Showing posts with label Canning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canning. Show all posts
Monday, June 4, 2012
Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Jars of canned butter & hamburger rocks.
1. Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see #5 below), but the results are the same as with the expensive brands.2. Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.
3. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.4. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.
5. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once a few lids "ping," shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.6. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.7. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. [It does last a long time. We have just used up the last of the butter we canned in 1999, and it was fine after 5 years.] Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.
A lovely glow seems to emanate from every jar. You will also be glowing with grateful satisfaction while placing this "sunshine in a jar" on your pantry shelves.We have canned over 75 pints of butter in the past year. Miles loves it and will open a jar when I'm not looking! I buy butter on sale, then keep it frozen until I have enough for canning 2 or 3 batches of a dozen jars each.
Pressure Canning Ground Beef
Pressure Canning Ground Beef
This is one of the best things you can do to save both time and money. I put off canning ground beef for a long time because first, I thought it would be hard, and second, I’m pretty fussy about the meat I eat. When I did finally can ground beef, I did it in a big way. I started with about 15 lbs. which ended up being about 15 pints canned then did another batch that was bigger than the first. I had quite a bit of ground beef in my freezer that I wanted to get out of the freezer and use up. Besides, my freezer is older than dirt, well 2 years older than me, and I didn’t really trust it but it is still going strong.
Watch for the Lean Ground Beef to go on sale. Extra lean ground beef was on sale in the store where I shopped this weekend for $1.99 a pound which is a great deal. I like to use pint jars because 1 pint holds about 1 lb. hamburger, but if you use more than 1 lb. at a time, can it in quarts. I might mention here that you don’t have to can the extra lean ground beef. If you cook the meat in a kettle with some water and rinse with very hot water as described below, you will get rid of most of the fat.
Decide ahead of time how many pint jars your pressure canner will hold at one time and calculate how many pounds you can process at a time. Wash canning jars; keep on a tray in the oven on low while preparing ground beef. If you have a large enough kettle you can cook 10 lbs. or more at a time. Cook beef in a little water, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. Cook and stir until the pink is gone.
Drain ground beef; be sure not to pour the greasy water down your drain! I also like to rinse the cooked beef with very hot water to get rid of any extra fat that may be lurking in there. This is more important to do if you are canning beef that is fatter. Put a beef bouillon cube in each pint jar (This is optional but I love the flavor it adds) and fill with cooked ground beef. Pour boiling water in each jar to the bottom of the neck of the jar. Wipe off jars well; add flats (which have been kept warm in a pan of water on the back of the stove while you were preparing meat. Screw on rings and you are ready to go.
Following directions in your pressure cooker manual exactly, put jars in pressure canner, add water (mine suggests adding 2 T. white vinegar with the water to avoid rust stains which I always do) and put the lid on. Process exactly as your manual suggests. Process pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes.
When processing is completed and pressure has dropped, remove jars, wipe good with a hot soapy dish cloth, label with contents and date. Make sure to put on the label that it contains 1 lb. ground beef. Canning ground beef make take some time but it is definitely an easy project and you’ll love having canned ground beef on your shelf all cooked and ready to go. You find that Taco salad, sloppy Joes, chili or many other dishes are just a few minutes away from your table when the beef is already cooked. It frees up your freezer for all those extra ready-to-eat-meals you want to make ahead of time and the other good deals you find and can stock up on!
Easy Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe
Eating sustainably is more than just choosing local and organic foods when they’re in season; it’s also about preserving those foods so you can enjoy them all year long. Learning how to can fresh foods is high on my to-do list, but until I know how I’m constantly searching for easier ways to preserve my favorite foods that don’t require a lot of know-how or extra equipment. So you can understand my excitement when my roommate and fellow apprentice at Fair Share Farm introduced me to this easy-as-cabbage-pie recipe for homemade sauerkraut.
What you’ll need:
· 4-5 small heads of cabbage with any wilted outer leaves removed
· 1 tablespoon salt
· 1-2 sweet peppers (optional)
· 1-quart mason jar with lid
· Spatula or wire whisk (for smashing)
What you’ll do:
1. Grate the heads of cabbage into a large bowl. If you’re choosing to add peppers, slice them thinly and mix them in with the cabbage.
2. Place a 2-inch-thick layer of your cabbage (and peppers) in the bottom of your mason jar, sprinkle a little of your tablespoon of salt on top and start smashing with your spatula or whisk until the cabbages’ juice starts to squeeze out.
3. Repeat step 2 until the cabbage reaches the neck of the jar and there is about a half-inch of liquid on top. It is okay if there are a few stray pieces of cabbage floating in the liquid as long as the liquid is covering the majority of the cabbage.
4. Screw the lid on fairly tight and leave your kraut alone for at least four days. It should be ready to open in four to seven days. Refrigerate after opening.
What you need to know:
· The tablespoon of salt needs to last you the whole jar, so pace yourself and don’t use too much on your first couple of layers.
· If you follow this recipe correctly, in a day or two you will see some leakage from the top of the jar. The best thing you can do is set your jar on a thick layer of newspapers and change them out when necessary.
· It is important to smash the cabbage firmly, but don’t use all your strength. You don’t want the layers to be air-tight because you want the salt to reach all the cabbage for a consistent fermentation process.
What you’ll need:
· 4-5 small heads of cabbage with any wilted outer leaves removed
· 1 tablespoon salt
· 1-2 sweet peppers (optional)
· 1-quart mason jar with lid
· Spatula or wire whisk (for smashing)
What you’ll do:
1. Grate the heads of cabbage into a large bowl. If you’re choosing to add peppers, slice them thinly and mix them in with the cabbage.
2. Place a 2-inch-thick layer of your cabbage (and peppers) in the bottom of your mason jar, sprinkle a little of your tablespoon of salt on top and start smashing with your spatula or whisk until the cabbages’ juice starts to squeeze out.
3. Repeat step 2 until the cabbage reaches the neck of the jar and there is about a half-inch of liquid on top. It is okay if there are a few stray pieces of cabbage floating in the liquid as long as the liquid is covering the majority of the cabbage.
4. Screw the lid on fairly tight and leave your kraut alone for at least four days. It should be ready to open in four to seven days. Refrigerate after opening.
What you need to know:
· The tablespoon of salt needs to last you the whole jar, so pace yourself and don’t use too much on your first couple of layers.
· If you follow this recipe correctly, in a day or two you will see some leakage from the top of the jar. The best thing you can do is set your jar on a thick layer of newspapers and change them out when necessary.
· It is important to smash the cabbage firmly, but don’t use all your strength. You don’t want the layers to be air-tight because you want the salt to reach all the cabbage for a consistent fermentation process.
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