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- - Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables (http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=390348)

Twisted Avatar | 07-12-2009 12:31 PM
Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables JWR, Thusfar this year I�ve canned 140 pints of meat and veggies. And more to go. I believe ready to heat and eat meals will be very handy when the Schumer hits the oscillating rotator. We grew the potatoes, garlic, onions, sweet banana peppers, and carrots ourselves. We buy whatever meat is the loss leader at the grocery that week. I am storing pasta separately. When we open a pint we will add cooked egg noodles. If one cans the egg noodles they get very mushy. I�ve been canning for some years now and have some serious advice. I opine that there are two human activities that require exquisite attention to detail: reloading ammo and canning food. Data and equipment you will need: Ball Blue Book of Preserving ; one or more All American canners (these have a metal to metal seal) and spare parts for these; a Ball canning kit that contains a magnetic wand for lifting the hot lids from the boiling water, a jar funnel, a pair of tongs; all the pint jars (those made by Ball or Kerr pack better in a canner) that you can buy and store; extra lids. Why pints? Two reasons: less time required in the canner and one may pack more pints than 2x quarts in the canner. You need a very nice stock pot, I�ve a Piazza Professional that has a thick triple bottom. This distributes the heat much more quickly and evenly, vastly reducing any scorching of the food. Now you need to ascertain how deep the stockpot needs to be filled to maximize the number of pints you are canning at a time. Remember that there should be 1 inch head space above the food when canning. So fill up the stockpot with the maximum number of pints you are able to put into your pressure canner with water that comes just up to one inch below the rim of the pint jar. Then measure in inches the depth of this water and put this info on a note on your stove. For my case, I do 17 pints at a time, and the stockpot needs to have the food 4.8 inches deep. Now for the procedure: First, read slowly and carefully the part of the Ball Blue Book on the overall procedure. My suggestions below are excerpts from the detailed procedure in the Ball Blue Book. 1. First put the pint jars, the jar funnel, the soup ladle, and a 6 cup Pyrex volume measuring device into the dishwasher. Place the jars onto the bottom rack. Add any other items to be dishwashed. Turn on the �heated dry� option. It takes me about 2.5 hours to get all the meat and veggies ready. If you wait about an hour to start the dishwasher then about the time the cycle is complete you will be ready to use the hot jars. 2. if the meat is about half frozen, half thawed, it is easier to cut and trim. First put � inch olive oil in the stockpot (veggie oils provide essential nutrients). Then add chopped onion, chopped pepper (if you so desire), and finely chopped garlic. Do not heat yet. I cut the meat into small pieces, about a half inch in diameter. Add the meat to the stockpot. Now turn the heat on. At this point I add Mrs. Dash spice mix. Saute rather slowly as you prep the veggies. 3. Begin with the most difficult veggie to clean: carrots. I take the carrots from the ground and cut off 90% of the top leaves and stems, removing only the larger clumps of dirt. Place in 1 gallon ziploc plastic bags. They will store better in the refrigerator this way. Take them out of the refrigerator, put in a bucket in one side of your double sink. Add more than enough water to cover the carrots. Now using a very stiff vegetable brush, brush the carrots with a motion perpendicular to the length of the carrot. This will effectively clean most of the carrots, with the bits of dirt acting as an abrasive. Cut the top and root tip off, place in a pan filled with water. After all the carrots are in the pan, wash them several times. Then dice and wash again. Do not add to the stockpot, rather add to a chilled pan on your kitchen top. 4. Dice the remaining vegetables. Consider adding store-bought celery. If you�ve snap green beans, fresh corn, whatever, add them to the chilled pot. 5. when you believe you�ve enough diced veggies, place all of them into the heated stockpot, turn up the heat, add enough liquid (chicken stock is great) and chopped veggies to fill the stockpot to the measured depth. You want at least � to 1/3 of the volume to be liquid. At this time begin heating the water in the pressure canner and the lids to be used should go into a small pot and heated to almost boiling on a low heat setting. Hopefully just as the mix in the stockpot comes to a boil the lids will be at the boiling point and the water in the pressure canner should also be boiling. 6. Place the jar funnel and the soup ladle into the 6 cup volume measuring device placed close to your stockpot. Place them back in this device between filling the pints. I fill the pints two at a time. I take two pints from the heated dishwasher and fill with the mix in the stockpot using the funnel and ladle just washed in the dishwasher. I often add a bay leaf and a couple of peppercorns to each jar before filling with the just-boiling mix. Make sure to leave 1 inch head space. All the veggies in each pint should be covered in water. Then I wipe the rims and outer threads with a damp paper towel, retrieve two lids from the boiling water with the magnetic wand, place the lids on the wiped jars, add the screw band and hand tighten about as hard as I am able. Then place the pints in the pressure canner. 7. When the pressure canner is filled with pints, carefully put on the lid and tighten down the screws, taking care that the space between the top of the canner and the lid is reasonably uniform. Then place the weight on the protruding orifice so that the 15 psi stamp is at the bottom. Then turn up the heat on the canner. Watch the pressure dial carefully. As it approaches 15 psi slowly reduce the heat so that it remains just below 15 psi. At this pressure a very small amount of noise will be made by the weight on the protruding orifice and a very little steam will escape. A pressure of 14 psi will suffice up to 8,000 foot altitude. At my altitude I need 11 psi, but go to between 14 and 15 as an added margin of safety. It is totally critical that the canner remain at the desired pressure for the entire time given by the Ball Blue Book. If one reduces the heat too fast, one may drop the pressure below the desired point. 8. After the Ball Blue Book time has elapsed, turn off the heat. Leave the canner alone. Do not mess with it in any way just yet. Note the time at which the pressure gauge has dropped to zero. Wait 1-to-2 hours after this time before opening the canner. If you do not wait this long, after you open the canner you may see steam and/or liquid escaping from the pints. This will generally result in failure to seal. Open the canner very carefully, holding the lid between the canner and your face. With a pair of canning jar tongs remove the pints and place onto a clean towel on your kitchen counter. Leave 2� air space between the pints. Now go make yourself some tea or coffee, go get into your rocking chair and rest. Do handle the jars in any way until the next day. Then I run hot water over the band, and using a flat rubber gripping device, remove the band from the jar and rinse the jar in hot water. Store the pints in the darkest coolest place you have that will not freeze. Write the year the pint was canned on the lid. Regards, - Holly http://www.survivalblog.com/

Twisted Avatar | 07-12-2009 12:32 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Waiting for Sister "imacanning" Dolly To weigh in :biggrin:

Heimdhal | 07-12-2009 12:49 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Im going to be doing some more dehydrated veggies this week(waiting on oxy absorbers and more jars) as well as some roasted red peppers in half pint jars and a few qt's of chicken a la king.

TechGuy | 07-12-2009 12:51 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Not sure I agree with the wait 1 to 2 hours after the pressure drops to zero. that is a recipe for some severely overcooked food. Everything else seems good.

Twisted Avatar | 07-12-2009 12:52 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaCannin (Post 1813417) What is to say, he said it all! Wanna see pictures of the stew I canned last winter?
Of course, of course!! How do you expect us city folk to learn??? T

farscott | 07-12-2009 01:39 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables I agree. I usually open the canner after it stops venting steam from the vent pipe, and I have never had an issue with lids failing to seal. Quote:
Not sure I agree with the wait 1 to 2 hours after the pressure drops to zero. that is a recipe for some severely overcooked food.

gunDriller | 07-12-2009 01:54 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables one thing i learned is, when you buy a 12 pack of canning jars, check the edges real carefully. on one 12 pack i bought, the glass had chipped, leaving a very sharp edge. along i come & open the jar, SLICE, great scene if you like the color RED.

