Post by jdp4202007 on Mar 25, 2008 20:54:12 GMT -5
a water bath canner or a pressure canner if you have a pressure canner you can use it for both plus you will want to make sure that the pressure canner seal is good otherwise chit will blow up and jars and lids and the screw on lids and the ball canning book and vegetables and fruits and meats for canning and then you are good to go
You can water bath vegi's in a pressure cooker, since most of us fish and hunt, I would spend your money on a pressure cooker, will cover all bases, next find some older people,like me or grand parents type, they had to can food because it was all they could afford, they can give the best tips and most want to be usefull and are willing to help, go to an estate auction, you can buy almost all the jars and canning supplies from an estate for 25% of real value, jars are cheap at an auction. Steve
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thanks steve my wife and i used to go to a lot estate sales a few years back you can get a lot useful stuff pennys on the dollar i think i will have to hit a few this summer
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I just ran an ad in the Syracuse paper for jars 3 weeks ago and got many calls, i settled on 2 places,i bought 28 dozen LM for 2 bucks a doz at one place and 14 doz reg mouth for 2 bucks a doz. at another place. many still in the original box unopened. all qts. the jars would have cost us about 400. at wally world. we're canning mostly chicken and ground beef in a tomato sauce right now, also a lot of pork loins that were cheap last fall. just put a different seasoning in whils doing the 10 minute boil after opening, depending what we're going to eat. stuff to use with beans, rice, pasta.. also canning many jars of just chicken breast and potatoes. they ain't going to get any cheaper and for what we've spent and canned in 3 weeks, we can ride out most anything for over a yr even if the stores closed. add a couple hundred lbs wheat, beans,rice, different pastas, salt and sugar. actually my wife thought i had gone off the deep end and retirement had finally gotten to me til she woke up and noticed that most prices have gone up by 25% and many over 60% since oct. she was to busy worring about pennies at the gas station while getting ripped off at the store. we can park the car-truck, but we can't eat dirt-snow.
Good post Blazor ;D Sounds like you've got quite the operation going. I'd like to see some pics of your chicken canning cause that's the first thing I will be canning and have never canned meat before. Yes this pot is a monster and I have no intention of setting it on my kitchen range. I will be using it mostly on a turkey fryer stand. I also have a commercial 5 burner cooktop that has an extra large burner for extra large pots.
Good post Blazor ;D Sounds like you've got quite the operation going. I'd like to see some pics of your chicken canning cause that's the first thing I will be canning and have never canned meat before. Yes this pot is a monster and I have no intention of setting it on my kitchen range. I will be using it mostly on a turkey fryer stand. I also have a commercial 5 burner cooktop that has an extra large burner for extra large pots.
There you go JC, thats how I do most of my canning. The turkey fryer will heat the pot a lot faster also. I have two and thinking of getting more fryers when they are on sale(pot and all the other stuff can be used for blanching,peeling tomatoes,peaches and as hot water baths also)to can more at a time. My set up is going to have 4 pressure canners so that while two are venting,canning the other two are being packed. As the two that canned cool the others are canning. I am packing /prepareing other jars at the same time. As the two get to zero pressure,the others are close to being done. Once set up it is a continuous cycle. I get my canners on EBAY,I like the old National canners that I revamp to being very much like the ALL AMERICAN,only a lot cheaper. It really helped when I put up 40+ doz of corn this past August. When I got done had 74 qts and 119 pints. Had a few mishaps that were eaten up LOL. Did have one pint that broke,it was suspect when I put it in the canner as it did have a very small chip on the edge,but would still seal in a water bath. Guess it had the begining of a small crack that the pressure took care of.
Past few years, there are on-line tutorials put out by various folks, just google home canning, food canning, ya know.
Make sure your recipe time book is up to date.I don't mean 5 years old, either, discoverers back mid/late 60's of newer highly resistant bacteria, (can't spell) vichyoissoe?soup, killed a few people with approved receipes. They were unfortunate discoverers of new strain of ? botulism? not sure. OLD RECIPES , DON'T BELIEVE, esp low acids, fish/shellfish/ anything containing milk. I grew up in commercial seafood processing family.
Pickles, relish, kraut, likely no problems. ditto jams/jellies
Some things need maximum attention mushrooms, shellfish, most anything mixed with milk. I don'tdo it. Adding milk after is fresher, saves space, and much safer. I don't do mushrooms.
Clean. Fresh Sterile line you are working. No old towels to wipe and fester, for example. Wash everything down end of day with clean water and bleach additive. Kill flies.
Wash everything before canning.
KISS (Keep it sterile, stupid) surfaces, jars, tools, hands.
Kendwell, you mentioned that you won't can mushrooms a couple of times. I'm interested to hear why not. I just did some last week and have two young kids so I'm interested in your experience/opinion.
If you check out canning sites from the different universities, and any site that does canning with up dated recipes / procedures You will find somethings that are better off frozen / dryed. Mushrooms are one of the few things I haven't canned. Just never have had enough to bother. It's something to check into. I know they are canned in some sauce recipies, just haven't found mushrooms canned by themselves.
I trust this site, I follow her addvice when canning potatoes, and they have impressed the people that I share meals with.
Any how this is what she says:
The reason that many canning manuals dropped mushrooms from their pages is that some folks were canning poisonous mushrooms, then getting sick when they ate them. Obviously, one should never eat ANY mushrooms that they don't know for sure are edible. If unsure, go out in the field with an experienced mushroom hunter until you are definitely positive of your mushrooms.
Mushrooms are very easy to can, however. I have canned hundreds of jars of them and also dehydrated nearly the same amount as they are also very easy to dehydrate and you can store so many in such a small, lightweight container.
To can mushrooms, soak them in lightly salted ice water for 10 minutes. This not only helps clean them, but rinses out any hidden insects. Trim the dirty and tough parts of the stems, then rinse in cold water. You may leave small ones whole and cut large ones into convenient pieces. Boil three minutes in water. Pack into hot jars. Add a tsp. of salt to each quart or 1/2 tsp. to each pint, if desired. Fill to within 1/2 inch of top of jar with water mushrooms were boiled in. Put hot, previously simmered lid on jar and tighten down ring firmly tight. Process in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure (unless you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet and must adjust your pressure to suit your altitude, if necessary; consult your canning manual for instructions) for 25 minutes for pints and 35 minutes for quarts.
Sorry Nutso, I beat ya to it 
