much meat off the drumsticks while raw so using them in stews really uses the whole drum.