Canning!

I go on holidays and ya all start talking about canning! Oh one of my favorite topics 🙂

I just bought some Tattler canning lids - they have been around since the 70's and they are reusable. I can't wait to try them but I have to get home first! I have a Presto Pressure canner but I am dreaming about the All American. The one I want brand new was $479.00 at Lehman's in Ohio - Perfessor - your mom would have shot you knowing you THREW-IT-OUT! ack!

I keep hoping to find one at a yard sale - we're heading for a flea market tomorrow...one can hope!

Hi Ratdogmom

I bought a weighted pressure canner because I could not find anywhere to get the dial gauge tested. I seem to remember reading somewhere on the internet that you can convert the dial gauge to the weighted but I have no recollection of where I might have found that. I've heard that it's even getting difficult in the USA to find somewhere to get the gauge tested and that the cost is about the same as buying a new gauge. Just bought a new rubber seal & vent for my pressure canner yesterday at my local Home Hardware which is the only place I could find that stocked them. I'm good to go for the next canning season now.

The price of new jars have gotten ridiculous in my neighbourhood and even the lids that I used to be able to buy for 99 cents a box the best price I've found is $2.38. I think canning has gotten more popular because one year I needed more lids and I had to really search several stores before I found some. Now I buy a few boxes every so often so I've got a good amount put away.

Foxglove

These people have gauges also the pressure stem and weight that would probably fit. You may have to retap the lid of your canner to fit the threads.
http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecannerparts.htm

I go on holidays and ya all start talking about canning! Oh one of my favorite topics 🙂

I just bought some Tattler canning lids - they have been around since the 70's and they are reusable. I can't wait to try them but I have to get home first! I have a Presto Pressure canner but I am dreaming about the All American. The one I want brand new was $479.00 at Lehman's in Ohio - Perfessor - your mom would have shot you knowing you THREW-IT-OUT! ack!

I keep hoping to find one at a yard sale - we're heading for a flea market tomorrow...one can hope!

Hey, I can talk canning all day long! lol
And I bore my friends and family to death with ideas and my canning escapades!

well no luck at yard sales or the flea market so we stopped at Lehmans on our way home (again) and bought 2 All American's - a little smaller than the largest one I was thinking about which in real life looks monstrously HUGE - and more Tattler lids and some bulk regular lids and a steam canner...

I can hardly wait to get started 🙂 but maybe I should unpack first!

OK - Mamaizzy - keep talking - I will NEVER be bored hearing about canning and I may need some help with my new canners!!!!

I would try canning some peppers and see if my kids would eat them. I've run into people who won't eat canned peaches because the texture changes and with sweet peppers it will go from a crisp vegetable to soggy. Best to know now if the kid who eats 5 or 6 fresh peppers won't touch a canned one if their life depended on it. When I buy new things at the grocery store I'll only buy a couple and see if it will get eaten. No point having foods no one likes. You could also dehydrate the peppers if you're using them for soups & stews.

a good point, but things that are canned can be used in soups, stews, casseroles, on pizza, in sauces etc. OR you can make the soup, stew, sauce etc and can it.

my chili (the worlds best, oh yes, i'll back that up lol) came out of a home canned jar and my goodness, it tasted even better!
my first batch of stew didn't work well, but that was the first time i had canned.

get a good pressure canner.
buy once, cry once. i love my all American canner model 925.

Has anyone tried canning cake, pudding or anything along those lines? If I can buy something in the store canned, then I figure that I should be able to do it at home.

http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/carrot-pudding-for-christmas/

Here is my favorite canned carrot pudding/cake, its been made in my family for at least four generations, and is always served at christmas time but also though the winter, its typically made in the fall, a) because it needs time to mellow in the jar if possable b)it uses a number of fall root veggies in the recipe.

Its the only one that I personally make, I have seen recipes for canned cakes on the net as well.

wow thank you

I just feel the need to add that canning cake, pudding etc. is NOT recommended - not to be a pill but in case you didn't know...

http://nchfp.uga.edu/questions/FAQ_canning.html#30

Can I can bread or cake in a jar?
These products are not recommended for canning; choose recipes that you can freeze. In fact, most of these products are not really "canned." The directions call for baking in the jar and then closing with a canning lid. Many recipes for quick breads and cakes are low-acid and have the potential for supporting the growth of a bacteria like Clostridium botulinum if it is present inside the closed jar. One university's research showed a high potential for problems. You will see these products made commercially; however, additives, preservatives and processing controls not available for home recipes are used. Canning jar manufacturers also don't endorse baking in their canning jars.

Hi,

Thanks Anita, I should have added, this is not recommended to the link, I normally remember to do that on recipes that I use that don't meet current guidelines.

I do alot of things that "were" done and still are in many places in the world, but are not longer recommended as safe per the new guidelines, I do so love the old cookbooks (I have a huge collection) its so interesting to see what was approved, used for so many years that is now considered unsafe..

I got a amazing new cookbook from ireland, called the forgotten skills of cooking by Darina Allen and it has a whole section on canning, (she is still doing open kettle and oven canning) and not a single recipe would meet standard, but the one that I am really looking forward to trying in my own kitchen is the marmalde that is made and then covered with clean rendered melted lamb tallow, when you want to take a bowl out for use, you crack the tallow with a fresh boiled spoon, take out your portion, then clean your fat, melt it and re-seal, I am going to give this a try.. its like the old fashioned wax toppings from my childhood, but with a product that I can produce on farm.

I have a lot of very old canning recipes as well and for some rather "strange" things such as cattail jam, musk rat and raccoon. None of what my grandmother did would meet the specs of today but she never made anyone sick.

Farmgal, when my grandmother used to use either wax or something similiar (no clue I was just a kid) she would do it in 2 levels with a piece of string in between so it was easier to get the seal off. Have you done that?

Cattail Jam, Any chance you can track that one down and share it? I use cattails for alot of things but that is a new one for me! Please an thanks..

I had not seen the string but that is very clever, I would guess that you put your first layer down let it set, then put the string and a hot second layer on top once cold, you could use it to do a straight lift off.. Never done it but will certainly put that tidbit in my farm book..

It may be a day or two before I can find the recipe. Since I collect very old cook books and I don't know which one it is in.

I use cattails for a lot of things

Please share! I have quite a supply I would like to make better use of other than just eating shoots.

Shoots and roots are good, but the main use I do is the dried cattails themselves for stuffing, I am working on a small stuffed lap puffy quilt with them as the batting.