Questions about Pressure canning

[mickey328]

We got the Roma food mill from the Lehman's catalog and went through 2 cases of tomatoes in about an hour...it was awesome!! The straining actually took longer than the prep.

Doing the processing outside is a super idea, Frogdog. Back in the day, Grandpa would pull the beets from the garden, hose 'em off and then just cook 'em outside...kept the smell, heat and humidity out of the house. Then he would bring them in and Grandma would peel and pickle 'em.

I''ve been looking for a three burner stove to do that here too, but haven't found one yet. We did use the barbecue for the last batch though...it was uncharacteristically humid here that day, as well as hot, so we decided to try it just to keep the humidity out of the house. I'm glad I just used the water bath for that one...it took quite a while to get up to temp and would have been really hard to control for the pressure canner.

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

I would love to have am separate canning kitchen, maybe someday.....Canning fish outdoors is a must unless you want your house to smell for a week

I got mine at Walmart online it was a Christmas super sale the Camp Chef model it was around 100.00 (four years ago) with free shipping, I am not sure what they run now but I do know Costco sells a nice one as well.

 

[mickey328]

We'd definitely have to rig something up to block the wind...it often gets quite breezy here...in fact we had a gust that blew out the flame the other day. Still, it was soooo worth it to keep the heat and steam outside! Grandpa rigged up a single burner on top of a BBQ propane tank and that's what he used for cooking the beets. I may have my handyman DH rig up something similar.

 

[silkensunlight]

Ha! My mom always did her beets outside on a metal grill on an open fire! She didn't process either, just put wax on the tops of everything and onto the shelf!

 

[mickey328]

That's a great idea! I grew up in Red Lake, ON...we didn't have a root cellar or anything, and Gran only canned stuff for our own use, so it wasn't scads of stuff. Couldn't ever get decent tomatoes or green beans but oh my...I sorely MISS all the wild raspberries and blueberries! She generally put up a lot of jam from those. The domestic stuff you get just doesn't have the same taste

 

[silkensunlight]

Yeah I agree. My mom passed away ten years ago and I'm trying to keep as many of her recipes going for my own kids. Whenever I make mom's jams my sister rings me up begging! LOL (She doesn't cook ANYTHING!)

 

[olefarmersdaughter]

I LOVE to can and I think people think I'm crazy. But you just can't get the same taste of canned food by store bought canned goods. I have had to teach quite a few people how to can after letting them sample some of my canned goods. They didn't realize that there is a huge difference in taste. I just wish I would get my jars back......they don't realize the expensive new jars can be.....

 

[mickey328]

I hear you on that! I've gotten fairly strict about letting them know that I want the jars back. Most are pretty good. Of course, I bribe them...tell 'em if I get the jar back, more goodies will be forthcoming, LOL.

It's been rewarding over the last few years; I've had several folks want to learn how and they're as surprised as I was that it's so easy. It's a lot of work and mess, but the actual doing isn't really very hard...and the rewards are so vast! Great taste, a sense of pride and knowing what's IN the food you eat.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Just bought a bunch of chicken breast on sale. I'm going to see if I can get my neighbor to show me how she canned her chicken. She showed my husband her canned chicken and told him how gross it looked, but all he can do is talk about how delicious it must be and can we try to make it for ourselves. I was gifted with a pressure canner this fall, but I want to get it tested by the UW-Extension before I try to use it for myself. It hasn't been used for over 8 years before I got it.

Any hints for a pressure canning novice?

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

Youtube, I must have watched 5 videos on how to can chicken before I got the nerve to try it! Don't fret too much, it is super easy.

Have fun!