I have been pressure canning the last several years as an alternative way to preserve meat and fish without requiring a fridge or freezer. Home canned goods are great because you can pop the lid and have food that is already cooked and ready to eat, without any defrosting or additional prep required. As a beginning canner, my first projects were raw-pack meat and fish, meaning that you put the food into your sterilized jars un-cooked and let the canning process cook it for you.
Running multiple canners to process salmon last summer:
A jar of pressure canned moose meat:
As I have gained experience and confidence, I have been wanting to pressure can some of my own chili or soup, always looking for yet another use for all the ground game meat we have in the freezers and a way to have single servings of my favorites on hand. Chili and other soups are a little more time consuming to pressure can in that they are done with the "hot pack" method--you have to cook your chili to a simmer and then the hot soup is ladled into hot jars and then processed. Yesterday I finally had the time, supplies and ingredients all available at once to make canned chili happen! Better yet, my sis-in-law expressed interest in canning with me, so we teamed up and made a day out of it, pressure canning both my moose chili and a batch of her white chicken chili in a 9 hour canning blitz!
The safety of pressure canned goods depends on the density and ph of the product being canned, so for canning I only use recipes tested and published by the cooperative extension service.
Quart jars in the canner:
The pint jars of moose chili cooling on the counter:
You have a lot of down time while the pressure canner is processing, so we also did a double batch each of tomato bruschetta mix and strawberry chocolate sauce in the water bath canner while we were waiting.
Here is one of each type of product we made yesterday:
Pressure canning has opened up a lot of options for me in terms of preserving and cooking game meat and fish. I have been thinking of writing a more thorough article on pressure canning, but wasnt sure if folks are interested?
Running multiple canners to process salmon last summer:
A jar of pressure canned moose meat:
As I have gained experience and confidence, I have been wanting to pressure can some of my own chili or soup, always looking for yet another use for all the ground game meat we have in the freezers and a way to have single servings of my favorites on hand. Chili and other soups are a little more time consuming to pressure can in that they are done with the "hot pack" method--you have to cook your chili to a simmer and then the hot soup is ladled into hot jars and then processed. Yesterday I finally had the time, supplies and ingredients all available at once to make canned chili happen! Better yet, my sis-in-law expressed interest in canning with me, so we teamed up and made a day out of it, pressure canning both my moose chili and a batch of her white chicken chili in a 9 hour canning blitz!
The safety of pressure canned goods depends on the density and ph of the product being canned, so for canning I only use recipes tested and published by the cooperative extension service.
Quart jars in the canner:
The pint jars of moose chili cooling on the counter:
You have a lot of down time while the pressure canner is processing, so we also did a double batch each of tomato bruschetta mix and strawberry chocolate sauce in the water bath canner while we were waiting.
Here is one of each type of product we made yesterday:
Pressure canning has opened up a lot of options for me in terms of preserving and cooking game meat and fish. I have been thinking of writing a more thorough article on pressure canning, but wasnt sure if folks are interested?
if you go with the largest model I have keep in mind that it may not fit on the stove inside if you have an over range microwave. I use the propane burner outside or in the garage, or borrow the smaller version from Family for smaller batches of stuff.
