Chili Soup to Can

5# hamburger, venison or your favorite ground meat
3 onions, chopped
2 Tbs salt
1 Tbs pepper
2 qt spaghetti sauce
2 qt water
2 c catsup
2 qt chili beans
1 1/2 tsp chili powder

Brown meat and onions and add seasons. Once cooked, drain but do not rinse, add remaining ingredients and cook well. Cold Pack 2 hours.
This recipe, as is, makes approx. 2 gallons of chili soup. It's from an Amish friend back north.

Bean & Bacon Soup To Can

2# dried navy beans, soak overnight
3 c, chopped onions
2 c. diced celery
2 1/2 c. tomato juice
2 bay leaves
2# bacon, fried and crumbled
2 c diced potatoes
2 c. diced carrots
1 tsp pepper

After soaking beans, cook until soft. Cook together onions, celery, potatoes and carrots until just about soft. Add together beans, vegs and bacon drippings and simmer slowly.
When thoroughly heated, pack and pressure can @ 10# for 75 minutes.

**I won't say do this or don't do this, but when we made this up, I did not cook the vegs first, and truthfully, I wasn't a bean-cooking purist either. And I have no idea how many we got -- we didn't really follow the recipe (gasp!) as I tend to make things on the fly around here...nothing is ever the same twice it seems :o)

How To Can: Corn Relish or Corn Salad

Corn Relish

2 quarts corn, cut from cob
2 cups chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green peppers
3/4 cup chopped red peppers
2 tablespoons celery seed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 tablespoon mustard
3 cups cider vinegar
1 cup water

In deep kettle, combine all ingredients. Mix well, cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Pour hot mixture into hot sterilized jars and seal. Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Corn Salad

18 ears sweet corn, kernels cut off cobs
8 large onions, chopped fine
4 green peppers, cut fine
4 red peppers, cut fine
1 large head cabbage, cut fine
1/4 cup canning salt
2 quarts vinegar, divided
2 tablespoons ground mustard (dry)
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon tumeric
1 cup flour

In large kettle, combine corn, onions, peppers, cabbage and canning salt. Pour 1 quart vinegar over corn mixture; cook for 15 minutes.

In separate kettle, combine remaining vinegar, mustard, sugar, tumeric and flour. Bring to boil.

Add mustard mixture to corn mixture; cook until heated through, stirring all the time. Pour hot mixture into hot sterilized jars; seal.

How To Can: Applesauce

more from our other blog...

What do you do with 100 pounds of apples? No, this isn't all of them...it's not even half of them :o) That's my bread bowl and my stainless dishpan heaped over...alot of apples...but there is still a full to the brim bushel box off to the side waiting!

Applesauce, of course!


Then Apple Butter.

Then some fresh apple dumplings for dessert.

And next week, we'll get more apples and start Apple Pie Filling for the pantry shelves as well. We started this because a member at church brought some apples, a 5 gallon bucket of them, from his daughter's tree. They were delicious baking apples and I've so missed being able to go gather apples in the autumn. We cooked them up in 2 large crockpot-fulls and oh boy, did they smell good! Touch of cinnamon tossed in while cooking down...YUM!

Well, that just drove me insane and I wanted more :o) Yesterday we drove down to Pontotoc near the Amish community there and at the farm stand, we bought 2 large bushel boxes of apples to keep that wonderful smell in the house a bit longer. They were only $20 a box...might be pricey for some areas, but for what I'm used to paying back north (when we moved, they were pushing near $30 or even more with some varieties, per bushel!) I don't think we did bad at all. We bought some Rome and some Granny Smith.

Anyone have a good, tried and true apple butter recipe? I have tons of them in my varied cookbooks, and for the most part they are similiar, with some calling for simple ingredients, some calling for some Karo syrup, etc.

I've never made apple butter. Well, let me rephrase....I've never made any I thought turned out well. It ends up more like really thick applesauce. Shouldn't it be somewhat more than just thick applesauce? Shouldn't it be a bit more spreadable somehow? This stuff isn't bad, mind you...just not exactly a good go-together with biscuits and scones. I guess I'm wanting something with a bit more consistency to it.

How To Can: Apple Pie Filling

These are copied from my other blog's archives, so I've trimmed off the chat and kept just the recipes.

We made apple pie filling this weekend and as I made too much 'sauce' for the filling recipe, I also ended up with 5 quarts of the for the fridge. If I don't use it up with more apples from the friend at church, I'll go ahead and process it for the pantry.

Maybe we should call ourselves the Apple Dumpling Gang this month :o) Seems that all I've put up lately. It's a blessing, though. Tired as I am of peeling, coring and quartering apples, it is a blessing to have them. And they do look good on those pantry shelves all sparkly and pretty :o)

My 16 qt bread bowl filled with prepared apples...I didn't take pictures of the many (many) hands going in and out as the children passed through the kitchen on false tasks.

Here they are tucked away into quart jars...
And loaded with the wonderful-smelling cinnamon 'sauce' for the filling...
And what do you do with all the apple trash? The cores went out for the piggies. The peelings went onto sheets to be dried in the oven for potpourri...
What else I didn't take pictures of was the first bath full of pie filling. As soon as my jars hit the water basket, one popped its bottom apart and drizzled apples and filling all over in the canner. We had to empty the canner and wash it out, get the jars emptied and start reheating everything and waiting to start again. I had one quart in there that was from the sorghum we bought last year in Pontotoc and I thought for sure, as soon as I heard that "pop" in the canner, that that one was the one that broke. But, it ws fine and one of the Ball jars popped apart instead. Go figure.
**It isn't considered safe at all to do canning, pressure or water bath, with jars not made specifically for canning. They are not of the same strength as true canning jars and you can have troubles, such as a jar breaking. Breakng inside the canner isn't nearly as large an issue as removing jars and having one shatter. Boiling liquids and foods....do not take chances in your kitchen. Make sure you inspect every jar that will be used. Check for nicks, chips or cracks along the neck neck and band edge where a false seal could be made. Watch for any damage and if in doubt, use it for something else -- like storing dried goodies or beans, or such.

So, right now, the kitchen is messy and there is an aroma of cinnamon and apples lingering about. When the potpourri is done, we'll toss it with some cinnamon and allspice and pack it up in a bag until I can find a nice crock to set it out in.

How To: Can Butter

I want to do this and get some up in the pantry. I bought everything not too long ago, then we just ended up rotating the butter as is into the kitchen without canning.

I have several sets of instructions for canning the butter, but all in all, they are similar enough. I'd love to do this with fresh butter, but I don't have any resources for that, so I am buying butter (not margarine) in bulk and using it. I usually purchase our butter at Sam's Club...the large 3 or 5# tub of whipped butter...and will probably try that first. I do plan to stock the freezer with pound packages of butter for later canning, also.

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.

Canning Tables

This was a PDF file from one of the extension offices...thought I'd save it for myself and share it with anyone interested.

Table 1. Recommended process times in a dial-gauge pressure canner.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Canner Pressure (PSI)
       at Altitudes of
      -------------------------------
       Style  Jar  Process      0-       2,001-  4,001-
      of Pack  Size    Time    2,000 ft.  4,000 ft.  6,000 ft.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicken    Without bones:
or   Hot  Pints   75 min     11 lb      12 lb   13 lb
Rabbit   and
 Raw  Quarts   90 min     11 lb      12 lb   13 lb
   With bones:
 Hot  Pints   65 min     11 lb      12 lb   13 lb
 and
  Raw  Quarts   75 min     11 lb      12 1b   13 1b
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground or  Hot  Pints   75 min     11 lb      12 lb   13 lb
Chopped
Meat    Quarts   90 min     11 lb      12 1b   13 1b
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strips,  Hot  Pints   75 min     11 lb      12 1b   13 1b
Cubes or  and
Chunks   Raw  Quarts   90 min     11 lb      12 lb   13 lb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meat   Hot  Pints   20 min     11 lb      12 1b   13 lb
Stock,
(Broth)    Quarts   25 min     11 lb      12 lb   13 lb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soups*   Hot  Pints   60 min     11 lb      12 1b   13 1b
  Quarts   75 min     11 lb      12 1b   13 1b
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fish   Raw  Pints  100 min     11 lb      12 1b   13 1b
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chili Con  Hot     Pints    75 min     11 lb      12 lb     13 lb
Carne
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Caution: Process 100 minutes if soup contains seafood.

---

Table 2. Recommended process times in a weighted-gauge
pressure canner. 
-------------------------------------------------------------
    Canner Pressure (PSI)
       at Altitudes of
     --------------------
    Style  Jar  Process     0-       Above
   of Pack  Size   Time   1,000 ft.  1,000 ft.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Chicken   Without bones:
or       Hot and Pints   75 min    10 lb      15 lb
Rabbit       Raw  Quarts   90 min    10 lb      15 lb
  With bones:
     Hot and Pints   65 min    10 lb      15 lb
     Raw  Quarts   75 min    10 lb      15 lb
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ground or    Hot  Pints   75 min    10 lb      15 lb
Chopped
Meat    Quarts   90 min    10 lb      15 lb
-------------------------------------------------------------
Strips,      Hot  Pints   75 min    10 lb      15 lb
Cubes or     and
Chunks       Raw  Quarts   90 min    10 lb      15 lb
-------------------------------------------------------------
Meat       Hot  Pints   20 min    10 lb      15 lb
Stock,
(Broth)   Quarts   25 min    10 lb      15 lb
-------------------------------------------------------------
Soups*       Hot  Pints   60 min    10 lb      15 lb
  Quarts   75 min    10 lb      15 lb
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fish       Raw  Pints  100 min    10 lb      15 lb
-------------------------------------------------------------
Chili Con    Hot        Pints    75 min    10 lb      15 lb
Carne
-------------------------------------------------------------
*Caution: Process 100 minutes if soup contains seafood.

---

Based on "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin 539, September 1994 revision.

How To: Can Butter

Here is a link to the instructions for canning butter. I've read about this back in the Y2k days, but never did try it. Seriously, though, it would be one of those things I'd like to have when things take a turn in the world. Obviously, it would be easier I suppose to simply make sure I have access to fresh milk (which I'd want as well anyway) and simply make my own as needed, but for those who aren't set up for milking animals yet, here's a thought for stocking the pantry nonetheless.

http://www.endtimesreport.com/canning_butter.html
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. 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.

Canning: Apple Pie Filling

Dana asked about my pie filling recipe. A long-time family friend of my husband's gave it to me years ago. I love it because it does make up a good amount, and it's delicious :o) You can whip open a jar or two for a pie, cobbler or crunch, or just a topper for cakes or ice cream.

Mullen's Apple Pie Filling
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
1 tsp salt (we personally don't use salt in anything we bake)
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp lemon juice

Mix all above with 10 cups of water in a large pot. Heat over medium-high until sugar is dissolved and bubbling gently. The 'sauce' will begin to thicken and keep a nice thick, smooth texture -- be sure to stir up along the bottom of the pan well and keep things blended.
Spoon into quart jars packed with apple slices. Lid and seal.
Process in water bath for 20 minutes.

I've no idea how many jars you will get with this. It has varied every time I've done it. Ballpark, you can get 16-19 quarts of apples per bushel. I had little hands (and some not so little hands!) sneaking apple slices all the while, so we only ended up with 10 quarts, plus 5 of the sauce remaining. I went ahead and water bathed the extra sauce for the same time length and it's in the pantry instead of the fridge.

It will vary with how you slice your apples (thin side or thicker) and how well you pack the slices into the jars as well (more apples, less sauce). I suggest packing them in as tightly as you can get them -- the slices do tend to float to the top of the jars after processing. Doesn't affect the taste one bit, but they do look funny :o)

I've never made apple cider vinegar. I'll have to look that up and see what it entails. I usually just buy several gallons at a time -- we don't drink it, but I have a couple recipes that uses it, and we add it to the chickens and goats waters for extra nutrients. I was going to make apple jelly with the peels and cores, but every recipe I found said not to do that with a tart apple,such as Granny Smith -- you have to add too much sugar for a nice-tasting product. Granny Smith is what I bought. Maybe we'll try it again some time.

