Pressure canning meats and vegetables

[kelbro]

I've been water-bath canning tomatoes for years. Unfortunately water-bath is not good enough for many vegetables or meat.

I'm no prepper but I've decided to pull out my pressure canner and start putting up some meat and some garden veggies.

I'm not bold enough to venture beyond the tested recipes but I'm always interested in other's methods.

Anybody else pressure canning?

 

[simon1]

Yup.

Step-daughter just bought SWMBO a nice pressure cooker to go with the old one she has.

 

[Old Hippie]

I'm not bold enough to venture beyond the tested recipes but I'm always interested in other's methods.
Anybody else pressure canning?

We have a large pressure canner from All American. Lovely great heavy thing that will take up to 19 quart jars. Unfortunately it will not take that many litre jars which are just a bit taller. That's had me buying and scrounging quart jars over the years, but totally worth it. Try explaining to a border guard why you have a pickup full of cases of glass canning jars heading into Canada...

We use it on a large propane burner outside.

My wife also uses her Instant Pot Max (which will hit 15 pounds) for canning tiny batches of things four pints/half litres at a time.

We tend to can a lot of meat because it's good for many recipes (though not all), and once it's sealed it does not require power to keep it frozen. Living at the end of a long electric line means we always have to think about what happens when the power goes out next time. Somebody farts down the valley and everybody up here's in the dark for an hour.

My suggestion is to get at least one copy (whatever is the current edition) of The Ball Blue Book. They've changed the formatting in the most recent edition we have, away from simple canning to more fancy recipes. Frankly that's not why I can -- but I guess modern folks need to be told what to do with a jar of canned tomatoes. That's why I suggest finding a couple of older editions. Keep in mind that you should always rely on safety information and processing times in the newest edition.

I believe our meat canning technique came out of the Blue Book: Chunk up the meat, pack loosely into a hot sterile quart or pint jar, crank on the lid and pressure-can that sucker for 90 minutes at 15 pounds. Makes its own gravy. We can beef, pork, mutton and any game that comes our way.

Lately I've been bulking up our supply of dried onions. We now have six new 2-quart Ball jars full of dried onions, about half way done. We tend to dry a lot of veggies instead of canning them, mainly because a lot of canned vegetables end up tasting...well...like canned vegetables. Onions, corn, beans, peppers, celery -- all good dried.

Veggies like peas and broccoli, as well as greens of all kinds we tend to freeze in spite of our situation. We also freeze most of the red and green sweet peppers, all the jalapenos. We dry poblano and most other hot peppers.

Don't forget pickling, either. A good big batch of piccalilli will use up an amazing amount of garden truck. (Plus as an acid food you can still waterbath can it.)

Now go get some editions of the Ball Blue Book, and also check in with a few extension programs in your region.

O.H.

 

[kelbro]

Thanks. Yes, the idea of canning meat intrigues me and is a more attractive idea than buying another freezer. I've had good success with pickles and tomatoes. Did 15 pints of carrots and potatoes yesterday. Dehydrated some of my first fruit zucchini too. My shelf is looking good.

 

[TexLaw]

I've done some pressure cannon--not nearly as much as I've done water bath canning, but more than a little. I've yet to can meat just because I'm a bit concerned with how limited I am with using it (but also just haven't had much reason as of yet).

I did once have great ambitions about canning vegetables, but (as mentioned) canned vegetables aren't all that fabulous. Yeah, they're canned vegetables. Canned pickled veggies can be great, but you can water bath those.

One of my favorite things to pressure can is stock. I'll make a big ol' batch of stock and then can it. Not only does it no longer take up freezer space, but I can grab some at a moment's notice without having to thaw it. The canning process doesn't affect the flavor all that much, either.

Another upside of the pressure canner is just having a great, big pressure cooker!

 

[Rauland04]

I have pressure canned venison. Cube it to about 1" and pack the jars, leaving about 1" head space. Add one bullion cube to each jar. DO NOT add water. I believe it was 15# for 90 minutes for pint jars, but please verify.

It's tasty on toast or in a stroganoff or straight from the jar.