MagpieFairy | 07-12-2009 02:00 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by TechGuy (Post 1813433) Not sure I agree with the wait 1 to 2 hours after the pressure drops to zero. that is a recipe for some severely overcooked food. Everything else seems good.
Yeah, I don't know about 1-2 hours, but it's fairly standard procedure to let it cool a at least a little before you open the lid. Opening too soon can result in fluid loss from the jars and food spoilage if the seals aren't tight. Botulism is not something youy want to take a chance with. Here's the National Center for Home Canning's instructions: http://uga.edu/nchfp/publications/ug...s_canners.html Quote:
(Read through all the instructions before beginning.) 1. Center the canner over the burner. When you have your jars of food ready for canning, put the rack and hot water into the canner. If the amount of water is not specified with a given food, use 2 to 3 inches of water. Longer processes required more water. Some specific products (for example, smoked fish) require that you start with even more water in the canner. Always follow the directions with USDA processes for specific foods if they require more water be added to the canner. For hot packed foods, you can bring the water to 180�F. ahead of time, but be careful not to boil the water or heat it long enough for the depth to decrease. For raw packed foods, the water should only be brought to 140�F. 2. Place filled jars, fitted with lids, on the jar rack in the canner, using a jar lifter. When moving jars with a jar lifter, make sure the jar lifter is securely positioned below the neck of the jar (below the screw band of the lid). Keep the jar upright at all times. Tilting the jar could cause food to spill into the sealing area of the lid. 3. Fasten the canner lid securely. Leave the weight off the vent port or open the petcock. 4. Turn the heat setting to its highest position. Heat until the water boils and steam flows freely in a funnel-shape from the open vent port or petcock. While maintaining the high heat setting, let the steam flow (exhaust) continuously for 10 minutes. 5. After this venting, or exhausting, of the canner, place the counterweight or weighted gauge on the ventport, or close the petcock. The canner will pressurize during the next 3 to 10 minutes. 6. Start timing the process when the pressure reading on the dial gauge indicates that the recommended pressure has been reached, or, for canners without dial gauges, when the weighted gauge begins to jiggle or rock as the manufacturer describes. 7. Regulate the heat under the canner to maintain a steady pressure at, or slightly above, the correct gauge pressure. One type of weighted gauge should jiggle a certain number of times per minute, while another type should rock slowly throughout the process � check the manufacturer's directions. * Loss of pressure at any time can result in underprocessing, or unsafe food. * Quick and large pressure variations during processing may cause unnecessary liquid losses from jars. IMPORTANT: If at any time pressure goes below the recommended amount, bring the canner back to pressure and begin the timing of the process over, from the beginning (using the total original process time). This is important for the safety of the food. 8. When the timed process is completed, turn off the heat, remove the canner from the heat (electric burner) if possible, and let the canner cool down naturally. (It is okay to leave the canner in place after you have turned off the burner.) While it is cooling, it is also de-pressurizing. Do not force cool the canner. Forced cooling may result in food spoilage. Cooling the canner with cold running water or opening the vent port before the canner is fully depressurized are types of forced cooling. They will also cause loss of liquid from jars and seal failures. Force cooling may also warp the canner lid. Even after a dial gauge canner has cooled until the dial reads zero pounds pressure, be cautious in removing the weight from the vent port. Tilt the weight slightly to make sure no steam escapes before pulling it all the way off. Newer canners will also have a cover lock in the lid or handle that must release after cooling before the lids are twisted off. Do not force the lid open if the cover locks are not released. Manufacturers will provide more detailed instructions for particular models. Depressurization of older canner models without dial gauges should be timed. Standard size heavy-walled canners require about 30 minutes when loaded with pints and 45 minutes when loaded with quarts. Newer thin-walled canners cool more rapidly and are equipped with vent locks that are designed to open when the pressure is gone. These canners are depressurized when the piston in the vent lock drops to a normal position. Some of these locks are hidden in handles and cannot be seen; however, the lid will not turn open until the lock is released. 9. After the canner is completely depressurized, remove the weight from the vent port or open the petcock. Wait 10 minutes; then unfasten the lid and remove it carefully. Lift the lid with the underside away from you so that the steam coming out of the canner does not burn your face. 10. Using a jar lifter, remove the jars one at a time, being careful not to tilt the jars. Carefully place them directly onto a towel or cake cooling rack, leaving at least one inch of space between the jars during cooling. Avoid placing the jars on a cold surface or in a cold draft. 11. Let the jars sit undisturbed while they cool, from 12 to 24 hours. Do not tighten ring bands on the lids or push down on the center of the flat metal lid until the jar is completely cooled. 12. Remove ring bands from sealed jars. Ring bands can be washed and dried and put away for using another time. Put any unsealed jars in the refrigerator and use first. 13. Wash jars and lids to remove all residues. 14. Label jars and store in a cool, dry place out of direct light. 15. Dry the canner, lid and gasket. Take off removable petcocks and safety valves; wash and dry thoroughly.

