Canning at Home.

[Sinister]

Anyone know anything about this? I'm kinda interested, but the wife says that it's pretty gross and maybe not something I want to mess with.

I might try making my own pickles. I dunno. Famous Dave's sweet/hot pickles are pretty good...

home-canning.com

 

[Micabay]

Two years ago my wife and I canned about 40 jars of raspberry jam, we picked from our landlords garden. Then for that Christmas we gave everyone a jar... Best Christmas ever.

 

[Tim]

Whats gross about canning?
We can about 40~50 jars a year of tomato's, tomato juice, 25~30 jars of salsa. It can be time consuming and get a kitchen kinda hot because once you get started you cant stop until the last jar has been "cooked".
I dont recall us ever making dill pickles, Lisa and her mom and dad love the sweet pickles and have canned many jars. I love dill pickles and just prefer mine come from Vlasic.

 

[Blood]

Something we started as a great side benefit has become the main activity as far as canning goes.
We're empty nesters and I'm gone half the time but we still make a couple gallons of whatever is going in the pot.
We don't can it properly like it's going to sit in the basement for a year or anything.
We just get it piping hot, jar it up in pints and put it in the fridge. It last for weeks n weeks and every jar taste fresh made.
At any given time we have Chili, Chicken & egg noodles, hamburger soup, ham n beans, tater soup...
I run dedicated so that's mostly what I eat on the road.
If you're making soup, chili or whatever it as easy to make 2 gallons as it is 2 quarts.
DEE-licious.
Plus it's cheaper and healthier. And we waste VERY LITTLE food.
I've got 5 grandsons, three of whom are teens. It doesn't take them long to put a serious dent in a gallon of anything when they drop by.
It's a win-win-win.
I also reuse the lids since the stuff gets refrigerated anyway.


View attachment 19812
View attachment 19812

 

[Sinister]

Whats gross about canning?

Dunno. Wife just said everything looks gross. I suppose if tomatoes is the primary thing to can I won't bother. Im not sure I really need to pick this up as a hobby. I can't stand tomatoes.

 

[terrylamar]

Everyone should know how to can and garden hunt and fish among many other survival skills. It is going to get worse before it starts getting better. This government seems bound and determined to initiate fights that will tear us apart.

 

[rebel]

Anyone know anything about this? I'm kinda interested, but the wife says that it's pretty gross and maybe not something I want to mess with.

I might try making my own pickles. I dunno. Famous Dave's sweet/hot pickles are pretty good...

home-canning.com

It's easy. Not expensive to pick up what you need.
A big pot, some mason jars and lids, veggies and some spices.
Now, git ta work!

 

[gearjammer]

we can all kinds of veggies and meats, around thanksgiving and/or Christmas we go crazy canning turkey since it is always on sale then.
we then have cheap and quick meals on the shelf just throw a pint of canned turkey ,a quart of broth, throw in a handful of home made noodles cook a few minutes and enjoy

 

[Road Dust]

Dunno. Wife just said everything looks gross. I suppose if tomatoes is the primary thing to can I won't bother. Im not sure I really need to pick this up as a hobby. I can't stand tomatoes.

You can can almost anything. The safety guidelines have changed over the years though. Used to be that people would can using what is called a "hot water bath" where the jars of food are boiled a certain length of time in a large pot of water, and some would only get the food really hot and throw it in a jar.

The modern guidelines for canning say to only use the hot water bath for very acidic foods and to can everything else using a pressure canner/cooker. They say to never use the method of just heating the food, but some people still do.

I tend to error on the side of safety, so the only thing I have ever canned so far is some salsa and some pickles using the hot water bath method. I am hoping to get a pressure canner this year and experiment with other things.

I do still have one jar of icebox pickles left in the refrigerator that I made last Fall. Those things are awesome!
How To Make Ice Box Pickles

I didn't can these, only put them in a jar and stored in the fridge. They keep a really long time.
View attachment 19813
View attachment 19813

 

[8978]

You can can

Lol

 

[8978]

I canned my beef stew and chili but it seems to break down into mush for me. The hamburger turns into little tiny pieces. I think there is an art to canning some things like using raw vegetables in certain things since they cook in the canning process and when reheated so I gave up.

I tried making salsa a few times but darn it, it just doesn't beat some of the store bought salsa on the shelves.

 

[Racer X 69]

When I was growing up my mom would have a huge garden, and she had a small hobby farm with pigs, a couple cows, chickens, etc. Every fall the whole family worked together to put up all the vegetables and fruit, some canned, some frozen. She also raised chickens, pigs and a steer, and we butchered the chickens and she had a guy come out to do the pigs and steer. She also made wine from a grape arbor we had. Then she started keeping bees, and we had fresh, raw honey.

