Whoops, I just read your quote from my post, Ennio, and I meant to say moisture trapped under the BANDS, not lids. Too late to edit the post so here's an "official correction." :P
Canning meat/what Equipment is needed, how much canning is necessary
- Thread starter Cosmos
- Start date
But thanks for making the correction official!
Someone mentioned something about a manual.
I used this manual from the manufacturer of the borrowed canner I am using, as I don't have the paper manual.
_http://fantes.com/manuals/all-american-pressure-cooker-manual.pdf
I have 6 jars of moose meat (cut into chunks) that I am testing out today. One jar is only about half to 3/4 full, so I am wondering how that will turn out.
I hope I didn't hand tighten the lids too much - just snugly turned them on the jars.
Would have been nice to add some lard to the very lean moose meat, but wasn't able to render any, and I had to can this meat today as it already has been frozen, and thawed out.
I used this manual from the manufacturer of the borrowed canner I am using, as I don't have the paper manual.
_http://fantes.com/manuals/all-american-pressure-cooker-manual.pdf
I have 6 jars of moose meat (cut into chunks) that I am testing out today. One jar is only about half to 3/4 full, so I am wondering how that will turn out.
I hope I didn't hand tighten the lids too much - just snugly turned them on the jars.
Would have been nice to add some lard to the very lean moose meat, but wasn't able to render any, and I had to can this meat today as it already has been frozen, and thawed out.
Jefferson said:
Hi Jefferson,
You can refreeze meat IF you have thawed it in the fridge AND haven't taken it out - that's USDA guidlines you can find here.
The relevant passage is:
If you vacuum-pack them you can keep meat up to 2 weeks in the fridge without any problems (my experience on extended camping trips).
Just thought I would post about my canning purchases, in case anyone in Oz is thinking of doing the same. I went with the Presto canner from Ozfarmer.com for around $172 delivered. Thought about the All American 20 litre, but was out of my price range.
As for jars, a more thorough search of the web revealed a company called Plasdene Glass Pak (plasdene.com.au). These guys are great to deal with and are happy to sell to the smaller customer, not just large companies. The minimum purchase amount is $120, but you can get any combination of jar sizes that you like (most come in packs of 10 - 12 jars). I went with a combination of 500ml, 750ml, and 1000ml jars at the following prices -
- 500ml jars @ 58 cents and lids @ 11 cents each.
- 750ml jars @ 81 cents and lids @ 13 cents each.
- 1000ml jars @ $1.29 and lids @ 15 cents each.
You need to add GST to these prices.
They also have many other storage containers (drums, bottles etc.) and have outlets in most capital cities. Hope this has been of help to someone. :)
As for jars, a more thorough search of the web revealed a company called Plasdene Glass Pak (plasdene.com.au). These guys are great to deal with and are happy to sell to the smaller customer, not just large companies. The minimum purchase amount is $120, but you can get any combination of jar sizes that you like (most come in packs of 10 - 12 jars). I went with a combination of 500ml, 750ml, and 1000ml jars at the following prices -
- 500ml jars @ 58 cents and lids @ 11 cents each.
- 750ml jars @ 81 cents and lids @ 13 cents each.
- 1000ml jars @ $1.29 and lids @ 15 cents each.
You need to add GST to these prices.
They also have many other storage containers (drums, bottles etc.) and have outlets in most capital cities. Hope this has been of help to someone. :)
Last summer my boyfriend's sister taught me how to water bath can. We did pickles, garlic and relish. I always thought it would be too hard, but it is really easy. I loved it.
Well I loved the water bath canning so much, I started pressure canning. I was using my fagor pressure cooker, but it only holds a few jars at a time. It works just fine, but takes longer to get a lot done. I have been busy canning all the time. I just love it. I feel like I have found my passion. I have canned pork, chicken, chicken broth, bone broth, and lots of other things. Next thing I want to try canning is meatloaf.
My boyfriend bought me a presto 23 quart pressure canner for Christmas, but I haven't been able to use it yet, because I have a glass top stove. Come next payday, I am getting a heavy duty hot plate so I can use it. I can't wait.! It's a joke now around here because everyone is always asking me "what are you going to can now?"
And I have inspired my boyfriend's sister to do some pressure canning herself. She never has before. I have told some people at work about canning, and some of them just don't get it. They ask me why, and kind of treat me like I am weird for putting up food. Of course these are the same people that eat out 3 meals a day and keep hardly any groceries in their house. What a "convenient" society we have become. There will be a lot of hungry people when times get tough.
Well I loved the water bath canning so much, I started pressure canning. I was using my fagor pressure cooker, but it only holds a few jars at a time. It works just fine, but takes longer to get a lot done. I have been busy canning all the time. I just love it. I feel like I have found my passion. I have canned pork, chicken, chicken broth, bone broth, and lots of other things. Next thing I want to try canning is meatloaf.
My boyfriend bought me a presto 23 quart pressure canner for Christmas, but I haven't been able to use it yet, because I have a glass top stove. Come next payday, I am getting a heavy duty hot plate so I can use it. I can't wait.! It's a joke now around here because everyone is always asking me "what are you going to can now?"
And I have inspired my boyfriend's sister to do some pressure canning herself. She never has before. I have told some people at work about canning, and some of them just don't get it. They ask me why, and kind of treat me like I am weird for putting up food. Of course these are the same people that eat out 3 meals a day and keep hardly any groceries in their house. What a "convenient" society we have become. There will be a lot of hungry people when times get tough.
will01 said:
Good on you, will01 - will note the company. I had to purchase the Ball jars from ozfarmer - quite expensive and some are always broken after transport.
Next time I'll give these guys a try. Thanks for the tip!
We just had some ground beef that we canned in October, 2012. At the time, we were still experimenting and we canned it after be boiled the ground beef, as fabric found one of the you tube videos with lady explaining how convenient to do this way. But it turned out very mushy and no taste of beef at all. So, if anyone is thinking to try it, I will not recommend it.
Aya said:
I usually either can ground beef after having made some meat balls or just like that - so in both instances the meat is raw. You could maybe even try to add some bone broth for flavour ... and some spices you tolerate, maybe some garlic, too. In the end, it's just protein, but you can use the meat for a stew and then add things like vegetables, bacon or bonebroth to make a tasty stew or a soupe-like dish.
Hello,
I bought a Presto 16 quart canner. I have an old electric stove. I am not sure about canning on it so I bought a single propane burner. Reading through the canner manual, it says to not use an outdoor heating source because it will get too hot. Anything over 12000 btu could warp the bottom of the canner and ruin it. The propane burner is 15000 btu. I only looked on amazon, but they did not seem to have a burner under 12000 btu. In searching for a solution, I found what is called a heat tamer or diffuser. It seems to evenly distribute the heat so that there are not hotspots. It sounds like this would keep the heat evenly distributed so that the bottom would not warp.
Just wondering if anyone has come up against this problem and has found a solution. If I remember right, reading through this thread, it seems that some members have used this method. Any advice would be appreciated.
I bought a Presto 16 quart canner. I have an old electric stove. I am not sure about canning on it so I bought a single propane burner. Reading through the canner manual, it says to not use an outdoor heating source because it will get too hot. Anything over 12000 btu could warp the bottom of the canner and ruin it. The propane burner is 15000 btu. I only looked on amazon, but they did not seem to have a burner under 12000 btu. In searching for a solution, I found what is called a heat tamer or diffuser. It seems to evenly distribute the heat so that there are not hotspots. It sounds like this would keep the heat evenly distributed so that the bottom would not warp.
Just wondering if anyone has come up against this problem and has found a solution. If I remember right, reading through this thread, it seems that some members have used this method. Any advice would be appreciated.
Torstone
Padawan Learner
Acquired a presto pressure canner and started out with canning lean pork the raw pack method a month ago. I used two 1 quart jars with rubber seals which is the only kind of canning jar I have been able to obtain in Norway.
_http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/P12148173a.jpg
They sealed and I decided to let them sit for a month checking them regularly before I opened them up to see how it had turned out(this being my first time doing this so I`m taking baby steps).
When I opened them up the first thing that hit me was that the pork smelled like canned tuna, not only that, it pretty much had the same consistency as canned tuna. I`ve read that canned chicken in water smells like canned tuna in water, but did not find anything about pork.
When I cooked it, the smell disappeared and it tasted like dry pork.
Another thing was that it had developed some white residue inside the upper part of the jar, this I noticed right after I was through with the canning procedure. I thought it might be that part of the rubber sealing rings, also being white had melted and leaked in to the jar, but upon opening it, the sealing rings were intact.
The white residue was soft and easy to remove, I think it is probably just the fat that have rendered itself from the meat and it isn`t that big of a deal based on that I did not find any alarming posts about in on the web or in this thread.
_http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg0118345529762.html
I found this thread on another forum discussing the outdoor use of the presto pressure canner.
From what I could read a heat regulator which regulates and distributes the heat could work, but wouldn`t the propane burner still produce 15 000 BTU and to much heat that may generate to much pressure to safely control?
It was hard to find anything at all about using the pressure canner on a propane burner with a heat tamer or diffuser, so maybe it would be better to be on the safe side and keep looking for a burner under 12 000 BTU?
_http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/P12148173a.jpg
They sealed and I decided to let them sit for a month checking them regularly before I opened them up to see how it had turned out(this being my first time doing this so I`m taking baby steps).
When I opened them up the first thing that hit me was that the pork smelled like canned tuna, not only that, it pretty much had the same consistency as canned tuna. I`ve read that canned chicken in water smells like canned tuna in water, but did not find anything about pork.
When I cooked it, the smell disappeared and it tasted like dry pork.
Another thing was that it had developed some white residue inside the upper part of the jar, this I noticed right after I was through with the canning procedure. I thought it might be that part of the rubber sealing rings, also being white had melted and leaked in to the jar, but upon opening it, the sealing rings were intact.
The white residue was soft and easy to remove, I think it is probably just the fat that have rendered itself from the meat and it isn`t that big of a deal based on that I did not find any alarming posts about in on the web or in this thread.
xandra said:
_http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg0118345529762.html
I found this thread on another forum discussing the outdoor use of the presto pressure canner.
From what I could read a heat regulator which regulates and distributes the heat could work, but wouldn`t the propane burner still produce 15 000 BTU and to much heat that may generate to much pressure to safely control?
It was hard to find anything at all about using the pressure canner on a propane burner with a heat tamer or diffuser, so maybe it would be better to be on the safe side and keep looking for a burner under 12 000 BTU?
Thank you Torstone for your reply. I did a test run with jars of water and it seemed to be a success. It seems that warping the bottom of the canner is the main concern. Afterwards I set it on a flat surface and it seemed to be level. I canned for 90 minutes like you would for meat. I am going to continue with the heat diffuser and I will make sure I report any problems. Haven't had the time yet to actually can yet.
hlat said:
Try not to feel overwhelmed. Canning is a step-by-step process which is easy to follow. There's probably lots of books at your local library and plenty of tutorials on youtube to walk you through it. The most important thing is that all your jars and lids are sanitized and you process them at the correct pressure and amount of time. If you look back through the thread you'll see reviews of the different pressure canners folks have. There's also suggestions about jars and where to get them, depending on where you live.
You don't even need to start with a pressure canner. A complete waterbath kit usually can be had for under $50. It includes the pot, jar lifter, funnel, a little magnetic gadget to pick the hot lids up so you don't burn yourself, and a scraper/measurer stick to get the air bubbles out before processing the product and to make sure the jars aren't too full. I got mine at a home supply/hardware type store (Canadian Tire). I even successfully canned bone broth with it, though they say you can't. It was in pint jars, boiled for 1 1/2 hours. They were still good even after a year. But I was very careful about the sanitizing, etc. You might want to start with simple things like lard, which can be done in a water bath, then work up to pressure canning.
It's actually a lot of fun. And even if you don't build up a humungous pantry, you'll still have a new skill, some stored food, and further ahead then if you did nothing.
Let us know how it goes. :)
