canning

[A.J. Holst]

We just ate the last quart of last year's tomatoes...new crop is yellow on the way to red. My wife wanted to make sure we have enough this year so we have 24 plants. We may not have to plant next year! Beans, yellow squash and zucchini producing, should have peppers within the week, okra a and corn not too far behind. I love free fresh food!

[Raoul]

I have had a few tomatoes, several different peppers, carrots, garlic, cucumbers.

Beans are blooming, eggplant is blooming...

Don't you just love a garden.

[UncleJak]

Awaiting my squash that got planted late....any day now... Sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[Grand Torino]

Having a garden is great now that I'm retired and have the time to tend to it properly. Working 12-14 hours a day left no time for a garden in years past.

[enfield]

Pickles yesterday, beans sometime this week.

[frankmako]

i got a small setup this year and it all stays the same i will have lots of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. 

[Chris]

We just ate the last of the sweet potatoes from last year. That's 9 months since we pulled them out of the ground. Baked up as well as anything from the store... not as good as when they were harvested, but still pretty darn tasty.

[gregintenn]

Any of you guys ever can corn? I know you can buy canned corn at the grocery, so it can be done, buy I haven't seen anyone do it. Do you think there's a reason why not?

[No_0ne]

Any of you guys ever can corn? I know you can buy canned corn at the grocery, so it can be done, buy I haven't seen anyone do it. Do you think there's a reason why not?

 

I can remember my mother and grandmother canning corn, but they later switched to freezing.  A lot of people prefer the taste of frozen corn to canned, and the canning process is relatively long for corn.  Additionally, the recommended procedure is to use a pressure cooker, as corn is a low-acid vegetable.  Internet recipes for canning corn indicate that it needs to be processed for 85 minutes (depends on your pressure cooker's setup of course) for quarts, I think the long prep and processing time was what originally led my mother to freezing, then we discovered that we liked the frozen better.  The only reason I can think of for canning corn would be lack of freezer space.

[Mark A]

Any of you guys ever can corn? I know you can buy canned corn at the grocery, so it can be done, buy I haven't seen anyone do it. Do you think there's a reason why not?

I bought a couple of bushels last year at the farmers market and canned it all. It makes great spicey creamed corn. Just had some last weekend as a matter of fact

Use this recipie for the creamed corn. People will think you are a master chef...

http://www.gactv.com/gac/pac_ctnt/text/0,,GAC_26058_106025,00.html#corn

[enfield]

Canned corn today, beans tomorrow.  We use a pressure canner for both, and we canned the corn in pint jars and processed them 55 minutes.  Beans will be in quarts of course - I cook 2 quarts just for the two of us.  They get better and better the more times you reheat them.  I have a great recipe for cooking green beans if anyone's interested.

[BigK]

[quote name="Mark A" post="1162327" timestamp="1403661045"]I bought a couple of bushels last year at the farmers market and canned it all. It makes great spicey creamed corn. Just had some last weekend as a matter of fact Use this recipie for the creamed corn. People will think you are a master chef... [url="http://www.gactv.com/gac/pac_ctnt/text/0,,GAC_26058_106025,00.html#corn"]http://www.gactv.com/gac/pac_ctnt/text/0,,GAC_26058_106025,00.html#corn[/url][/quote] That sounds like the best corn recipe ever. I can't wait to try it.

[peejman]

Canned corn today, beans tomorrow.  We use a pressure canner for both, and we canned the corn in pint jars and processed them 55 minutes.  Beans will be in quarts of course - I cook 2 quarts just for the two of us.  They get better and better the more times you reheat them.  I have a great recipe for cooking green beans if anyone's interested.

 

 

:wave:

[gregintenn]

Thanks for the tips. I do not have a pressure canner, and don't really want one, so I suppose I'll continue freezing the corn. It works out well.....until your freezer dies.

