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Loki
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Joined: Apr 08, 2006
Posts: 1298
Location: Cascadia
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 Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:54 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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| mercurygirl wrote: | | How about putting through a food mill after cooking? |
Not necessary. I just mash it a bit with a potato masher. The boiling will do most of the work.
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mercurygirl
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: 1287
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:13 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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| Loki wrote: | | mercurygirl wrote: | | How about putting through a food mill after cooking? |
Not necessary. I just mash it a bit with a potato masher. The boiling will do most of the work. |
Righto. But I meant to get around the peeling issue. I've done some great apple and pear butter in a crockpot without peeling, but some of the older apple varieties I speak of have quite chewy peels that don't disintegrate in cooking. Maybe that makes them good keepers. |
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careinke
Heavy Crude
Joined: Jan 01, 2007
Posts: 237
Location: Pacific Northwest
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| Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:59 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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We use one of Theese to peel our apples. They sell them at county fairs for $20. They are well made, fun and easy to use. Kids love to use them. One of my better purchases.
Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden) |
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SpringCreekFarm
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Mar 03, 2006
Posts: 926
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| Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:13 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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| bromius wrote: |
If I do need to use a pressure cooker/canner, how do you compensate for the fact that you're basically cooking what you're canning for an additional period of time without overcooking your food or turning it to mush? . |
Let the food cook in the jar. For example. When I can beef soup, I cook the meat and stock first and then add all the other stuff at the end. I bring the whole soup to a boil for a few minutes then pack it uncooked into the jars. Since the time for pints and quarts with beef is 90 minutes at 10lbs, the soup will cook in the jar. |
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MarkL
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Joined: Sep 13, 2004
Posts: 281
Location: US
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| Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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We've been making pickles, pickled okra, relish, hot sauce and salsa for years. We like our recipes so much better than the store bought versions.
We tried a few new items this year. We canned 14 quarts of pears, 14 quarts of applesauce and 7 quarts of green beans. The applesauce and pears are wonderful. Unfortunately, we had 100% failure with the green beans. The jars initially sealed but the contents went bad after a few weeks.
For everything we've done so far, we use a hot water bath and the info in the Ball book. We sterilize the jars and keep them and the lids hot until use. Has anyone else had problems with green beans? Would pressure canning be better for these? Was this discussed previously in this thread somewhere?
mark
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SpringCreekFarm
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Mar 03, 2006
Posts: 926
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| Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:42 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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As a rule of thumb, if it is acidic by nature such as apples, tomatoes, peaches or vinegar based pickling, then it is safe to use a water bath to can. If it is not you MUST use a pressure canner to can the food. Water bath canning cannot reach the temperatures required to kill the nasties but when the food is sufficiently acidic, the nasties cannot live in that anyway so it is not a problem.
Canned green beans are very easy to make, you just have to make sure you use a pressure canner. Best place to start is to start is right here. Please don't take my word for it. |
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PeakOiler
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Joined: Nov 18, 2004
Posts: 1126
Location: Central Texas
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:49 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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| SpringCreekFarm wrote: |
Canned green beans are very easy to make, you just have to make sure you use a pressure canner. Best place to start is to start is right here. Please don't take my word for it. |
Excellent reference SCF. Just bookmarked it. Thanks!
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PeakOiler
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Joined: Nov 18, 2004
Posts: 1126
Location: Central Texas
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:56 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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I decided NOT to can only two pint jars of green beans for the sake of efficiency. I'll just eat them fresh this time around. That is, I'll steam them in the SunOven. I sure am anxious to try that "All American" 15.5 quart pressure cooker/canner though.
A question for owners of the All American brand pressure cookers: The instructions say to lubricate the sealing edge with petroleum jelly (Vaseline)! Ewww! Isn't there a non-petroleum based lubricant one can use? What have you used? Would lard work?
The only petroleum jelly I have around here is in my tool box--for use in protecting battery terminals--and so it's contaminated with lead, and I wouldn't want to use that stuff on a cooking utensil anyway. Another reason for not canning today...
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Last edited by PeakOiler on Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:33 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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RuncornBridge
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Joined: May 29, 2008
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Location: UK
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Shannymara
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Joined: Oct 04, 2004
Posts: 5651
Location: Body in OK, Heart in TX
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:25 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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| RuncornBridge wrote: | | I've just found this Bottling (Canning) setup available in the UK, can any of you experts tell me if it's any good? I notice it doesn't mention what pressure it gets up to. |
It says it has 2 settings, 8PSI and 15PSI. I don't like or trust the plastic controls, and overall it doesn't look very robust. I think it would be fine for cooking, but for pressure canning I would not skimp. Sorry to disappoint...
Maybe someone has one of these and can vouch for it, but just looking at the photos and reading the description I would have to pass.
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PeakOiler
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Joined: Nov 18, 2004
Posts: 1126
Location: Central Texas
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:31 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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Instead of canning some green beans, I decided to steam them using the SunOven:
Last year, when I had nearly more green beans than I could eat before they would go bad, is when I could have canned some, but I hadn't purchased the pressure cooker/canner at that time.
I would suggest, however, that as an aid in reducing the amount of fossil-fuel based energy for canning, that one could use solar ovens for keeping the jars in boiling water prior to filling the jars with produce. Then use the stovetop or propane stand, etc, for the pressurizing step.
The SunOven shown in the background below contains a pot of boiling water large enough for four pint jars.
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SpringCreekFarm
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Mar 03, 2006
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:47 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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| PeakOiler wrote: |
A question for owners of the All American brand pressure cookers: The instructions say to lubricate the sealing edge with petroleum jelly (Vaseline)! Ewww! Isn't there a non-petroleum based lubricant one can use? What have you used? Would lard work? |
You don't have to put gobs of it on, just a thin film to help with getting the lid off when you're finished. I still have to pry mine some but it would be worse if I didn't lube it. I have a dedicated jar of Vaseline ( no terminals or arses allowed ) and there is hardly a dent in it for all the canning I've done. I usually lube mine once every 10 batches or so. |
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kpeavey
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Joined: Oct 04, 2004
Posts: 1315
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:32 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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| PeakOiler wrote: | A question for owners of the All American brand pressure cookers: The instructions say to lubricate the sealing edge with petroleum jelly (Vaseline)! Ewww! Isn't there a non-petroleum based lubricant one can use? What have you used? Would lard work?
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I think lard would eventually succumb to the heat. Lard is lipids, heat will break them down. If the surface was washed thoroughly each time, it could work. If the pot is left unattended and is able to reach high temperatures it could be a problem.
I have to wonder if mineral oil would be effective.
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smallpoxgirl
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Joined: Nov 08, 2004
Posts: 6309
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:37 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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| PeakOiler wrote: | | A question for owners of the All American brand pressure cookers: The instructions say to lubricate the sealing edge with petroleum jelly (Vaseline)! Ewww! Isn't there a non-petroleum based lubricant one can use? What have you used? Would lard work? |
Interesting! I got mine used and it didn't have any instructions. No wonder it's gotten so hard to open!
Yeah. I suspect lard or coconut oil would be fine. You might have to redo it more often than petroleum jelly. As KPeavey points out, it will break down over time.
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mercurygirl
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: 1287
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| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 1:27 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning |
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Does anyone have any idea what I can do with overcooked jam? I had no idea huckleberries had so much pectin!  It tastes good, but is kinda like rubber cement. I might have to heat it up just to get it out of the jar. Will simply thinning it down work? |
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