Questions about Pressure canning

[mickey328]

I've never canned just meat, but I've done dishes that have meat in them...like chili. It was pretty much the same as any other canning job and turned out great! The last time I got a deal on chicken, I dehydrated it. It turned out great and is good in soups and casseroles and such. But if you want to do just the meat to have as itself in a meal, pressure canning is the way to go. As long as you end up with a good seal, you're good to go

 

[BakingNana]

On the glasstop stove issue, I quit canning for several years because I was told not to can on the glasstop. When I found out that the Presto was safe for glasstops, you could have heard me yell three states away! I have a load of chicken soup in it as I type this. Been canning non-stop and have had no problems with the stove at all. The Presto has a flat bottom, which is necessary for the glasstop.

 

[mickey328]

Same here...I've had no issues using the glass top with the canners.

 

[silkensunlight]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I've used the canner a few times and it seems to do a good job. I'm having some trouble with siphoning, but from what I understand that's from the heating and cooling process. I guess it's going to be trial and error, and hopefully I get this down pat soon.

 

[mickey328]

That can be an issue unless you let it pressure-down on its own. It adds significantly to processing time,which is a bummer. If I have to process for 90 minutes, I figure on about 2.5 to 3 hours total...once it's locked down and gets up to pressure tends to take pretty close to half an hour, then 1.5 hrs for processing and at least another .5 hr for it to come back to 0. It's a big one, but I almost wish it were bigger...I can only get 6 quart jars in it; it's not quite tall enough to double stack quarts. LOL, it's big enough though that I have to pull the stove out about 4 inches for it to clear the range hood/microwave, anyway! I can double stack pints though, so that part is an advantage. I did 12 pts of ground beef and 6 pts of stock all in one go. That beats the waterbath...only 7 fit in it at once.

 

[CraftyChicky]

I've loved reading over this. I've been canning for years, but have never used a pressure canner. I got some crowder peas at the farmers market yesterday, and when I went to can them, Ball's Blue Book said it needs a pressure canner. I ended up putting them in the freezer, which is getting pretty full from my summer garden produce. So, I'll probably be looking at pressure canner's too.

Mickey, what type of food mill do you have? That is on my iwanta list, too.

 

[mickey328]

I got the Roma Food Mill from lehmans.com I also got the accessory strainers for tomatoes because I like the quite pulpy. It was SO much easier than dunking them in boiling water, icing them, peeling and cutting them. We just rinsed the dirt off, cut the ones too big to fit in the chute and DH turned the crank. It works for any soft fruit like peaches as well. Pulp comes out one area, seeds, peels etc drops into a different bowl. For harder things like apples, they just need to be cooked till soft and then can be run through the same way. Lehmans also sells bulk lids, both the regular and wide mouth. I just put in an order for a sleeve of each. Seems I always run out the same time the stores do and I have to chase all over town trying to find some when I've got stuff needs processing, LOL.

Any food that's low acid (pretty much anything other than fruit and pickles) needs to be done in a pressure canner. The green beans I did last year turned out fantastic and this year I did all that meat and also have about 25 lbs or so of carrots. It's a personal preference, but I don't care for the taste/texture of most frozen vegetables. That, and the fact that the freezer seems to always be pretty full, is what really led me to wanting to can lower acid foods. I figure if I can meat, potatoes and veg in separate jars, a good meal is only ever a few minutes away, and doesn't require a lot of planning or cooking. Three jars, heat and eat, LOL

 

[silkensunlight]

Thanks for the info on the food mill Mickey. I have a small one but DH says Santa's on his way so we'll see. It'll be nice not to have to do so much straining and emptying like with the little one. It's a bit of a pain when I'm doing huge batches of stuff. I haven't done any meat in the pressure canner yet but I plan to try some chilli and pea soup soon.

 

[mickey328]

You're very welcome! With that mill, we did 5 cases of romas in 2 days. Last year it took about 3 days just to do 2 cases and was a LOT more hassle and mess. When I did the juice, we also got our our Champion juice (great price off ebay) and I ran all the skins from the mill through the juicer a couple times and got lots more goodies out of it. Also used the juicer to add lettuce, onion, carrots, beets, garlic, zucchini and celery. Not quite "V-8" but it turned out really tasty anyway. The mill and the accessories and shipping came to under $100, so I consider it a really good investment. You can also buy an electric motor for it, but we felt that since we'd only use it a few times a year, it wasn't worth the extra money. The tomatoes I canned are still a bit "soupier" than I'd like, but since we don't eat them as stewed tomatoes, it's a small concession. I could cook them down if I really need too, but since I mostly use them for chili they should be fine.

The only downside I found to canning chili was that over time the meat got a bit mealy...just from being in liquid all that time. It still tasted great but the texture was a little different. I used ground beef, and since the meat was already in very small pieces, I'm sure it got that way quicker. I suspect if you started with cubed or chunked meat it would likely not get mealy so quickly, but then again, it doesn't last that long on the shelf...we tend to eat it up pretty quickly, LOL

Once the mad rush to get all the garden produce canned is over, I hope to do more experimentation over the winter. We went to the Sustainable Living Fair yesterday and signed up for a subscription to Backwoods Home Magazine. With it, we got a copy of "Ask Jackie Pressure Canning", written by Jackie Clay who's a long time writer for the magazine and a homesteader herself. I just started going through it last night and she's got some great info in there on canning stuff I never would have thought about, like butter and cheese as well as ideas for soups and such. I want to play around with some of those things as well.

 

[silkensunlight]

Well..I did some shopping around and found a great food strainer. It's a Roma Deluxe Electric Strainer. It comes with all the attachments and free shipping. I live in Canada and boy was it hard to find this thing. I could find lots of them in the states but by the time it got to me I was paying more for shipping than I was for the darn strainer. I got this strainer for the price I would have paid for the regular strainer with no attachments! After working my way through 6 quarts of apple sauce today I can't wait for this thing to get here. And as a bonus DH is paying for as an early santa gift! Thanks to Mickey for all the great convincing information