Pressure canning help for a newbie?

[mama2004]

I just got an All American 921 for Christmas (yee haw!), and I'm very excited to get started with it.  I have read a lot about water bath canning, but never done it myself; my parents canned when I was growing up.  I specifically wanted to start with pressure canning because I make a lot of chicken stock, pasta sauce and cooked beans (black, pinto, etc.) that I would like to have canned, rather than frozen.

I have been casually looking online and in books, and I have the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, but I'm really hoping that someone with actual experience can give me some pointers.

I'm wondering how much it's ok to deviate from recipes, for example, the tomato sauce recipe in the Ball book: I make mine with garlic, onions and peppers, and none of the recipes in the book involve bell peppers.  Do I need to be concerned about every possible variation?  If I understand correctly, I'll want to add additional acid to each jar of sauce anyway, but will I be throwing something off by using a different recipe?  Likewise with the chicken stock, do I have to follow a published recipe?

I haven't yet found any published recipes for canning reconstituted dried beans.  I would really love to be able to do that, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible.  Can anyone weigh in on that?

Would anyone be willing to share any sort of inside tips or tricks or recipes or books that you love?  I would be very grateful to hear from anyone who has experience with pressure canning!

[meandk0610]

me too! i want to also can lard and meat.

[velochic]

I think your best bet is to contact your local Homemaker's Extension office.  They often have classes.  I would not deviate from recipes.  They have been tested as safe for canning.  I've been canning for 20+years and I still follow TNT recipes.  For example, garlic is known to be a vector for botulism and using it in recipes can be very dangerous, so the pH of recipes that have garlic in them (like tomato sauce) have been tested to ensure that there will be no contamination.  All directions and proportions should be followed, especially at the beginning.  Also, older methods have been deemed unsafe.  Make sure you are following the most up-to-date instructions.

[meandk0610]

how do you find a homemaker's extension office?

Originally Posted by velochic 

I think your best bet is to contact your local Homemaker's Extension office.  They often have classes.  I would not deviate from recipes.  They have been tested as safe for canning.  I've been canning for 20+years and I still follow TNT recipes.  For example, garlic is known to be a vector for botulism and using it in recipes can be very dangerous, so the pH of recipes that have garlic in them (like tomato sauce) have been tested to ensure that there will be no contamination.  All directions and proportions should be followed, especially at the beginning.  Also, older methods have been deemed unsafe.  Make sure you are following the most up-to-date instructions.

[mama2004]

You can contact your county extension office to see if they have any programs available; they can also usually help calibrate pressure gauges. 

Thanks for the reminder of that, velochic.  I'll definitely look into that, and I'd still love any btdt advice from anyone who's willing.  I'm all about following the latest processing times/recipes/not making any of my loved ones sick (my MIL reuses her lids and uses recycled mayonnaise etc. jars; that's a bit too lax for me, although I admire the thriftiness and recycling), I'm just wanting to understand more about the variables than I can seem to find in any of the sources I've found so far.

Originally Posted by meandk0610 

how do you find a homemaker's extension office?

Originally Posted by velochic 

I think your best bet is to contact your local Homemaker's Extension office.  They often have classes.  I would not deviate from recipes.  They have been tested as safe for canning.  I've been canning for 20+years and I still follow TNT recipes.  For example, garlic is known to be a vector for botulism and using it in recipes can be very dangerous, so the pH of recipes that have garlic in them (like tomato sauce) have been tested to ensure that there will be no contamination.  All directions and proportions should be followed, especially at the beginning.  Also, older methods have been deemed unsafe.  Make sure you are following the most up-to-date instructions.

 

[lunarlady]

If you pressure can, you can vary the recipe any way you want. Just make sure you do the pressure and time for the longest ingredient. You need a reference chart. Maybe there is one in the back of your cookbook?

I can all my beans. Soak overnight with a water change before bed and first thing in the morning. Boil for 40 min. Drain. Loose pack jars. Add salt if desired ( I do one tsp. Per quart) cover with boiling water to within 1 inch of the rim. Pressure can at 10 lbs. For 70 min. (add 1 lb. Pressure for every 2000 ft. above sea level). You will notice that they lose some liquid during canning so the top beans won't be covered. Also, the beans will release a lot of starch which will make the liquid in there very thick. But they are tasty! I just rinse mine before eating.

You might want to check out the diggin in the earth forum for some great ideas. Tattler also make some reusable canning lids if you don't want to go through a ton of one use metal ones.I would never use jars or lids that were not home canning specific. Home canning products are designed to let you see and feel if you have a good seal. Reused/repurposed ones do not, and that seems like both a risk for anyone eating the food and a waste of time and energy. ( spoilage of the food I worked long and hard to grow, harvest, prep, cook and can).

Acidity is only a concern if you are water bath canning. With pressure canning you can do any recipe you want, as long as you process it properly. Yes, even meat, soups, broths, etc., although they require a long processing time. I love pressure canning because now I can cook what I want and preserve it all.

[meandk0610]

Originally Posted by lunarlady 

If you pressure can, you can vary the recipe any way you want. Just make sure you do the pressure and time for the longest ingredient. You need a reference chart. Maybe there is one in the back of your cookbook?

I can all my beans. Soak overnight with a water change before bed and first thing in the morning. Boil for 40 min. Drain. Loose pack jars. Add salt if desired ( I do one tsp. Per quart) cover with boiling water to within 1 inch of the rim. Pressure can at 10 lbs. For 70 min. (add 1 lb. Pressure for every 2000 ft. above sea level). You will notice that they lose some liquid during canning so the top beans won't be covered. Also, the beans will release a lot of starch which will make the liquid in there very thick. But they are tasty! I just rinse mine before eating.