MagpieFairy | 07-12-2009 02:01 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaCannin (Post 1813493) I usually remove my food as soon as it drops to zero. More than likely I have another load waiting to go in!
I have 2 canners so I can have one locked and loaded to go on after one comes off to cool. Was a very good decision to buy a second as it has saved me tons of time already this year.:ok:

thrifty_bob | 07-12-2009 02:13 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Its a very good post. I agree with 99% of it. My differences are that I also just wait for the pressure to get to zero (after canning at pressure for the proper time) before opening and removing the jars. The other thing is, that because the biggest expense in canning is the LID, not the cost of what goes in the jar (isn't that SILLY? They really should only cost a few cents each in bulk), I now only buy regular mouth quart jars, because you get double the soup for the same cost, and the regular sized lids cost 1/3 less than the wide mouth ones. My wife would cringe if she knew, but I also am very careful removing lids, and reuse them if they are still flat and in good shape. I've only had a couple that didn't seal from doing this, but I just recan those with another lid in the next batch or refigerate and use them up. I only use my pint and half-pint jars for things like condiments that would go bad in the fridge after opening because they get used up too slowly. Us ex Cost Accountants are pretty frugal, I know....

MagpieFairy | 07-12-2009 02:29 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaCannin (Post 1813559) I too have two canners, but my stove has odd placed burners. You can barely fit the canner and a small pot for the lids on one side. When I use two canners, I have to remove the canner from the stove and get the other one going, but still it had to heat up. With my old stove, I could fit both canners on the stove top and run both at the same time and have room on the back side for my hot water and lid pots.
That's how I have to do it, too. It just saves me having to wait for one canner to cool enough to reload it, which on some days REALLY counts!! I want an industrial stove with the same big burners all around. I hate this one big/3 little carp!

MagpieFairy | 07-12-2009 02:48 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaCannin (Post 1813576) A big stove and a huge 2nd kitchen with tons of counter space would do me just fine!
We're actually discussing buying a yurt set up to live/relax/sleep in and just let me have this house for food processing, gardening stuff and storage. I could totally see doing it..... we already have 2 refrigerators in here and a freezer in the out building.

LowDow | 07-12-2009 03:54 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Then I wipe the rims and outer threads with a damp paper towel, retrieve two lids from the boiling water with the magnetic wand, place the lids on the wiped jars, add the screw band and hand tighten about as hard as I am able.
Thanks TA.....I failed in my attempt to can venison once and think I might have had the lids too loose. I have been asking HOW tight to tighten the lids and this is the first time I got a straight answer. A simple question but no one would just answer HOW tight ! :s1: I also wonder would you tighten the lids this tight if you were raw packing meat?

simplelife | 07-12-2009 04:54 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaCannin (Post 1813586) Oh I almost forgot, we bought one of those propane stoves like Tech Guy's. I guess I should start using that!
Would using one of those 16 brick rocket stoves in the other thread work for canning? Tht would be really cheap way to go and not heat up the house. You could set up two of them on the cheap.

