Looks like the wife will force me to become a canner...

by **That German Guy** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:35 pm

So, the situation is this:

A guy I know called me up yesterday and said he had "some stuff for me". Since I was away I told him to dump whatever it was on the back porch and help himself to a beer at the local on my tab.

Now, I knew it would be good stuff, since we hook each other up with useful shit all the time, but I kinda dropped a jaw when I looked at the pile: 450x 500ml canning jars with glass lids, rubber rings, clips, the works. Massive win, I could store 60 US gallons of food in there!

The problem: I have NO idea what to do with this stuff, beyond "put stuff in ,boil, store, eat" Most books seem kinda useless ,and I *do* seem to remember something about botulism and home-canned meats, so: Edumancate me please?

by **crypto** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:50 pm

You have 2 basic ways of accomplishing long-term storage: lots of sugar, lots of salt, fermenting, or pasteurization.

All canned food is one of these things.

Thats it in a nutshell.

by **ZombieGranny** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:51 pm

Here's a few canning threads to get you started.
Please feel free to bump one if you have a question or comment.
We'd hate to have them get lost.

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=28187
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=82213
http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/view ... 39&t=80257
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=32873
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=73462
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=62689
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=45487

by **wijesse** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:04 pm

buy this
http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Blue-Canning ... B000KF29J0

or similar at your location, everything you need to know to safely can most anything....and if its not in there you can probably google it
have fun, it is really easy just be sure about clean jars,lids and proper temperatures for what you are canning

by **duodecima** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:29 pm

That German Guy wrote:Now, I knew it would be good stuff, since we hook each other up with useful shit all the time, but I kinda dropped a jaw when I looked at the pile: 450x 500ml canning jars with glass lids, rubber rings, clips, the works. Massive win, I could store 60 US gallons of food in there!

The problem: I have NO idea what to do with this stuff, beyond "put stuff in ,boil, store, eat" Most books seem kinda useless ,and I *do* seem to remember something about botulism and home-canned meats, so: Edumancate me please?

That dripping sound you hear is me drooling with envy. My joy so far has been finding about #60 of those jars for only a few $/dozen. Those jars, what with being air tight and rodent proof, are also great for short/middle term storage of dry goods bought in bulk (rice, beans, grains, etc).

I am a huge fan of pressure canning - and I am self-taught out of a book (canning and preserving for dummies, plus the manual that came with the canner). With a pressure canner, you can can meat, beans, (chili!!) and other low-acid foods, which will last for years, longer than commercial. The Ball Blue book is also excellent.

Don't be intimidated, do follow the directions, and congrats on your win of epic proportion!

by **carolinafan** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:05 pm

I too am drooling with envy. My wife got us into canning a while back, and she looked up most stuff online. The Ball book is pretty much canon as far as canning goes though. We started with the basic water bath canning, then moved up to pressure canning. Now our pressure canner has busted and we can't can crap until I return it and get a replacement(not that we can crap anyway.....)

by **Bubba Enfield** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:47 pm

Now I don't need to start a new thread. I was looking at a pressure canner yesterday, and it said "not for use on ceramic stovetops". Is this a big deal? Why do they say that? Are there models I can use on my stove, or do I need to buy a one-burner hotplate to go with it?

by **ZombieGranny** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:55 pm

You need to check your owner's manual.
Some glass and/or ceramic stoves can be used for canning, others can't.

by **mule** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:56 pm

Lucky you... I've tried to get my wife to go for it and she gives me the "over my dead body" look, and well, some sarcasm thrown in.

by **WY_Not** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:12 pm

Do they even recommend canning with those types of jars anymore?

by **ZombieGranny** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:55 pm

yep.
You can still get them, but they cost more.

by **duodecima** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 3:41 pm

Bubba Enfield wrote:Now I don't need to start a new thread. I was looking at a pressure canner yesterday, and it said "not for use on ceramic stovetops". Is this a big deal? Why do they say that? Are there models I can use on my stove, or do I need to buy a one-burner hotplate to go with it?

What ZG said! I had assumed I couldn't use my canner on the stove in the new house, turns out I can. (Turns out it heats up even faster than my old gas range :shock:

)

You also need to make sure your canner has a flat bottom so that heat transfers well, and that the canner isn't too much bigger than the burner it's going on (1/2-1" overhang is usually quoted). I hadn't found any economical hot-plate type burners that were big enough to boil my monster so I was pretty pleased. (Thanks again ZG et al.!)

by **Bubba Enfield** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:19 pm

duodecima wrote:
Bubba Enfield wrote:Now I don't need to start a new thread. I was looking at a pressure canner yesterday, and it said "not for use on ceramic stovetops". Is this a big deal? Why do they say that? Are there models I can use on my stove, or do I need to buy a one-burner hotplate to go with it?

