What are you canning now?

[ScoobyRoo]

Quote:
I have been blessed with a lot of tomatoes as well. i do mine differently and thought I would share.

I core, cut out any bad spots, run it thru the blender then mill it. My chickens get the peels and seeds too!
Then at that point, I make whatever or freeze it till I have time to cook it down.

Im canning kidney beans right now.

 

[3goodeggs]

Quote:
maybe, just maybe I can use just a little bit of chicken stock to make the paste (with all the seasoning), omit the flour and oil, then add the tomato sauce and the rest of the chicken stock. Then pressure can. Would that work?

I have never heard the "don't re-can" it rule, myself.

I would think minus the oil and flour (which I totally missed the first time around) you should be okay.

this site is so informative. I have learned as much about canning and cooking as I have chickens.
I was given three five pound cans of tomato sauce. I was going to re-can them into sizes that I could actually use, quarts or pints. I also have pumpkin paste... I figured I would re-pressure can that. As long as it is sterile to sterile, I should be fine right?
or... I could feed it to the chickens.
I need more can't can it rules, I went from thinking I would kill off my family to "It's been pressure canned, it's safe."

oh nuts, my spell checker disappeared. Now you know, I am lexicon intolerant.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I have been blessed with a lot of tomatoes as well. i do mine differently and thought I would share.

I core, cut out any bad spots, run it thru the blender then mill it. My chickens get the peels and seeds too!
Then at that point, I make whatever or freeze it till I have time to cook it down.

Im canning kidney beans right now.

Do you think that will work with a sieve? I don't have a food mill, but it would be a heck of a lot less work than blanching them all.

 

[ScoobyRoo]

H.C.
You can but it is time consuming IMO. I used to use a seive and it took FOREVER! I invested in an average food mill and use it quite often. I don't like seeds in my blackberry or raspberry jelly either. So, it comes in handy for all things. I just find that it works faster for what little time I have. My mill fits nicely over an empty/ washed 5qt icecream pail. Then it goes into the freezer when I have more time to make sauces. Now that my kids are in school, they are not around to stir it while I'm at work.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

I am canning pickled beets today, and garlic dill pickles tomorrow

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
I have never heard the "don't re-can" it rule, myself.

I would think minus the oil and flour (which I totally missed the first time around) you should be okay.

this site is so informative. I have learned as much about canning and cooking as I have chickens.
I was given three five pound cans of tomato sauce. I was going to re-can them into sizes that I could actually use, quarts or pints. I also have pumpkin paste... I figured I would re-pressure can that. As long as it is sterile to sterile, I should be fine right?
or... I could feed it to the chickens.
I need more can't can it rules, I went from thinking I would kill off my family to "It's been pressure canned, it's safe."

oh nuts, my spell checker disappeared. Now you know, I am lexicon intolerant.

Well, there is no such thing as sterile to sterile. As soon as you touch something with your hands, open it to the air, stick a spoon in it, etc it is no longer sterile. That's why there is no need to sterilize your jars and lids before use -- just heat them -- because as soon as you remove them from the sterilization bath they would no longer be sterile anyway. The "sterilization" of the food you cans happens in the canner when you're processing it, that's why we don't do inversion canning anymore, for instance.

So, now with that said, it still would be find as far as I know/am concerned to re-can some canned things but not okay for others. In the case of these two examples the tomato sauce would be fine, but I would not re-can pumpkin paste. The reason being: it's not recommended to home-can pumpkin of any kind. It's too dense. So, IOW, I would say it's fine to re-can anything that is safe to can to begin with, but would not try to re-can goods that are not safe for home canning to begin with.

Another thing to consider when re-canning is the texture -- I said it was okay to use canned tomato paste to can enchilada sauce or to re-can tomato sauce because texture isn't a concern with those goods. If you took a 10 lb can of green beans and re-canned those into pints on the other hand, you'd end up with mush. It would be safe, but the result would be yuck!

 

[3goodeggs]

Thanks. I had read in the ball book that you can can pumpkin but only in 1/2 inch cubes. That you should not do the paste. I assumed that that I could can canned because it was already processed... and now I won't. I will just let the chickens have what I can not use in a decent amount of time. I appreciated that. now we won't die.

 

[Olive Hill]

LOL! You probably wouldn't have died -- women have been canning pumpkin butter and pie filling for ages, but I'm not about to tell you to do it on the off chance you DO die and your heirs come back and hold me liable. Or worse your heirs die and YOU hold me liable.

The commercial canning process is different than what we can accomplish at home. That's why they're allowed to can it. And you're right, if there were a way to keep it sterile while moving it to your jars I would agree it'd be safe, but you recontaminate it the second you open it up so... unfortunately it could still cause problems.

This is a major bummer for me, honestly, you have no idea how much I yearn to home can pumpkin butter... and some day I probably will... but for now my fear of dying is strong enough I resist.

 

[BarefootMom]

If I had pumpkins I would can the puree You will find that many people don't do exactly as the USDA says. Many people have been canning pumpkin for ages and have had no ill effects from doing so. My grandmother has never bought canned pumpkin from the store and yet never fails to bring a pumpkin pie to every family gathering. She didn't even know you could buy canned pumpkin until just a few years ago. You can also freeze pumpkin puree too.

I think the USDA guidelines get a bit over protective if you ask me. To me it is like providing for your kids- you can go by the books, but you might miss out on some great things or you can do like everyone has been doing for ages and learn as you go. YES I do believe there are basics that you should follow ie BWB and PC (low acid/high acid foods. But in my opinion most everything can be preserved at home in some way if it is logical to do so.

 

[Happy Chooks]

3 pints peach melba jam done today, both the peaches and the raspberries are from my garden. (darn those recipes that say it will give you 5 half pints - I did a double batch and got 3 pints plus 1/2 pint in the fridge) I'm picking 2 baskets of raspberries every 2-3 days now. Tomorrow I'll be working on salsa.

Anyone have a great crock pot pear butter recipe? (I'd prefer one with cinnamon) I have a 5 gallon bucket of pears ripening. Plan on making that pear honey with some of them.