Juices

[coronabarb]

To each their own. I wish my daughter would get her juicer out and make more from our produce. I do like a little of everything and have really taken a liking to pickles since I started making them last year. Pickled radishes are awesome! I have some kohlrabi ready to pick that I might pickle too.

Dave, I took the MFP course last year with our University extension service and I love it. So much fun. I am helping test pressure canner gauges at our local farmers' market every Sat. and giving people ideas on what to do with all the produce. It is truly amazing what goes on here in Oregon compared to So Calif.

Tracy, our extension does not recommend the high heat turkey fryers. We use the camp chef double burner type stoves. I did find that the one I used last year to can tuna was keeping the pressure canner too high even on low setting...15 pounds instead of 11. So a gal grabbed a metal burner from an old stove in her garage that lifted the canner up just an inch or so. Then I was able to control the heat better. A diffuser plate might help as well. Btw, I have a crappy flat top electric stove in this house and insisted that we get a gas stove for the new home. Will have to get a propane tank just for the stove but I don't care...I hate electric.

[digsdirt]

Oh I agree Barb - to each his own. Our juice thing is a copy-cat V8 juice with tomatoes, squash, celery, cukes, and peppers. Been out of it for 3 months now and can't wait to get the stock built back up.

Yeah wife and I did the gauge testing and the phone question answering between class sessions. Love meeting and talking with all the home canners. And ditto on not using the turkey fryers unless you could find one with really great infinite heat control and I have never seen one available. 12,000 BTUs is max recommendation.

This is the one we use: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...8996_200408996

It has a 35,000BTU rating but that is if you use all the rings on the burner. It has 3 separate rings and each is fully adjustable so it is very easy to control the heat on - the middle ring is all you really need. It also comes in a single burner model that is 1/3 of the price if that is all you need. It is the one we started with when we set up the outside canning kitchen.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...ct_15490_15490

Dave

[Durgan]

I have natural gas outside but have never found a burner that supplies sufficient heat using this fuel. This leave the only alternative of propane. Sort of sad.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Durgan

I have natural gas outside but have never found a burner that supplies sufficient heat using this fuel. This leave the only alternative of propane. Sort of sad.

You need a bigger orifice for natural gas, you should be able to find one or use a good drill index set and slowly open up the one you have.
What I mean by good is one with number and letter sized drills.

It is really an easy fix.

Worth

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by Worth1

You need a bigger orifice for natural gas, you should be able to find one or use a good drill index set and slowly open up the one you have.
What I mean by good is one with number and letter sized drills.

It is really an easy fix.

Worth

Regardless of orifice size, the pressure supply of natural gas is insufficient.

[Ganado]

Don't you lose the enzymes and some of the nutrients when you heat process the juice?

Tomatoes get better and have more Lycopine by canning but greens deteriorate with heat typically.

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[Durgan]

Originally Posted by Ganado

Don't you lose the enzymes and some of the nutrients when you heat process the juice?

Tomatoes get better and have more Lycopine by canning but greens deteriorate with heat typically.

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Any preservation method has a downside. Freezing makes mush out of most plant material. Canning in any form mushes almost everything. Drying has limited application. Pickling is practically useless. Etc, Etc.

Fresh has a lot of merit, but most people live in a limited growing window. One of my friends told me the juicing material prevents colds. Never could a person eat the amount of plant material I now consume by utilizing the juicing method.

[digsdirt]

Don't you lose the enzymes and some of the nutrients when you heat process the juice?

Some perhaps but not all and it isn't as if one has another choice for cold preservation except for freezing. So if one has the freezer room to freeze all their juice, by all means. But most don't. Plus canned foods have a much longer shelf life than frozen foods.

As Durgan said - all preservation options are limited in some fashion but it sure beats store-bought produce in the off-season.

Dave

And if you live like I do in a place where electricity goes out often my freezer is at risk enough as it is.

[Ganado]

@Dugan forgive me for continuing to post on this. I am intrigued by you philosophy of canning and juice so much. And when something interests me I have to think about it for a while and ask more questions.

Do you juice then pressurize?

Have you done tests for nutrient values of canned juice?

what combinations do you can in? I.e. tomato, greens seperately or combo juice (like a V8 mix)

Is there anything you have found that doesn't preserve well by juicing?

BTW really enjoyed your purslane post

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[Durgan]

Originally Posted by Ganado

@Dugan forgive me for continuing to post on this. I am intrigued by you philosophy of canning and juice so much. And when something interests me I have to think about it for a while and ask more questions.

Do you juice then pressurize?

Have you done tests for nutrient values of canned juice?

what combinations do you can in? I.e. tomato, greens seperately or combo juice (like a V8 mix)

Is there anything you have found that doesn't preserve well by juicing?

BTW really enjoyed your purslane post

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I am so confident about juicing that I pressure can any plant food. I have found nothing that does not conserve well. I have no method of testing nutrient value except ingesting. Combinations are usually any current vegetables in one selection and fruit separate. Meaning I do not mix fruit and vegetables together for canning. I often mix the juices in the drinking glass-meaning three or four jars may be opened at one time. I cook, make into a slurry, strain, then pressure can.

Using this method I certainty ingest many more vegetables and fruits than would be the case by using typical traditional canning and preserving methods. My justification for this is observing the obesity statistics and arriving at the conclusion that there must be something wrong with out typical diet which in many cases in similar amongst the population at large.

[Ganado]

Ok more questions. . What do you mean by 'beat into a slurry'

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[Durgan]

Originally Posted by Ganado

Ok more questions. . What do you mean by 'beat into a slurry'

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Cooked material hand blended into a mush or slurry to drinkable texture after straining. I use a hand held blender for ease of operation

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by Durgan

http://www.durgan.org/2015/July%2020...%20Juice/HTML/]

That next to last image Juice obtained made me wish for a virtual straw so I could yell "Drainage" like Daniel Day Lewis.

I imagine come wintertime it's a bug fighting elixir that tastes great.

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/2015/July%2020...%20Juice/HTML/ 4 July 2015 Purslane Processed Juice
Twenty liters of garden vegetables were processed into juice and pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage for use in the off season.Purslane was enhanced with other current vegetables. Process was to cook, beat into a slurry, food mill strain, Champion juicer strain, pour into liter jars and pressure can. The ingredients were basic purslane, garlic, onions,carrots, beets, dill. All from the garden.Pictures depict the process. The top of the carrots were utilized.

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/2015/July%2020...%20Juice/HTML/ 19 July 2015 Vegetable Juice
Twenty three liters of juice was made from current garden vegetables, kale, carrot, celery, beets, cucumbers, basil, dill. The carrots tops were incorporated. Process was to cut into small pieces, cook until soft, blend into a slurry, strain through a Victorio Food Mill, strain food mill residue through a Champion Juicer to obtain maximum nutrients. Water was added to just cover the vegetables in the cooking pot. The juice was placed in liter jars and pressure canned in batches of seven at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage.