How I Pressure Can Meat: October 2011 Thread of the Month Contest Winner

[ladyhk13]

You can make your sauce or turkey and can them but you MUST use a pressure canner and not a water bath.

[realist]

That is what I planned. My ultimate goal is to have food packaged that we can open and eat right away with little preparation. This will eliminate the smell signature that occurs when someone has to simmer a nice sauce for several hours to get it to cook down.

Is there anyone out there that does tin can canning? I would be interested in know how to do this also. Thanks

[ladyhk13]

As in dried goods?

[Sniper-T]

I imagine he means anything. most Mormon places have actual tin can canners to rent... but usually only to members, so get to know someone. #10 cans are quite reasonably priced too. At least around here, that is the case. I broke it off with my Mormon contact though, so it is pressure canning for me

[ladyhk13]

That's what I was going to say. I go to our distribution center to do canning in #10 cans. I only do dry goods in them though since there is only 2 of us, anything that is "liquid" would go bad before we ate it, need refrigeration or we would get tired of eating it. The machine is wicked cool to use though!!!

[Sniper-T]

I don't understand... a can of store bought tuna is 'liquid' in sauce, water, or oil. why would that go bad? When I was in Alaska a while back, My brother had a bunch of salmon and halibut canned, and it lasted for years.

Do the processors there have a different machine? I would have thought that it would all be the same.

[JustAPrepper]

My interpretation of Realist's post of "tin can canning" was like what we would purchase in a store...you know, like a can of green beans or something.

If that's the case, no, I've never heard of anyone doing that...only what Lady does and packing dry goods in actual cans but you need special equipment to press and secure the lids.

As for canning spaghetti with sauce, I just scanned through the glossary at the end of my Ball Blue Book. I don't see anything for canning actual pasta (with sauce)...just canning sauce. Also just checked the UGA National Center for Home Food Preservation...

Caution: Do not add noodles or other pasta, rice, flour, cream, milk or other thickening agents to home canned soups. If dried beans or peas are used, they must be fully rehydrated first.

Here's the link...http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/soups.html

[ladyhk13]

I meant go bad after we opened it since there is so much in a #10 can for only 2 people. You are right about stuff being canned by professional co's and having an expiration date. Seems like they would be good for a really long time but maybe it's because of the metal where in glass there is no chemical reaction going on? Just a thought.

[realist]

Sorry gang I was out of touch. Yes I mean tin can canning like in the store. I was thinking that it would be nice to be able to have cans as well as jars. I just do not hear about it much, I know jars are great but this would give me another option. I was also looking at smaller amounts than the number 10 cans.

I do like the idea of dry packing some food items, that way it keeps out the rodents.

As for the sauces I was looking at pasta sauce (no noodles), chilli and taco mix (no rice). These I make from scratch since I normally do not like the store bought kind. It would be nothing to make a large batch to can. So that is on my list for this winter.