MagpieFairy | 07-12-2009 04:55 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by LowDow (Post 1813702) Thanks TA.....I failed in my attempt to can venison once and think I might have had the lids too loose. I have been asking HOW tight to tighten the lids and this is the first time I got a straight answer. A simple question but no one would just answer HOW tight ! :s1: I also wonder would you tighten the lids this tight if you were raw packing meat?
Yes... you want a secure contact between the lid and jar in order for the vacuum to form as the jar cools. If your lid is too loose, it will allow food/liquid to seep out around the top which can prevent a good seal from forming. Especially with meats as there will likely be at least a little grease in the contents and grease between your lid & jar certainly will not seal well. Hand tighten means tighten as close to as tight as you can by hand. :wink:

randymatt | 07-12-2009 04:57 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaCannin (Post 1813417) Wanna see pictures of the stew I canned last winter?
We're waiting...:yippee:...:biggrin:

TechGuy | 07-12-2009 05:02 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by MagpieFairy (Post 1813770) Yes... you want a secure contact between the lid and jar in order for the vacuum to form as the jar cools. If your lid is too loose, it will allow food/liquid to seep out around the top which can prevent a good seal from forming. Especially with meats as there will likely be at least a little grease in the contents and grease between your lid & jar certainly will not seal well. Hand tighten means tighten as close to as tight as you can by hand. :wink:
We learned this the hard way. My salsa was bleeding all over the canner. Just don't go overboard. We tighten until you hand slips when putting NORMAL pressure on the lid.

Twisted Avatar | 07-12-2009 05:22 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Great info!!! Thanks 2 everybody!!!

Merlin | 07-12-2009 05:57 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables The OP didn't include this step that MagpieFairy's did: Quote:
4. Turn the heat setting to its highest position. Heat until the water boils and steam flows freely in a funnel-shape from the open vent port or petcock. While maintaining the high heat setting, let the steam flow (exhaust) continuously for 10 minutes.
This supposedly makes sure that any air in the canner is vented and that the canner is completely filled with steam. Just how important is this step to assuring that the proper pressure and temperatures are reached? And, doesn't the choice of 10 psi or 15 psi depend on your elevation above sea level?

Twisted Avatar | 07-12-2009 06:06 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmm good :ok: T

farscott | 07-13-2009 02:01 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
This supposedly makes sure that any air in the canner is vented and that the canner is completely filled with steam. Just how important is this step to assuring that the proper pressure and temperatures are reached?
What I do is run a preheat step with the water in the canner and the top installed but with only two of the nuts secured while the dishwasher is sterilizing supplies. This allows the steam to start venting before the jars are installed. It also makes sure the heavy aluminum of both the canner body and top has come up to temperature at the same time, eliminating hydraulic locking of the canner and its lid when it is time to open the canner. I find that if I do this step, the time to get up to 10psi (I am about 500' ASL) is considerably reduced. This came in handy when I ran five batches of beef stew through one canner in one day; we canned for close to nine hours with 45 minutes at 10 psi for each batch. I am now looking at one of the All American sterilizers to do my jar and band prep as I can run it right next to the pressure canner. I think it would also be quite handy to be able to have a sterilizer that can run on just about any heat source. It appears that the body of the sterilizers and pressure canners are identical; the differences are in the lids and internal accessories. So, with the purchase of a few spare parts, I might be able to double my number of canners and/or sterilizers.

brewer | 08-17-2009 06:11 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Canning lids...we have a large cache. Handy barter item and like ammo the price goes up every season. Anecdotal info Some have reported you can successfuly recycle lids by soaking them in a baking soda solution also.. Reports of unused lids that are at least 10+ years old still perform...apparently they don't dry out. Good luck

silverblood | 08-17-2009 07:54 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaCannin (Post 1813586) Oh I almost forgot, we bought one of those propane stoves like Tech Guy's. I guess I should start using that!
I have a three burner "Expedition Stove" that I got at Costco. That stove is well made and it works great. It puts out a lot more heat than my natural gas stove does. I used it once for canning, but it's too far from the kitchen to be convenient. I don't have a sink and prep area near where the propane stove is. I'm not brave enough, like Tn...Andy, to use a propane stove or turkey fryer burner inside my house.

