Preparedness

That's even better news as a canner seemed very expensive and hard to get and my own pressure cooker is probably a bit small which means I would have had to get a new one. I think I'll just go ahead and get a HUGE stainless steel pot (I was checking them out the other day for making stock and I can use it for canning as well.
Could you maybe tell us how you place the jars in the pot- on a rack? How high up do you fill the water around the jars? And if you could provide a link to a picture of one of the jars I would really appreciate it! Thanks for this :)

My family & I have canned, & frozen both vegetables & canned, dehydrated, smoked, meats( wild game,domestic & fish) for a very long time. It does take some time to do it correctly, but is well worth the efforts.

I have seen some interesting posts thru the last 16 pages & I thought I might add a comment/post myself. I would like to mention with importance, that the use of electricity to prepare & store food for preservation may become a difficult thing for some in the future. As it currently is for some in troubled areas of the world. I would hope that some of you take the time , if you feel the desire/need to prepare for times when having a store of food would be prudent, to consider knowing how to preserve & store food in a manner that does not require the use of electricity.

This link may be of help for some folks:
2. Simple techniques for production of dried meat
it is the 2nd page of a informative read. The first page deals with Slaughtering and raw materials for meat preservation, good for some not for others. & you can continue the read by using the arrows provided at the bottom of the page to finish the whole. Here is a link to the table of contents also: Manual on simple methods of meat preservation

Here is another link that you can read to find more info on vegetables:
How to Preserve Food Without Refrigeration
which is also informative & perhaps would help any who wish to know of alternative methods to store foods.

I used the links to provide information to share & it also saves me some typing out & repeating information that you can easily read on the internet.

I hope that this post can be of use to some of you & I wish you well in your adventures if you try some of these methods.

JB/MnSportsman

PS- (As a matter of fact , my wife just canned green beans today & I will be canning some salsa/chow chow & preparing corn for freezing tomorrow. And BTW , I am familiar with some of the dietary topics on this site... such as the Paleo diet & Life without Bread Topics , etc....They have been duly noted. Altho at this time, my "free will " allows me to decide my menu. ;) )

i came across an interesting article from a forum called SurvivalBlog.com

It's a real life lesson of a women that recently went through the ordeal of losing her electricity, ( as well the whole area ), and how should came to the quick realisation of what she had, and what she didn't have in to copping in this enviorment.

The situation took place in Canada, on May 8, 2011. There was a sudden, and unexpected wind storm, that took everyone by surprise, with wind speeds exceeding 110 km per hour, bringing the local power grid to a grinding halt, (aka blackout).

She gives a testament to her limitations, that helped promote solution's especially with children in her life, and helping them to understand and deal with sudden change.

Other factors that will cause disruptions ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_distribution ) could manifest from an astronomical events, 4th density bleed through, CME, natural disaster, terrorism, sabotage, hacking, , pandemic, over loading on the grid, and possible break down of an under repaired and antiquated system.

Infrastructure Report Card -- and the Crumbling of Americaby: jamess Thu Jul 02, 2009
http://www.docudharma.com/diary/14608/infrastructure-report-card-and-the-crumbling-of-america

The Best of luck to all, as many know, preparation is the key to remove fear, and panic out the equation.

A Real World Test of My Preparations, by Daisy in Canada By James Wesley, Rawles on May 8, 2011 10:49 PM
http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/05/a_real_world_test_of_my_prepar.html

Last week my city was taken by surprise by a terrible windstorm. There were some weather warnings but nothing prepared residents for what would come. Winds reached 110 km per hour and the damage to property was extensive. Several people lost their lives due to flying debris and downed power lines. While some were without power for only a couple of hours, others were without for up to a week. Although we got our power back after 48 hours, we still suffered sporadic outages for two more days.

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Also on the same Page.

The Power of Three, by Jerry S. April 20, 2011 5:28 PM
http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/04/the_power_of_three_by_jerry_s.html

Found this post about making and canning Rillons (or Grattons?).

First, what are rillons? As I said, they are a Touraine specialty. Traditionally, the diet here in Touraine is based on pork, poultry, and river fish, along with garden produce, goat cheese, and wine. This is not cattle country, and ducks and geese are not that common. Rillons are a pork specialty. You can buy them in supermarkets and charcutier shops all around the region.[...]

You take chunks of fresh pork and marinate them in salt and herbs for hours. Then you cook the pork chunks for several hours at fairly low temperature in rendered fat. You can use lard, which is rendered pork fat, or you can use rendered duck or goose fat. When they are done, you pack the chunks of pork into crocks or jars, pour filtered, melted fat over all to cover, and seal the jars. The rillons will keep for months in a cook dark place — a cellar, for example.

It's the same principle as in making confit de canard — duck legs and thighs that are salted, slow-cooked, and preserved in duck fat. Rillons are confit de porc — slow-cooked pork — especially pork breast, or poitrine de porc.

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There are more details about it on the blog.

Bad canning fail

Last weekend I canned some beef tallow. I used the tattler BPA free lids. They are a plastic top with a removable rubber gasket ring.

I was pretty confident when I had only two failures out of 19. But I didn't put away all of the jars and checked them after 3.5 days and I had 7 more failures. So I currently have only 10 good ones. I will check them in a few days.

The tattler box says to immediately screw tight the band after you remove the jar. This is weird, but maybe because of their special rubber rings that go between the lid and the jar.

But I really think nearly half failures is unacceptable. When I did 14 jars of beef and regular Ball lids, I had no failures. I'm thinking about recanning the tallow with Ball lids. I smelled most of the jars and they don't smell rancid. I only filled them a third full at 10 ounces too, so I don't think they would contact the BPA lid sealing material. I wonder how much BPA gets into the jars anyways?

Maybe it was just me, or the weird screwing the lids tight after removal. I wanted to post this also in case anyone considers these lids. I'm not really satisfied, of course. Canning is an all day affair, but at least my jars are already cleaned and packed.

Any suggestions? What lids does everyone use?

We use Kerrs & Balls lids for canning.

I would not trust any lid that says, "re-usable", I just do not have that much faith in something that is supposed to seal, & then be able to re-use & expect good results.

An analogy would be: A mechanic re-using a gasket to seal parts of an internal combustion engine. Not a wise choice, unless in dire circumstances for the mechanic ; & your gut & your families' gut, is not a good place to test whether the seals on your canned goods were good enough.

As you said, there is a lot of expense in time & effort, additionally, there are some costs in your $$( money). It is not a good thing to spend the tme to do the work & your project fails.

Personally, if someone is just starting their "learning curve" in canning foods......

I would recommend you return to some of the "Names" in the business, ones that have been there for a long time, & use them. Their supplies have "stood the test of time".
Order & read their brochures/pamphlets/books, if you can afford to do so. They used to be free, but I think they are now $5.99 U.S & possible postage. ( Your local library , if one is available to you, may have a copy & also, the internet is full of great info.)

I am trying to be concise and use brevity in my posts....

I wish you well n your endeavors!
:)

G'luck & Enjoy life!
JB/MnSportsman

Re: Bad canning fail

3D Student said:

Last weekend I canned some beef tallow. I used the tattler BPA free lids. They are a plastic top with a removable rubber gasket ring.

I was pretty confident when I had only two failures out of 19. But I didn't put away all of the jars and checked them after 3.5 days and I had 7 more failures. So I currently have only 10 good ones. I will check them in a few days.

The tattler box says to immediately screw tight the band after you remove the jar. This is weird, but maybe because of their special rubber rings that go between the lid and the jar.

But I really think nearly half failures is unacceptable. When I did 14 jars of beef and regular Ball lids, I had no failures. I'm thinking about recanning the tallow with Ball lids. I smelled most of the jars and they don't smell rancid. I only filled them a third full at 10 ounces too, so I don't think they would contact the BPA lid sealing material. I wonder how much BPA gets into the jars anyways?

Maybe it was just me, or the weird screwing the lids tight after removal. I wanted to post this also in case anyone considers these lids. I'm not really satisfied, of course. Canning is an all day affair, but at least my jars are already cleaned and packed.

Any suggestions? What lids does everyone use?

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Sorry to hear about your experience with Tattler lids there 3D. I hope your able to re-can those failures and salvage the food. I do appreciate you pointing that out to me as well. While I was looking into buying a canner I ended up coming across water distillers and decided to go with one of those for now. So I'm stocking myself up on fresh water but will eventually buy the canner I'm sure. I'll probably just end up using Ball jars and lids unless someone else comes across something better in the meantime. Thanks again! ;)

Keit said:

Found this post about making and canning Rillons (or Grattons?).
...
It's the same principle as in making confit de canard — duck legs and thighs that are salted, slow-cooked, and preserved in duck fat. Rillons are confit de porc — slow-cooked pork — especially pork breast, or poitrine de porc

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Darina Allen has a similar recipe in 'Forgotten Skills of Cooking' for Confit Pork Belly - using a whole belly (including the skin for crackling) and extra pork fat for rendering. She has used organic pork and reports it keeping for a year. It's on my list of things to do.

Keit said:

Found this post about making and canning Rillons (or Grattons?).

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I made something similar: Chopped beef in ghee. I only added ascorbic acid and salt and submerged the meat completely in ghee. Then I sterilized for over one hour at the boiling point. However, after a few days, a kind of whitish, speckish mold began to grow on the meat. When I opened the jars, they smelled spoilt. So I had to discard the whole batch. :( This hadn't happened with any other sterilization recipe I had tried, so I guess it's because of the fat. Because the fat can't hold either salt or ascorbic acid (both are preservatives). So what I learned was: Fill up the jars with water instead of fat and add considerable amounts of salt and acid. The fat still can be sterilized separately (but it has a long shelf life for itself).

However, after trying drying meat, I like this a lot more. It makes me more comfortable that it will not spoil. I dried lean salted beef strips for 3 days and then put it into the oven to remove the rest of the humidity for a few minutes at 120°C. Then I vacuum sealed the strips.

MnSportsman said:

I would not trust any lid that says, "re-usable", I just do not have that much faith in something that is supposed to seal, & then be able to re-use & expect good results.

Click to expand...

Well, I use this system and it indeed is reusable. After the sterilization, the clamps must be removed because the vacuum will close the lid tightly alone. If it opens, you know it's spoilt. However, it also can also spoil in vacuum (happened with the mold described above).

Data,
I am glad to hear you had success with your reusable lids. :)
I wish you, & any others that decide that it is the way the prefer to store foods, the Best of luck.
:)

My family & I will continue to use the methods, & the same containers that we have used for several generations, & hope that your methods & containers will do the same. But we will continue our practice of non- reusable lids/caps to store our meats/fruts/jams/vegetables, etc.. We spend too much time in the Preparation, (hunting/gathering, cleaning both product & containers, spices for pickling/etc., let alone man-power/hours that were used.) to take the chance of "any" loss. We canned over 150 U.S. quarts & 45-50 U.S pints just last year for example & had -0- loss. Not trying to "put -down" reusable lids, but experience over many years, has surely made us decide that we do not intend to " fix something that isn't broken".

So you not feel that am " stuck n the mud" type, I recognize & applaud, both ingenuity & innovation. Although I sometmes wonder at the so called, "Needed to be improved", or " This is a better way.", way of thinking. [( Analogy? >) I am sure that having a horse to help in your travels is not so bad as a gasoline engine vehicle, unless you are in a hurry. The horse can go almost anywhere, get its' need for propulsion(food/energy) almost anywhere... The engine-powered vehicle most likely won't be able to do the same. ] Of course the world would not be the same if we still rode horse,dogsled/ et al., but I would hope you see my point.
:)
I will pause & reflect on your methods & wait to see if the "test of time" wll show improvement. Until that time. I will stick to what my forebears taught me.

:)

G'luck n your endeavors.
Respects,
JB/MnSportsman

I forgot to mention that our family has used the rubber tab seals type method n the past, & also used paraffin wax for sealing foodstuffs such as jams/jellies. But the rubber rings were not re-used for canning, but instead were used for such things as making slingshots for young children & throwing over bottle tops in the old wooden cases at family picnics /church functions & the like. I did hear a story about one being used to geld a pig or a bull at one time, but that may not be the truth, as the Uncle that told me the story, was likely to stretch the truth at times.
;)
Enjoy1

Data said:

However, after a few days, a kind of whitish, speckish mold began to grow on the meat. When I opened the jars, they smelled spoilt. So I had to discard the whole batch. :( This hadn't happened with any other sterilization recipe I had tried, so I guess it's because of the fat. Because the fat can't hold either salt or ascorbic acid (both are preservatives). So what I learned was: Fill up the jars with water instead of fat and add considerable amounts of salt and acid. The fat still can be sterilized separately (but it has a long shelf life for itself).

Click to expand...

Just a thought: ascorbic acid is a water soluble antioxidant. If you're filling your jars with only fat, maybe you should use a fat soluble one like vitamin E. I don't think ascorbic acid can do anything in fat.