[Mark A]

I know this is an odd time to renew this thread but I did very little canning this summer. Over the last couple of years I built our pantry up to a pretty decent level. There is only 2 of us so we can only eat so much. This year I spent every spare moment at our new property working on land so canning went to the back seat.

We still bought stuff in quantity from the farmers market but we either dehydrated or (mostly) blanched and froze stuff to deal with when it cooled off and I was less excited about being outside.

This weekend was chicken stock weekend. We beer can a lot of whole chickens on the smoker so I had a ton of carcasses to make stock out of. Put it all on Friday evening and cooked it until this morning. Chilled it to separate the fat (keep the fat in the freezer for making cornbread) and then started canning. It looks like I'm going to get around 32 quarts which is good as I used the last of our stock last weekend to make white bean chicken chili for Halloween dinner.

Next weekend I will do the rest of the carcasses and can pints of chicken stock. We use a lot of stock. If a recipe calls for water we almost always use some type of stock instead. Healthier and just adds an extra layer of flavor.

We have a bunch of stuff still to can including a ton of what will be diced tomatoes.

Major bonus of not making the house hot by canning in August. When we get to build our retirement home on the farm I'm getting a simple outdoor canning kitchen. Life will be good when the old wifey isn't giving me stink eye for heating up the house.

Mark.

[Mark A]

Continuing to can here and there when I have a spare moment. This weekend was smoked turkey pot pie. Last weekend I smoked a turkey, stripped it to the carcass and made turkey stock. This weekend I used the stock and meat to make a big batch of turkey pot pie. I ended up with 8 quarts, 5 pints, and two containers of frozen that we are going to use Monday.

Normally I would use my dehydrated veggies for this but when I went to krogers to get a few things I saw they had their store brand frozen veggies on sale 10/10. I scooped up a bunch of peas, carrots, and onions and added some fresh celery. Every now and then it is nice to do something to cut down on prep time.

Anyway, this was the first time for this recipie and I am pretty happy with it. I did add some red pepper flakes as I like things a little spicier than most folks.

If you are interested in the recipie search for "canning diva chicken pot pie"

Thanks, Mark Edited December 21, 2014 by Mark A

[john455]

I can a lot of things I raise a garden every summer and can most of the veggies, saying that I have tried to can leftover chicken and dumplings and for some reason it never keeps, anyone else have this problem? This is the only thing I have tried to can that I haven't been able to.I guess i'm wondering if there is something special I need to do to it or what? 

[seez52]

maybe you're not getting it hot enough to kill all the bacteria all the way thru

[enfield]

You're using a pressure canner, I hope?

[john455]

yeah pressure cooker, preboil the jars and lids, and the last time I water bathed the full jars for 45 mins, still didn't keep, I just can't figure it out. My wife and I raised 4 kids so now that they are gone I can a lot of leftover Chili,soups, and other meals and Chicken & Dumplins is the only thing I have a problem with. I just put up 9 pints of homemade broccoli and cheese soup yesterday

[enfield]

Hmmmm. No suggestions from me.

[kckndrgn]

John, what happens with the chicken & dumplings?  Could be that the item is too thick (consitency wise) for canning.  Just like you should only can squash in chucks not mashed.  Even with pressure cooking you can't get the internal temp high enough to kill the pathogens.

I don't know how you make your C&D, but try leaving out the dumplings and canning it.  Making the dumplings as you use them.  Could be that the dumplings are too thick to get heated up enough.

 

We can tomatoes every year, but we go to the local farmers market and ask the vendors for the "canning tomatoes".  We can get a box full (20+ pounds) for $5 - $8.  Last year we came home with 6 boxes full out of that maybe 3/4 of a box worth of really bad tomatoes that we didn't use, and about a full box of tomatoes that we couldn't see any problems with.

 

I will make my own salsa and can it, love eating that in the winter :)

[john455]

yeah, that makes sense, I'll try that next time, we tried making smaller portions but never could get it to taste as good after 20 years of making large amounts to feed all of our kids. so canning/freezing saves us a lot of wasted time/money.