silverblood | 08-17-2009 08:14 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by Twisted Avatar (Post 1813404) Then I wipe the rims and outer threads with a damp paper towel, retrieve two lids from the boiling water with the magnetic wand, place the lids on the wiped jars, add the screw band and hand tighten about as hard as I am able.
This goes counter to ever single book and reference I have on canning. "Finger tight" is the wording must often used to describe how hard to close the lids. I've really been struggling with this. If I tightened "about as hard as I am able" I doubt I'd be able to open the jar again without a hammer. :biggrin: Everything I've canned that has low-viscosity liquid in it (watery) has lost 1/4 to 1/3 of it's liquid by the time it's done. The lids have always sealed, so I haven't worried about the fact that a good one to one and a half inches of food is exposed above the liquid line. I figure I'll eat these experiments up within a year. I've heard that with long-term storage food exposed above the liquid line will turn brown, although will still be edible. Curiously, I have never had a liquid loss problem with high-viscosity items. I have made 48 pints of chunky jalepeno-tomato-onion salsa in the past year (we eat it constantly), and I've never lost even a tiny bit of liquid. But my stews, beans, peas, corn, and most of my pickles (jalepeno and okra, primarily) all seem to lose some. The Ball Blue Book and other sources all recommend "finger-tight", whatever that means, and they warn that if you overtighten, the air won't escape during cooling and the vacuum won't form and the lid won't reliably seal. If someone would just publish the lid closing force in inch-pounds of torque, that would be great. Barring that, I'd love to hear successful canners describe how hard they turn the lids in a way that I can translate. "Finger tight" hasn't been doing the trick for me.

silverblood | 08-17-2009 08:18 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Other things I do differently than what the article says.... I can at 10 pounds (my gauge reads 10 to 12), as that is what all the recipes I have advise. I have an All-America 930 canner and I use the 10 lb hole on the weight. I open the canner as soon as the pressure drops.

RealityCheck | 08-17-2009 08:24 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Remember that there should be 1 inch head space above the food when canning. So fill up the stockpot with the maximum number of pints you are able to put into your pressure canner with water that comes just up to one inch below the rim of the pint jar.
I always leave an inch of headspace inside the jar. In the pressure canner the water comes up until its only inch deep from the bottom of the rack, not one inch from the top of the jar. That seems awfully deep considering the steam is hotter then the water.

silverblood | 08-17-2009 08:27 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables RealityCheck, the author of the article was talking about the measured height of food in her cooking pot to ensure that she could fill x number of jars to within 1 inch of the top of the rim. She wasn't referring to the amount of water in the canner. In other words, if you're going to can 17 pints, then fill up a pint jar to within an inch of the top 17 times* and pour it into your stock pot. Then measure that amount of water. Now you know how much food you need in your pot to fill 17 pints. * note: Of course it would make sense to measure the amount of water in one jar filled to the proper fill level, then multiply that by the number of jars you want to can, pour that many fluid ounces of water into your stockpot, and note the height.

Tn...Andy | 08-17-2009 08:32 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables RC, I believe what he is doing is measuring the amount in his stock pot that the number of jars his canner will hold for a hot pack method.....in other words, his canner holds 17 pints, so he fills his stock pot with 17 pints of water, marks it somehow, and knows then how much veggies/stew/chili/whatever to make up that will fill his 17 jars WHEN they go into the canner. I just use the by guess and by golly method......ahahhaaa...if I don't have enough to fill all the jars the canner will hold, so be it.....and if I have more, that's what for dinner tonight.... As to the depth of water in the canner, you are correct....couple inches is all you need to make steam, which is what does the real work inside. Edit: And Silverblood is faster on the trigger than me !

silverblood | 08-17-2009 08:36 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables By the way, I think the author of the article is a "she", not a "he". I could be wrong, but she signed the article "Regards, - Holly", and I have met precious few (i.e., zero) guys named Holly. It seems to be a girl name.