What ZG said! I had assumed I couldn't use my canner on the stove in the new house, turns out I can. (Turns out it heats up even faster than my old gas range )

You also need to make sure your canner has a flat bottom so that heat transfers well, and that the canner isn't too much bigger than the burner it's going on (1/2-1" overhang is usually quoted). I hadn't found any economical hot-plate type burners that were big enough to boil my monster so I was pretty pleased. (Thanks again ZG et al.!)

I'm not sure how long we've had this stove, but as long as it's been here I've been boiling-water canning on it. I've always put my big canner on two elements, because that's what I did on my old stove. Apparently google tells me this is considered bad for a stove. I've never noticed a problem. The pressure canner I saw was not as big as my bw, it would be more likely to fit on just one burner.

OP, sorry for threadjacking! Congratulations on your good fortune. A good supply of canning jars is quite an asset. Your simplest introduction to home canning is with boiling water canning, IMO. This means you're only canning things that are either 1)at least as acidic as tomatoes, or 2)pickled. That means no meat, unless it's pickled. Personally I pickle eggs, that's how I get protein on the canning shelf. Do you eat sauercraut? Around here, people grow and can tomatoes, a half-bushel will put a lot of vitamins on your shelf. Sweet tooth? I can a ton of jam every year. For me it's strawberry-rhubarb, what berries did the old folks there used to can?

by **That German Guy** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:38 pm

Hay guise:

Thanks for the info. I asked around in Germany, and it seems that pressure canning is practically unknown here. It seems that botulism isn't that big of a problem, or is being actively ignored. Guess I'll have to pick up a pressure canner next time on the other side of the pond*, I just don't want to run the risk, especially with the little one on the way.

As for literature, I hate scribbling in books, so are there any canning books that cover pressure canning and use SI units (cm, hPa, liters, degrees C)?

*to the .mil guys stationed in Germany: Can you buy pressure canners on base, and if yes, are you willing to get me one in exchange for the cost and some premium alcohol?

by **duodecima** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:33 am

That German Guy wrote:Hay guise:

Thanks for the info. I asked around in Germany, and it seems that pressure canning is practically unknown here. It seems that botulism isn't that big of a problem, or is being actively ignored. Guess I'll have to pick up a pressure canner next time on the other side of the pond*, I just don't want to run the risk, especially with the little one on the way.

As for literature, I hate scribbling in books, so are there any canning books that cover pressure canning and use SI units (cm, hPa, liters, degrees C)?

*to the .mil guys stationed in Germany: Can you buy pressure canners on base, and if yes, are you willing to get me one in exchange for the cost and some premium alcohol?

I am not sure why this strikes me as so strange...

Starting with a half-dozen batches of something water bath (JAM! or pickles...) anyway is a good way to get familiar with the process before you throw in the pressure. A couple things I read made me think the "European-style" jars you've got were good for water bath but not pressure canning anyway. No personal experience with those jars though.

I don't know about books but here's an easy conversion table for the pressure (psi, kPa, barr) http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/food-preserving/canning
Temperature not a number you deal with, just pressure. Frankly, if you get a weight gauge canner of US origin (and I'm a weight gauge fan...), it'll only have the 5/10/15 psi settings anyway. Inches should only come up in headspace for the jars, which doesn't need to be measured to the millimeter.

I think the recipes may be more annoying to convert - University of California seems to be pretty good about including SI units as well, here's an example with some salsa recipes at the bottom http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/8116.pdf

by **Bubba Enfield** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:23 am

duodecima wrote:I am not sure why this strikes me as so strange...

Starting with a half-dozen batches of something water bath (JAM! or pickles...) anyway is a good way to get familiar with the process before you throw in the pressure.

Definitely! Are there apples in your area? Applesauce is the easiest thing to can. Pickled beets sound easy, too. No fear of botulism.

Did I read that right, the OP has 450 of these jars? :shock:

That's amazing. Rather than let them sit around empty, you could store rice or beans in a bunch of them. You could also fill a bunch with tap water and put them aside in the cellar.

by **BadIntel** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:15 pm

Pickled beets are super easy and tasty (my wife pickled a bunch of them awhile back and they're still chilling in the kitchen somewhere). She also made a bunch of small (I want to say pint size?) jars of pickled garlic that we put in gift baskets for family this Christmas. We kept a couple jars, and it tastes soooooo good. I think I may have to look into getting a pressure cooker (we had to use her parents' cooker to can the garlic).

Home canned and pickled stuff is fun and tasty!