Also Data, I have to wonder, with all the spoilage you've had, if the 'boiling at 100C' is an adequate method. I know it's tricky to get a pressure canner where you are, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to ship one from somewhere considering the waste you seem to be racking up. I haven't done a lot of canning yet (only 2 batches) but I haven't had any spoilage at all. They've kept for months.

Sorry if I'm missing something here.

dugdeep said:

Just a thought: ascorbic acid is a water soluble antioxidant. If you're filling your jars with only fat, maybe you should use a fat soluble one like vitamin E. I don't think ascorbic acid can do anything in fat.

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This might also be possible, but the point is to reduce the pH value, since that inhibits bacteria's and mold's growth -- even more in combination with salt. Botulinum bacteria stops growing in pH 4.5. In pure fat none of this is possible.

dugdeep said:

Also Data, I have to wonder, with all the spoilage you've had, if the 'boiling at 100C' is an adequate method.

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I've made quite a few batches with that method and didn't have any spoilage. All of them contained fat only at the top. My first batches also contained buckwheat flour, which, as a carbohydrate source, should nurture bacteria. But they all are still okay after 6 months. The only problem I had when the meat was surrounded by 100% ghee.

Maybe another factor caused this, not the fat, but I can't think of one.

dugdeep said:

I know it's tricky to get a pressure canner where you are, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to ship one from somewhere considering the waste you seem to be racking up.

Click to expand...

Because of this spoilage I actually bought a pressure canner, and the last batch I sterilized for 1 hour at 120°C. Also I'm no longer cutting the meat into small chunks (which increases the surface area), I just put it in the jars as a whole. Saves also a lot of time.

What I'm also doing is to eat from time to time one of the conserves, just to get feedback about the taste, palatability, etc.

It's all a very interesting process, and one I'm enjoying doing! :)

I hope this isn't noise, but I'd like to thank those of you that are performing these experiments and sharing the results here. It may prove invaluable to those of us who cannot afford the process currently, but hope to do these things in the future.

Data said:

This might also be possible, but the point is to reduce the pH value, since that inhibits bacteria's and mold's growth -- even more in combination with salt. Botulinum bacteria stops growing in pH 4.5. In pure fat none of this is possible.

Click to expand...

Ah, OK. I misunderstood. I guess the question is then, how does one lower the pH of fat? Will ascorbic acid do the job? Since it's not fat soluble, I'm under the impression it won't, but maybe someone more knowledgeable of chemistry could say.

Data] [quote author=dugdeep said:

Also Data, I have to wonder, with all the spoilage you've had, if the 'boiling at 100C' is an adequate method.

Click to expand...

I've made quite a few batches with that method and didn't have any spoilage. All of them contained fat only at the top. My first batches also contained buckwheat flour, which, as a carbohydrate source, should nurture bacteria. But they all are still okay after 6 months. The only problem I had when the meat was surrounded by 100% ghee.


Maybe another factor caused this, not the fat, but I can't think of one.[/quote]

OK, again I misunderstood. It seemed like maybe the 100C wasn't enough to kill the bacteria, but that might not be the case. I know it is possible to can in 100% fat. Actually, when I was working in restaurants we used to preserve duck confit simply by imersing it in duck fat and refridgerating it - no canning necessary. It would last for months (possibly longer but I never had the oportunity to test it). I wonder if ghee simply isn't the right kind of fat for the job


[quote author=Data]
Because of this spoilage I actually bought a pressure canner, and the last batch I sterilized for 1 hour at 120°C. Also I'm no longer cutting the meat into small chunks (which increases the surface area), I just put it in the jars as a whole. Saves also a lot of time.[/quote]

I think that was a good move. I think canning at the higher temperature is a lot safer and the last thing you want is to find out down the road that your preserves didn't last. Also, canning in a pressure canner is fun :D

[quote author=Data]
What I'm also doing is to eat from time to time one of the conserves, just to get feedback about the taste, palatability, etc.[/quote]

I've done that too. Although, like you, my early attempts I used buckwheat flour to thicken the sauce. I also cut up veggies to go with the stew and used wine in the preparation. I'm wondering now if these ones are simply too high in carbs to work with my current diet. Of course, if there really are food shortages, this probably won't matter much to me, as long as I can eat!

[quote author=Data]
It's all a very interesting process, and one I'm enjoying doing! :)
[/quote]

Me too!