You might want to check out the diggin in the earth forum for some great ideas. Tattler also make some reusable canning lids if you don't want to go through a ton of one use metal ones.I would never use jars or lids that were not home canning specific. Home canning products are designed to let you see and feel if you have a good seal. Reused/repurposed ones do not, and that seems like both a risk for anyone eating the food and a waste of time and energy. ( spoilage of the food I worked long and hard to grow, harvest, prep, cook and can).

Acidity is only a concern if you are water bath canning. With pressure canning you can do any recipe you want, as long as you process it properly. Yes, even meat, soups, broths, etc., although they require a long processing time. I love pressure canning because now I can cook what I want and preserve it all.

so if i wanted to can applesauce made with just apples i don't have to add any sugar or citric acid or anything? cool! are you getting your pressure and times from the Ball book? if not, where do you get the information?

[laohaire]

I have been trying to figure out similar things, and I am being told that even with pressure canning, you have to be anal about the recipes.

For example, I do not like to skim fat off my broth. However, apparently the fat can insulate bacteria and make it harder for the canning process to kill it. And apparently it can go rancid anyway.

And I wanted to puree some vegetables, but apparently you can't. Heating puree to the right uniform temperature is too iffy.

I am just repeating what I've been told. I don't like it. But I have no evidence to the contrary.

Also, the most annoying part of the whole stupid canning charade, which I found out AFTER I got  my canner (I haven't actually used it yet) is that home pressure-canned foods must be brought to a rapid boil for 10 minutes. This blows my mind and makes me just want to return my stupid canner. I am trying to picture: cooking green beans, then CANNING the green beans. Then, opening the jar and bringing these already overcooked green beans to a rapid boil for 10 minutes. Disgusting. I don't eat green beans out of season right now, and I have zero incentive to go to the trouble of canning them so I can serve green mush in January. I cook my green beans for 6 minutes, the idea of cooking, then pressure canning, then boiling on high for 10 minutes blows my mind.

So I wonder why anyone bothers. There's plenty of vegetables to eat from the root cellar. Who needs green beans in winter? Tomato sauce is the one vegetable I can think of that I would really like to eat "out of season" but you can BWB that (if you follow the recipe... I get that). Jams too. The only thing I have any lingering desire to pressure can is broth, and I'm not sure if it's worth it since I'll have to freeze the fat anyway.

[lunarlady]

Yes, you can can just applesauce with nothing in it, but it will brown and lose some flavor. Sugar or acid helps it keep that golden color and crisp taste.

Too much fat creates a barrier that ruins your seal, so that can be bad, but even fairly fatty foods can be pressure canned it you are not getting a solid layer of fat on the top. It is harder to get meat products totally safe, so I don't bother often. It is much easier to freeze them.

I pressure can all my tomatos so that they are sweet (no acid added). I also can my pasta sauce, BBQ sauce, ketchup, beans and veggies that are not pickled. Yes, you do end up with soft, canned veggies, but that is alright for somethings. Soups can well too, of they are dairy free and low fat. I hot bath can my pickles, fruits, jams, fruit sauces, and relishes. I never boil anything for 10 minutes after opening. Any microbe that can survive a pressure canning session will suvive a 10 minute boil. I'm a microbiologist by training, and that is just silly. It comes from old glass canning jars where it is very hard to tell if a seal is broken. That being said, home canned goods can go bad. So never eat anything that emits a vapor or gas on opening, or that has developed fizz or bubbles that rise and pop after opening. Never eat something that wasn't sealed when you went to open it, or didn't "pop" when opened. Eat home canned foods within a year. Don't eat anything that has a noticeable change in color, texture or smell. Properly canned and stored food will look the same from the time it fully cools out of the canner until the time you eat it. The only exception is if you can in plain water, then fruits and veggies near the surface will brown, and all will soften slightly. Canned goods should be stored with rings removed in a cool, dark location.

My favorite reference is the food lover's guide to canning. It is out of print, but you can find used copies. I also love the joy of pickling, because I love pickles!

ETA: purees have to be watery to can well. All home canning is water based (water packed) and really thick purres have too many air pockets. It is better to can the veggies in chunks, and puree once open. Apple butter is about the thickest consistency you can can safely. Following recipes is very important in hot water canning, as they must meet levels of acidity and/or salt or sugar laves to be safe. You can fudge and fiddle a bit with pressure canning, as long as you follow some rules. Meat and dairy require high pressures and very long processing times. Most home canners avoid adding those for that reason. Fats and oils can ruin your seals, so require extra caution and care. That said, I'm looking forward to canning my own fish in oil this season, so it can be done! Salt and sugar help maintain taste and texture, so cut them out with caution. There is a reason canned goods in the store are low sodium, not no sodium. Things canned without sugar or salt end up tasting a bit bland and get very soft and squishy. It won't kill you, but your family might wonder why you are feeding them this glop.
Edited by lunarlady - 1/3/11 at 5:26pm

[lunarlady]

I forgot to add that I am always on the watch for good canning recipes. I get most from canning cookbooks, but also from the newspaper, Bon Appitite magazine, home canning websites, and canning blogs. I have canned some of my favorite non-canning specific recipes, like BBQ sauce, by looking up all ingredients or by finding a similar recipe that is canning specific and following those processing directions.