permaculture forums

organic homesteading - natural living

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
November 20, 2008, 02:40:44 PM

Permaculture Forums | substance | cooking | Topic: Any fellow canners out there?

« previous next »

Pages: [1]

Author

Any fellow canners out there?

(Read 119 times)

Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

July 14, 2008, 07:13:18 AM

I have been in full swing canning this month. Green beans, tomatoes, some potatoes and also chicken and stock. I really love to see rows of home canned food stocking the pantry. prior to this year I only canned things I could water bath and froze anything that needed pressure canning. spurred partly by the loss of electricity due to the ice storm this winter (and facing the potential loss of all my frozen food) This spring I stepped up and bought a pressure canner. It really has proved to be simple and rewarding. I was always a little intimidated by the thought of pressure canning but now I see it really is no big deal. What is in your canner this month?


	Logged

Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1338

July 14, 2008, 10:30:48 AM

Leah, have you done much canning with apple juice instead of sugar?


	Logged

Susan Hoke
Posts: 36

July 14, 2008, 02:07:33 PM

Quote from: Leah Sattler on July 14, 2008, 07:13:18 AM

Since I don't have a pressure canner I'm looking for a good used one, an All American would be a wonderful find) I've only been canning pickles, tomatoes & jam. A neighbor told me she used a steam canner for all her canning. That may be too risky.


	Logged

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."

— Eeyore, from A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh

Susan Hoke
Posts: 36

July 14, 2008, 02:08:53 PM

Quote from: paul wheaton on July 14, 2008, 10:30:48 AM

Leah, have you done much canning with apple juice instead of sugar?

Hi Paul,

Do you have any recipes or pointers? Apple Juice & Beets sounds like a good combo.


	Logged

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."

— Eeyore, from A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh

Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

July 15, 2008, 07:34:57 AM

paul-I have never canned with apple juice but I don't can alot of anything that might need sugar, just some jelly. thats a great thoguh though. the store bought jelly I prefer is all fruit. I'll have to look up some recipes. I knwo that the sugar levels must be adequate to insure that the pectin can do its job, I think it would just be a matter of equating the sugar amount with a concentrated juice amount. I have hydrometer so I should experiment to find out what it takes to get an equal amount of sugar using apple juice.

globe woman - I am very happy with my cheapo presto canner. it was around 50$ brand new. I would suggest also you buy a canner with a petcock and not a dial gage. apparently it is getting harder and harder to find someone local to check your gage every year. Oh and no, no, no, on the steam canner! There has been plenty of research done to negate the safety of all those old canning methods. Yeah someone will say "well I haven't died yet". Just remember its not the thousand times that botulism doesn't grow it is the one time it does!


	Logged

Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1338

July 15, 2008, 08:13:03 AM

I have no experience with apple juice recipes. I do know that when I buy canned fruit, I now focus exclusively on the stuff that is organic and is canned with fruit juice (nearly always apple or pear juice).


	Logged

hope
Posts: 2

July 28, 2008, 11:20:16 PM

See http://www.homefamily.net/index.php?/categories/foodnutrition/canning5257/

I don't know about the quality of her advice, but it was encouraging. I think the healthiest alternatives to sugar would be apple juice, stevia or local honey.

also
http://solutions.psu.edu/Food_Preparation_Safety_Storage_144.htm

I considered buying a chest freezer - I love frozen smoothies - but then it would be just one more electricity dependent appliance I'd have...


	Logged

Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

July 29, 2008, 06:33:45 AM

I love my chest freezer. I would rather be dependent on electricity than be dependent on someone else for my food! It saves me money too. what meat I can't provide myself I can buy on sale and freeze until use although I am making it a point to not put any more meat in the freezer than I could can up in a reasonable amount of time if the electricity goes out.


	Logged

Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

kelda
Posts: 263

August 01, 2008, 11:15:47 AM

So Leah, with the green beans and potatoes, is there plenty of salt to keep it preserved? I'm trying to get my head around veggies that don't have pectin. Or is it the pressure canning method that allows the low pectin?


	Logged

Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

August 02, 2008, 05:44:55 AM

pectin is used when making jelly to solidify the mixture. sSme fruits have naturally high levels of pectins, like apples, and some need added pectin. The pectin does not preserve it and neither does the salt. Sugar in jelly does have a hand in preserving but the major "preserver" in jellys and fruits is the acid. Pickles are acid because of the vinager used and can also be processed in a boiling wter bath. Botulism cannot grow in an acid enviroment. Sometimes a form of acid needs to be added to fruits, usually in the way of lemon juice or a prepared powdered acid mix specifically marketed for canning.

Low acid items must be processed in a pressure canner. They are preserved by heating the contents to a high enough degree to kill botulism spores. A temperature that cannot be achieved by simply boiling water. As the jars begin to cool a vaccuum is formed and the jars seal, preventing contamination by bacteria, molds and especially important, botulism spores. So any icky bugs that were in the jar are killed and the jar is sealed preventing any enviromental contamination that would decay or spoil the food and allows it to sit at room temperature for an indefinite period of time with out spoiling just like canned food from the gocery store.


	Logged

Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1338

August 02, 2008, 08:56:48 AM

Leah,

So if I were to can .... blackberries. I would think that if I canned them in water, (I thought up until now) they would be okay, but would probably taste lame. But if I can them in apple juice, they would can just as well, but taste much better.

Now I have never done either of these things, so I'm doing a lot of speculating.

My thinking is that blackberries don't have a lot of acid. (not really sure about this)

I always thought the number 1 reason for sugar (in this case, apple juice) is that once the jar is opened, you need to use the fruit right away or else it will start spoiling right away. But once the stuff inside the jar is sterile, it will keep for years until opened.

So ... are a lot of my assumptions errant?


	Logged

Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

August 03, 2008, 05:25:39 AM

blackberries are considered acid and can be canned in boiling water bath. keep in mind however that whatever you can must be at the peak of ripeness and maybe even slightly underripe, overripe fruit begins to loose its acidity quickly. here are the reccomendations for canning various berries.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/berries_whole.html
the syrup isn't neccessary but helps to retain color and flavor.

Here is the reccomendations for apple juice. http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/apple_juice.html

The blackberries should be processed for 15 minutes and the apple juice 5 minutes. The rule of thumb is use the longest processing time for what ever ingredient is included in the recipe. So that would be 15 minutes in this case. I don't see any reason why apple juice couldn't be used as the syrup.


	Logged

Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

August 03, 2008, 05:34:23 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNgDDE7S3FI this is good initiation. Her canner uses a different weight gage than I have on my presto 16 qt canner, mine gently rocks to keep pressure it doesn't "jiggle". Be sure to read and follow the instructions that come with your canner.


« Last Edit: August 03, 2008, 05:37:43 AM by Leah Sattler »	Logged

Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

August 10, 2008, 06:40:42 AM

I just did a quick jar count and I have canned around 80 pints and quarts combined so far. I really need to get some more green beans going. I planted another bed with them using my old standby yellow wax beans that have been so reliable for me. After having 3 rather dismal yeilds when trying out other varietys I just went back to what works. Its nice to see the pantry well stocked.


	Logged

Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

Pages: [1]

Permaculture Forums \| substance \| cooking \| Topic: Any fellow canners out there?	« previous next »

Jump to:

[richsoil.com home] [lawn care]

[flea control] [cast iron]