It was great to have fresh milk, cream and homemade butter, fresh fruits and veggies, fresh meat, and in the winter the canned and frozen stuff. No highly processed garbage of unknown origin. No excess salt. No super refined sugars.

Healthy living at its best.

 

[8978]

When I lived in rural NH in the early 80's I lived next to a chicken ranch. Free Range was the big rage. The guy put up a big fence all around the coops and opened to doors permanently. Guess what? The freaking chickens only came out to eat and ran back in.

 

[2xR]

The summer of 1999 I planted a "Y2K" garden and canned it all. Mostly green beans. I was still eating those damn beans in 2004. They kept very nicely, but, I was sick of eating canned beans by then.

My mom's family used to can fresh sausage. I still crave that stuff. Back "in the day" it was the only good way to preserve food on the farm.

 

[terrylamar]

Back "in the day" it was the only good way to preserve food on the farm.

And, so it will be again, soon!

 

[Duck]

I could never get tired of eating canned green beans, if they're canned the way my grandma always did it.

I think she mixed in some vinegar & beef bullion or something.

 

[Road Dust]

When I was growing up my mom would have a huge garden, and she had a small hobby farm with pigs, a couple cows, chickens, etc. Every fall the whole family worked together to put up all the vegetables and fruit, some canned, some frozen. She also raised chickens, pigs and a steer, and we butchered the chickens and she had a guy come out to do the pigs and steer. She also made wine from a grape arbor we had. Then she started keeping bees, and we had fresh, raw honey.

It was great to have fresh milk, cream and homemade butter, fresh fruits and veggies, fresh meat, and in the winter the canned and frozen stuff. No highly processed garbage of unknown origin. No excess salt. No super refined sugars.

Healthy living at its best.

Absolutely! A long time ago when I was young, I used to think like Sinister's wife that canned food was gross. My ex mother-in-law always canned and froze her garden bounty, and when I would see the canned food sitting on the shelves in the pantry, I would always think it looked yucky. Now, years later, I know longer think that. What I consider gross nowadays is when I read the list of ingredients on store bought foods. Actually, it is more than gross, it is down right scary.

So, I have my little garden, which I add to each year. I have my chickens that have the run of my backyard, and maybe, just maybe, I will be a beekeeper someday. I also make homemade bath soap and laundry soap, and I continue to learn how to make what I use as simply as it can be made.

 

[Road Dust]

I could never get tired of eating canned green beans, if they're canned the way my grandma always did it.

I think she mixed in some vinegar & beef bullion or something.

Greens beans and new taters, MmmmmMmmm.

 

[Rigjockey]

You can can almost anything. The safety guidelines have changed over the years though. Used to be that people would can using what is called a "hot water bath" where the jars of food are boiled a certain length of time in a large pot of water, and some would only get the food really hot and throw it in a jar.

The modern guidelines for canning say to only use the hot water bath for very acidic foods and to can everything else using a pressure canner/cooker. They say to never use the method of just heating the food, but some people still do.

I tend to error on the side of safety, so the only thing I have ever canned so far is some salsa and some pickles using the hot water bath method. I am hoping to get a pressure canner this year and experiment with other things.

I do still have one jar of icebox pickles left in the refrigerator that I made last Fall. Those things are awesome!
How To Make Ice Box Pickles

I didn't can these, only put them in a jar and stored in the fridge. They keep a really long time.
View attachment 19814

I like that one. It looks pretty straight forward and easy to do. I may try it.
View attachment 19814

 

[Racer X 69]

Guess what? The freaking chickens only came out to eat and ran back in.

Doesn't matter where the birds spend their time. The whole thing about free range s they eat naturally, and aren't fed processed feed.

If they chose to hang out in the coop when they weren't scarfin' down bugs, so what?

Absolutely! A long time ago when I was young, I used to think like Sinister's wife that canned food was gross. My ex mother-in-law always canned and froze her garden bounty, and when I would see the canned food sitting on the shelves in the pantry, I would always think it looked yucky.

I always thought canned cherries looked pretty gross. The canning process cooks all the color out of them. But they still make great pies and cobbler!

What I consider gross nowadays is when I read the list of ingredients on store bought foods. Actually, it is more than gross, it is down right scary.

Yeah, try to pronounce some of that crap. You need a degree in chemistry just to understand some of the words on food labels.

Better living through chemistry, right?