What are you canning now?

[WPFarmstead]

Maeschak, don't forget to vent your canner for ten minutes before pressurizing it and starting the timer.  When the proper time elapses, turn heat off or carefully remove canner from it.  Then let the canner depressurize by itself (leave the weight on) until the small pop-up handle-lock (if your canner has one) drops down.

A link from the National Center for Home Food Preservation:   http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/chicken_rabbit.html

Best wishes,
Ed

Actually, not all canners require the vent time. So, definitely follow your specific canners instructions.

 

[lcertuche]

I made a test batch of Amish Coleslaw and was pleased with it so will be buying more cabbage, carrots, onions, celery... I also need to find some more jars. I hate buying new ones but at least they are an investment...if I can just get the Wildbunch to quit using them for drinking glasses.

 

[jerryse]

We have been canning pumpkin / squash . Dickinson and Cushaw . I tried Golden Delicious this year . I will be growing that one more Best tasting ever .

 

[Maeschak]

Actually, not all canners require the vent time. So, definitely follow your specific canners instructions.

Thanks- I just follow the directions that came with the canner. I have an old school cheap (but not really cheap!?) canner that just has the rocker disks, no actual pressure gauge. I let it come up to temp with no rockers/weights until there is a good bit of steam coming through for several minutes and then add the weighted rockers. Thanks for all the tips tho as I am new to pressure canning!

 

[Beekissed]

I do the same thing....vent until the plume is steady and tall, then add the weight and start timing when the weight starts to spin/jiggle regularly.

Killed more chickens today, so it's chicken and stock that I'm canning today. Hope to do the same on Friday and, hopefully, will be done with chicken for the season. Then will move on to pumpkin/squash if I find a recipe I can live with.

 

[Beekissed]

Got 6 qts of packed meat from those 6 birds, so quite pleased with that. Slowly but surely the flock is being harvested to a winter time stocking rate...you hear that, people? Subtraction...that forgotten element of chicken math!

And just as surely, the pantry shelves are getting stocked with healthy, pure meat from free ranged chickens that have never ingested medicine, raised here on the land from egg to jar. Can't get any better than that. If I recall the numbers correctly, I'll have harvested 34 chickens by the end of the season...some were sacrificed to the grill earlier on this year, but most have gone to the jar.

It's delightful how each batch of birds produces a different looking jar and most definitely different tastes and colors of stock. This batch's stock is not as clear and lovely, not as jellied, though I used more of the feet/lower leg in this stock I had not put in any organ meats, so the stock was a lighter, less clear color.

Even the fat was not as creamy and thick this time. The stock tastes great but not as deep in flavor as the previous batches. Just put it into the canner, soon to be on the shelf....this batch made 4 qts of concentrated stock.

 

[lcertuche]

6 quarts of meat from 6 chickens is a good haul. They must have been some nice sized birds.

 

[Beekissed]

6 quarts of meat from 6 chickens is a good haul. They must have been some nice sized birds.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But, I was pretty disappointed with the size of the birds from this year's hatch...too small by far for this breed. I was pretty surprised that they packed into 6 qts. though....if they had been the size they should have, I should have gotten about 2 or more qt. more than that, I'm thinking. Still...I'm mighty grateful to have anything at all to put in the jar after this year's predators had their way with the flock.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Too bad about the predator problems, @Beekissed . Hopefully the predators move on soon.

Not much got canner here this year. I have apples in the fridge that I need to sauce yet, but that seems to be about it. I did can a couple batches of Cherry pie filling. Mom got the luck slice of cherry pie at Thanksgiving, yep I missed a pit! lol

 

[Beekissed]

Still....I bet it was WAY better than store bought.

I turned out being joyful about the predator situation that occurred, though I know that sounds weird to most. It gave me a chance to develop faith in God, to develop a trust that He controls my life and will provide as He sees fit and He did!

My sister suddenly decided she would get rid of her entire flock and gave them to me...and she had been feeding them spent brewers grains and free ranging at times, so her chickens tasted as close to the taste of mine one could get from an outside source. All that I had lost, I had regained and then some, as she also had 5 POL BAs in that flock to replace the layers I had lost. Those BAs will likely lay better than the hens and pullets I had lost anyway.

God is good!