Canning Season.

[Farmette]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

canning "season" to me is when you have a batch big enough to can you do it even if it is left overs from supper so it doesn't go to waste. it is feeding my family from one season to the next... without buying everything at the store. which I couldn't, as it is, since we seem to have sensitivities to onions and dyes. it is the security of knowing there is food prepared enough to make something without going to the store for even one ingredient if I don't have to. I hate Winter and snowy roads. I don't go out if I don't have to. If I do it is so early that no one is open yet... not enough to justify a stop at a big box store with only one cashier there on their 30 registers, grrrr!, I think this year with the hurricanes it is leaving what is there for someone who can't or doesn't grow their own and it would be wasteful to not can/freeze what is still out there to get us through the seasons until it is growing again next Summer. grapes for making grape juice today. I have 2 bushels of them. there is a bushel of beans in the cooler. I wish I could give them to one of you as I canned 3 bushels last week. I don't really need them.I think I have 40 quarts in the pantry.

If I wasn't so far away, I'd take you up on your offer of the beans! I totally agree about not wanting to go out on the snowy roads and the wonderful feeling you get from knowing you can make dinner with what you have at home.

[Farmette]

Originally Posted by Worth1

No they are good.
Spiced with sugar cinnamon and cloves.

I thought the term "pickled" meant vinegar, etc. Yes I would like the spiced too. One thing about my canned peaches was, I think they were too soft. So, maybe I need to can them just at the early stage of ripeness.

Taboule, livin' on the edge with those 2 colors of lids! Looks delicious, and kudos to you for learning how to put food up in alternate ways. Good knowledge to have!

Worth, canning season to me is 1 1/2 - 2 months of high to moderate kitchen living but then it relaxes into the occasional stint after that. Right now it's eased into beans, squash, and okra (plus watching the fall crops and cleaning the tired plants out - not canning, I know, but it all feels connected).

I love that I can can! To me it feels like a sort of freedom or just self- sufficiency, even though it takes a lot of people/families to even allow a home garden. (Off topic: worth I'm sure that you could make some awesome supports for your garden even if you couldn't get good materials, but if I couldn't purchase t-posts, EMT, cattle panels and much more for my beds and trellises, life would sure be a lot harder. We could rig something up and it would probably be fun, too, but it would take a lot of time that we don't have. These things all take manufacturing and marketing, so my point is that no matter how much I get out of my garden, I'm never *really* self sufficient. Not to mention seeds to get new crops or varieties started. ) Ok, back to topic

I'll put up chicken in batches of 10-12 birds if my farmer has them - not seasonally, just once in a while.
Turkey is one of DH's favorites so I try to buy as many as I can fit in the freezer plus 4 to can during the season, so that he can enjoy it later. I don't think of it as hoarding but just stocking up; trying to buy organic turkey here outside Thanksgiving to Christmas is a non-starter, but during the season I can find it for 1.99/lb. I just checked and still have 9 pints left so I may only can 3 birds this year, we'll see. For me it will depend largely on price.

Broth: regularly, all year long as needed or when my freezer's full of bird parts and soup bones. I both freeze and can broth and use it daily ( I cook all meals and those from scratch / whole foods, but many days lunch is a salad).

I do tend to make big batches as you do, but when there is too much soup for even lunch leftovers, I'll freeze it because it's simpler.

As far as reusing jars during the year, for me that's my freezer broth jars and Fido fermenting jars, as those are always ongoing.

Overall I think that each household will be a little bit (or a lot) different but that it's good to 'put some by'. And even though we aren't preppers, it seems like common sense to be prepared for an emergency or hardship. Life happens sometimes whether we're ready or not.

[Farmette]

Thinking more about this, I believe that, for me, canning brings a feeling of peace and self sufficiency. I have many good memories of my mother, grandmother and aunts canning in the basement of the apartment building in Chicago that my grandparents owned. It was a huge building, we all lived there...including my grandparents on my father's side. It was just after WWII and we had a large Victory garden on the corner of Peterson and Western Aves....so alot of produce to can.

[Farmette]

Seriously, Md, I didn't copy your "self-sufficiency" idea. I was just typing when you wrote your post. It sounds as if you are really into canning...how long do you process the turkey; must be a pressure cooker, right?

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by MdTNGrdner

Taboule, livin' on the edge with those 2 colors of lids! Looks delicious, and kudos to you for learning how to put food up in alternate ways. Good knowledge to have!

no, living on the edge is re-using the lids. I do it all the time. the rubber looks good or not. if not I toss them. if so... oh horrors... I re use them.

[coronabarb]

Yes there is vinegar in pickled peaches, as well as sugar which balances out the acid. Peaches come out better if on the firm side when canned. Here's the recipe my friend used;

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch...ingpeaches.pdf

[Worth1]

I reuse the lids for my refrigerator picking.
Worth

[Worth1]

Anybody using the string stick method I use to store rings.
It works marvelously.
As soon as they are taken off I dry them and use little mineral oil/iso 46 hydraulic fluid on them to keep them from rusting.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Anybody using the string stick method I use to store rings.
It works marvelously.
As soon as they are taken off I dry them and use little mineral oil/iso 46 hydraulic fluid on them to keep them from rusting.

yes! I do. thanks so much for the idea. It keeps my counter less cluttered as I am canning. thank you so much!

Lol Farmette, I know you didn't; you posted right after I did! Sorry, I couldn't answer earlier.
I think the turkey is m at 10lbs pressure, but not 100% sure - it's the recipe in my All American manual. Really good used last minute in a skillet meal or with rice or soup!
Ok, I just went and looked it up - good thing too, I was wrong! It's 65m with bones or 75m without bones (pints). If you wanted quarts it would be 75m with bones or 90m without. This is raw pack, without any liquid added. I tend to do boneless in pints but have done both - it's all good!

Carol, you are too funny! I know some re-use lids in canning but so far I've just re-used them as leftover covers. I think I might try it your way next year... a seal's a seal, I reckon. And then I can join the Livin' On The Edge Club

Can you describe the string stick method? I have strung them before but usually just throw them in a big box.

[taboule]

>>> ... it would be 75m with bones or 90m without.

This is odd, I would have thought it would be the other way around, as it takes longer to get the material hot all all the way through when it has bones, same as when baking. Not challenging it of course ;-)

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by taboule

>>> ... it would be 75m with bones or 90m without.

This is odd, I would have thought it would be the other way around, as it takes longer to get the material hot all all the way through when it has bones, same as when baking. Not challenging it of course ;-)

The bones conduct heat into the middle.

Worth

When I first started canning meats I questioned this too - the only thing that makes sense to me is that the bones are porous and either heat through faster, or retain the heat better... of course I could be wrong on both counts!

[coronabarb]

The times are right but it should read 11# pressure with a dial gauge. If you are using weights, it would be 10#. Be sure to get those dial gauges tested as they can be way off.

Worth, I use a puppy leash to string mine on and hang them from a plastic stick on hook in the pantry. Sure beats sticking them in a bag, etc. And a seal is a seal until it isn't. I figure I put so much work into canning, I don't want a seal failure.