RealityCheck | 08-17-2009 08:41 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables OK I get it :)

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thorgrim | 08-18-2009 01:34 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables I too am curious about how tight to tighten the lids. I've canned a few pickles and other high acid foods with no problems but I am going to be canning over 100lbs of beef this fall and am a little worried I might screw it up. Strength can vary quite a bit form one person to another. "Finger tight," whatever that means, to an average woman is going to be quite a bit different when we are talking about a strong man. If I was to tighten the lids "About as tight as I am able" I think the jars would explode or something and if they didn't there would be no way to get the lids off after.

CrufflerJJ | 08-18-2009 03:18 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Quote:
Originally Posted by thorgrim (Post 1874210) I too am curious about how tight to tighten the lids. I've canned a few pickles and other high acid foods with no problems but I am going to be canning over 100lbs of beef this fall and am a little worried I might screw it up. Strength can vary quite a bit form one person to another. "Finger tight," whatever that means, to an average woman is going to be quite a bit different when we are talking about a strong man. If I was to tighten the lids "About as tight as I am able" I think the jars would explode or something and if they didn't there would be no way to get the lids off after.
When pressure canning stuff, I don't grunt down the lids as tight as I can. I'd guess that I probably do it "medium strength". You want the lids tight enough to be in good contact with the jar rim as the pressure drops (so the lid seals), but you also want the lid loose enough that air in the headspace section can escape during the high pressure phase of the canning cycle. If the lid is grunted down too hard, I suspect the headspace air might not be able to escape during processing, leading to a lack of vacuum inside the jar (giving you unsealed lids). A bigger source of screwed up jars in my case has been overfilled jars. Another good way of ruining a canner load of jars (OK, maybe not ruining, but not getting good seals) is to depressurize the canner by venting it after the processing time. I've learned to allow the canner to cool down on its own, let the pressure gauge slowly drop to zero, then remove the weight, wait another minute or so, THEN remove the lid.

thorgrim | 08-18-2009 06:17 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables OK, thanks. I sort of thought it had to be a reasonable amount of pressure. Medium seems reasonable.

cigarlover | 08-27-2009 06:00 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Question on washing jars. I dont have a dishwasher, unless you want to call me the dishwasher. Anyway, best method for manually washing and sterilizing the jars? I just bought this house a couple weeks ago and when I was putting in a new 200 amp service I found a room downstairs that was probably for cold storage or something. Lots of mason jars in there too but they are old and loaded with dust.

woodman | 09-07-2009 04:30 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables I just canned about 20 jars of kale with bacon. I tightened the lids firmly but not severely. The only problem I've noticed is there seems to be liqiud loss from the jars. They have sealed and I believe they will be ok to store but in many there is almost 1\3 air space and I know I had them full to within 1\2 inch of the top. The canner is also full of nice smelling juice. What have I done wrong? Interesting that even when they are almost cool they will still boil within.

Tn...Andy | 09-07-2009 04:57 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Some loss is normal and unavoidable, I think..... BUT: 1. Double check the processing pressure ( and your gauge if you use one )....you may be too high.....sounds like you may be running 15lbs when you should be using 10. 2. Make SURE you don't remove the weight or lid until there is absolutely ZERO pressure....the sudden removal of either will cause a sudden pressure drop on the outside of the jar, the lid will lift slightly and dump some liquid to try to equalize the pressure. Quote:
Originally Posted by CrufflerJJ (Post 1874348) A bigger source of screwed up jars in my case has been overfilled jars. (Reason: head space ( air ) is required.....air will compress, liquid will not ...TnAndy) Another good way of ruining a canner load of jars (OK, maybe not ruining, but not getting good seals) is to depressurize the canner by venting it after the processing time. I've learned to allow the canner to cool down on its own, let the pressure gauge slowly drop to zero, then remove the weight, wait another minute or so, THEN remove the lid.
Good advice.....

woodman | 09-07-2009 06:53 PM
Re: Practical Lessons Learned From Home Canning of Meat and Vegetables Thanks Tn...A. I did pull the weight before the pressure was zero. Hasty to look at the tasty!

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