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Post by hefferman1 on Jul 29, 2012 20:34:52 GMT -5
Well this year we have three more mouths to feed than we planned for. Family members needed to have a home in a safe environment. Great grand nieces, and nephew have moved to the farm. That means our original plans have to be expanded this year.
We have already canned about 30 quarts of the green beans. That is about 1/3 of what I want to have canned. We have canned Blueberry jams, Blackberry jams, and Cherry preserves. We are now done with the jams and such.
Our potatoes are ready to be dug up, as is our onions, and the sweet potatoes are not far behind.
The Tomatoes should be a bumper crop if the plants are not too big and fall down. We have lost a couple of plants this way this year. There should be more tomatoes than we know what to do with.
The corn doesn't look great, the dry weather and then too much rain has affected it some.
Overall I think our gardening and canning is ahead of schedule.
Do any of you also can foods?
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Post by avordvet on Jul 30, 2012 4:09:26 GMT -5
Oh yeah, grew up doing it and have taught the wife over the past few years.
If everyone here hasn't gotten into canning 'ya better get on the ball, this is a good way to stretch your budgets. Believe it or not almost all canning is not with a pressure cooker... Its a boiling or hot water bath, the only time a pressure cooker comes out is for meats and really high acidic content items.
The heat has really been stressing the garden and we have been canning stuff as it comes off the vine in smaller batches this year, just did some Roma Tomatoes (whole), Regular tomatoes (whole and sauce), Jalapenos (whole and sliced), some Salsa, and some Potatoes.
Gonna be canning some sweet potatoes and some Apple Butter soon. The heat sucked with the Pickling Cucumbers, so we're gonna have to hit the local farmers market for those.
Also just canned a few pints of Deer Sausage patties for storage and we're gonna be doing some chicken halves very soon.
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Post by Cujo on Jul 30, 2012 6:20:30 GMT -5
I hope to try out on my new pressure cooker on some beef in a week or two. I have stocked up on dehydrated vegetables to get me thru the first 18 to 24 months.
This should give me one to two seasons to build up the canning inventory & cover any short falls I may run into while gardening.
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Post by midnightrider on Jul 30, 2012 6:47:11 GMT -5
Avordvet, I have always understood that Meats and LOW acidic products are to be pressure canned. Killing bacteria with the higher heat.
High acidic products take care of there own bacteria. = Hot bath.
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Post by hefferman1 on Jul 30, 2012 11:03:55 GMT -5
I have never canned meat, but want to. I think I will try it this summer.
We have my grandmother's book on canning, and it covers everything.
I also have another old book about food preservation that even goes into preserving with salting, and sugar.
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Post by avordvet on Jul 30, 2012 13:04:16 GMT -5
Avordvet, I have always understood that Meats and LOW acidic products are to be pressure canned. Killing bacteria with the higher heat. High acidic products take care of there own bacteria. = Hot bath. My bad, you are correct... sorta. Even most low acidic stuff can be done in a hot/boiling water bath, using add-ins such as salt, lemon juice, etc. to get the proper levels up. The meats are the most critical to pressure cook, almost everything else is done with a bath I don't usually go by memory when canning anyways, as that will get you dead if you do it wrong... I always refer to the guides, which I have a number of. I'll post a couple guides that I have later, and if anyone else has any good info, post away.
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Post by midnightrider on Jul 30, 2012 13:21:26 GMT -5
Only thing I can think of is when pressure canning is DO NOT GET SIDE TRACKED on another project at the same time! Big Mess
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Post by avordvet on Jul 30, 2012 13:31:18 GMT -5
Only thing I can think of is when pressure canning is DO NOT GET SIDE TRACKED on another project at the same time! Big MessGood point, Luckily most of the new cookers have multiple safety's, but once I start the processing, I am constantly monitoring the pressures/temps. I'm still looking for one of the old school, big pressure cookers for a good price.
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Post by hefferman1 on Jul 31, 2012 11:05:00 GMT -5
Only thing I can think of is when pressure canning is DO NOT GET SIDE TRACKED on another project at the same time! Big MessLeaving a canner alone too long can cause very loud sounds and a big mess. One of the grand kids got hurt and mom left the canner alone too long once. Those things blow up real well.
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Post by midnightrider on Jul 31, 2012 15:55:53 GMT -5
Back eons ago when I was smaller ........and younger, mom got sidetracked and dinner got a little too hot and blew out the soft plug,(safety device) and we seen dinner all up in the air,ceiling cabinets,etc.etc.
Stay focused!
They can be dangerous, but only if you allow it.
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