Oven Canning
 

Hi All

Been lurking for a while...didn't feel I had anything important to add until now.

I just had a conversation with a neighbor about canning. She was explaining oven canning to me and it sounds too good to be true. I have not taste tested any yet but heres the process. She took venison round steak and cubed it up and browned' it slightly in a little olive oil with a few cloves of garlic and some onion. Then she put it into canning jars and split the juice between the jars and topped them up with water(1/2 inch from the lip). Next, all the jars are sealed just like for canning and then they are set in to a big square roasting pan in a cold oven. The oven is turned on to 250 degrees and set to turn off 4 hours later. Allow everything to cool slowly on its own and presto - canned meat with a long shelf life(supposedly)!

Anyone ever hear of this, seems it was a common practice in the olden days ( like when TN-Andy was young)......just kidding Andy.

Sounds like even a novice like me could can meat for preps with this method and in small batches. My venison jercky gets eaten to quick.

BP

Re: Oven Canning
 

And I thought what a terrible pilot musta bin a horrible accident...

Timely survival prep post :wink:

Re: Oven Canning
 

Never heard of it, but can't say it "won't" work......but sounds sorta "ify".....

One thing about canned meat, if you don't do it right, it's not hard to smell a bad bottle when you open it....in fact, bad ones sometimes open themselves in a rather explosive manner :D

I guess the one I would be worried about was the bottle that just had a "little botulism" in it.....ahahahaaaaa.....

Talked to my wife, and her first reaction was "would the jars take that kind of dry heat ? "

......thus, we turned to our friend Google:

http://www.pickyourown.org/cannersnotrecommended.htm

Oven-canning is extremely hazardous. The oven canning method involves placing jars in an oven and heating. In oven canning, product temperatures never exceed the boiling point because the jars are not covered. It is, therefore, not safe to use for low-acid products (e.g. meats, most vegetables) which require temperatures higher than 212 F.
Because this process fails to destroy the spores of Clostridium botulinum, it can cause the food to become toxic during storage. Also, canning jars are not designed for intense dry heat and may explode resulting in serious cuts or burns.


http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extnews/ask...nning/4573.htm

Oven-canning is extremely hazardous. When you can food it is important to know and control temperature. With oven-canning the temperature will vary according to accuracy of the oven regulator and how heat circulates. The dry heat penetrates food jars very slowly. Oven-canning can be dangerous regardless of brand of oven, jar, cap or lid you use. Jars may explode, wrecking the oven and seriously cutting or burning someone. Most important, the temperature of the food in the jars during oven-canning is not high enough to destroy dangerous bacteria.

All the ".edu" sites I glanced at said about the same thing....don't do it.....but you have to take into consideration that they all pretty much get their info from the same source at the USDA.....which doesn't make it wrong....but doesn't mean it's "approved" either....

And yet, I also find a book out there called "The Lorain Method of Oven Canning"....but no description of what it involves.....5 frns on 2 different web sites.....maybe you spend 5 bucks to learn how, or it tells you on page one "don't do this at home"....ahahahaaaaaa

So, my bottom line would be "I" wouldn't do it.....pressure canning simply ISN'T that hard to do, and pretty much fool proof.....when it comes to potential food poisoning, I'm gonna stay conservative.

You prepare the jars in the same manner, brown the meat ( if you want, or not ) fill with juice and water to within 1/2" of jar rim, then simply stick them in a pressure canner, raise to 10lbs (15 for higher altitudes ) for 60 min. for pints, 90 for quarts...(1/2 gallon jars not recommended ).....takes about 2 hours total for a run by the time you heat up to pressure, and cool down to open the canner.....it's really no big deal to can anything.....veggies only take 20-30 minutes at pressure.....

Re: Oven Canning
 

I'm with Andy here. It is not safe. The oven temp will vary according to the limits on the thermostat. Canning meat requires a constant 'high' temp to assure all the nasties are killed, thus the pressure of the canner, to allow water to reach a higher temperature than boiling. Pressure canners are the way to go. They are money well spent. :smokin: