[Food] Storage – Canning

skippyreef · Coal Joined: Jul 26, 2008 Posts: 17

Thanks for the great advice on the lemon juice. I am going to the farmers market today to get a price on tomatoes and cucumbers for pickles. I am going to start with this and work from there.

In a way I think this is good and something we need to do. Humanity survived long before the advent of industrial farming and we survive as all of this fades into twilight. My main focus is to secure a futire for my children and to teach them that not all things that are good need come from the store.

Thankfully my grandmother is alive (she is 77) and she also knows a great deal about this stuff. In her wildest dreams she never expected me to be interested in canning food Smile

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1422

You are fortunate to still have your grandmother and her advice. Take advantage of it, and learn all you can from her. She should have much to share, having been born in the 1930's. My grandparents and parents are all gone now - there's a million quesions I should have asked and didn't. Now I get to learn things the hard way. You are indeed fortunate.
K

Plarin · Coal Joined: Aug 02, 2008 Posts: 19

Sorry to interrupt the flow of conversation, but I was planning on getting a Butterly #2418 Double Burner Stove. Assuming I bought it with the legs (not sure yet) would it hold up a a 23 quart canner just fine? Also, does that canner seem to be of okay quality?

Tucker · Tar Sands Joined: Jan 29, 2008 Posts: 62 Location: Orygun

kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1323

I've got the 21 quart version, 2 of them, actually.
they are of the highest quality.
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-George Orwell, 1984

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Plarin · Coal Joined: Aug 02, 2008 Posts: 19

Thanks, I think I'll go ahead and buy it.

Although, I heard from my dad dehydrating food is better than canning. It seems like canning is the way to go around here, but could someone teach me the relative merits of the two methods?

Ferretlover · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:30 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Storage – Canning

WWII Canning Poster
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TreeFarmer · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 26, 2007 Posts: 352

Did any of you ever can any Potatoes? I'm wondering if that would be a good way to insure they last until next year.

Thanks;

TF

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1422

TF,
We canned up about 200 pounds of spring potatoes last year. I don't have a root cellar (YET!) and I knew they wouldn't keep over the summer well, so I just canned them up. It was pretty easy.

You need to peel them and cut them into smaller chunks (about the size you'd use for potato salad - 1/2 to 1 inch) to can them, since they're dense and canning in larger chunks isn't safe. Boil the chunks for a couple minutes, drain off the liquid, and hot pack them in jars. Pour boiling water over them and add salt (1 tsp per quart). Process them in a pressure canner - 35 minutes for pints, 40 minutes for quarts.

They were great to have on hand, though. I'd recommend it. I turned them into pan fried potatoes (just enough hot oil in the pan to brown them - they're already cooked), potato soup, mashed potatoes, parsley potatoes and potato salad. About the only thing you can't make out of them are baked potatoes Smile

And they're quick. I'll can them up every time we plant them from now on.
Kathy

Tucker · Tar Sands Joined: Jan 29, 2008 Posts: 62 Location: Orygun

Gothor · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 14, 2008 Posts: 89

darwinsdog · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 27, 2008 Posts: 170

Good advice. My wife & I have been canning since the mid-'70s following the advice in the Ball & Kerr pamplets, & botulism ain't killed us yet. Common sense prevails. Nothing fancy. Store summer for later, when it's cold. Enjoy the process, the company, & the produce. It's only natural..

Gothor · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 14, 2008 Posts: 89

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1422

kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1323

Wal-Mart has 10 pound bags of chicken-thighs and drumsticks, $4.98.
I picked up 2 bags. Each bag usually has about 10 pieces.
I remove the skins, save them for a bacon substitute and use the grease for cooking.
Put the meat in a big pot to boil. When done, the meat gets picked off the bones.
Bones go to the hens (I don't tell them what it is). In a few days the bones will be picked up, crushed between cinder blocks, tossed on the compost heap.
Meat goes into canning jars, cover with the stock. Remaining stock also goes into jars.

Results:
bone meal for the compost heap
meat treat for the chickens
about 2 pounds of chicken bacon
cooking grease for a couple months
about a gallon of chicken stock
about 12 pounds of meat

with fuel and lids, cost is about a buck a pound for meat in a jar
_________________
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984

______________
Accept the Facts.