Jams: Caramel Apple & Apple maple

Nothing much, but on my other blog a lady shared her Maple Apple and Caramel Apple jam recipes.

You can't go wrong with maple and caramel now can you?

I'm definitely heading back down to Pontotoc for more apples this weekend now. With a large family you can always use more jars of jam in the pantry! Hmmm....I'll have to get more pint jars -- I'm out of them. We tend to stick with quarts only, but I'm thinking 'specialty flavors' for jams might work best in the pints or halves.

Either way -- enjoy!


Apple-Maple Jam

7 cups Apples (Peeled & Cored)
6 cups Sugar
1 cup Maple Syrup
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cloves

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pot.
Bring slowly to a boil.
Cook rapidly to jellying point.
As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.
Adjust caps.
Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.
Yield: about 8 half pints




Caramel Apple Jam

6 cups peeled and diced Granny Smith or Gala apples
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon butter
1 package powdered fruit pectin
3 cups granulated sugar
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Mix apples, water and butter. Cook over low heat, stirring, until apples are soft (but not mushy).
Stir in pectin. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.
Add sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg. Return to rolling boil and continue to boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim foam.
Pour into hot jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
Yields 7 1/2 pints.

How To: Can Sausage (and other Ground Meats)

Canning Meats -- visit this site

Definitely keepers for my recipe files....do click either link (the titles of the recipes) and visit Sylvia's Christian Homekeeper site. It's well worth the time to browse those recipes and other files!

How To Home-Can Sausage

Feb 20th, 2008 by Sylvia

How To Home-Can Sausage

Omit sage from your recipe if you are mixing your own sausage. In canning it will make the sausage bitter. Use a very light hand with other herbs and spices including garlic and onion, they will become stronger tasting in the canned sausage.
I simply use a bit of hot red pepper, black pepper, salt, and some thyme or marjoram for sausage that is to be canned.

Use 2/3 lean meat to 1/3 fat to make the best canned sausage.
Can sausage the same way as you can ground meat, except:
# Make small patties, cook til very done.
# Unlike ground beef, you use the fat from cooking the sausage in canning it.

# Don’t fill the jar too full, 2/3 full is enough.
# Pour the grease in and cover the sausages.
# You may want to melt some extra lard to use in covering the sausages in the jars. Keep it very hot while waiting to be poured.

Adjust lids, can in pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure.
Pints 75 minutes
Quarts 90 minutes

How to: Can Bacon

Just a keeper for my own files here -- if you haven't visited Sylvia's site, The Christian Homekeeper, you really must!

How To Home-Can Bacon

Feb 20th, 2008 by Sylvia

I tried it and it works…Something to remember when using this recipe: keep the grease off everything! You will have trouble getting the lids to seal if you allow the grease to splatter on the jar rims or on the lids and rings. Do everything slowly and carefully to keep everything clean. One more thing….this is not a USDA approved method, can bacon at your own risk.

You will need:

1 Pound of bacon for each quart jar

Parchment paper

Roasting pan or other pan for the oven

Quart jars, lids, rings and Pressure CookerProcedure:

Boil jars, lids and rings for 10 minutes, keep simmering.

Get water in Pressure Cooker boiling

Trim long sheets of parchment paper so that they will fit, rolled up in a quart jar. The paper should not be any wider than the jars are tall from their bottom to their necks.

Lay strips of bacon on a baking pan or roasting pan and pre-cook in a 350* F oven until they are about 2/3 their original length, but do not cook them until they are crisp. If they are crisp when they are placed in the jars, they will crumble.

After pre-cooking, place the strips of bacon, still limp, on a sheet of trimmed parchment parchment paper. Roll the paper and bacon up and insert this roll into a hot, sterilized quart jar.

Pour the grease from the bacon into the jar, do not fill more than 2/3 full of grease.

Process at 10 pounds pressure for 1 1/2 hours. Higher elevations should use 11 pounds pressure.

To cook: Open sealed jar, unroll paper and remove bacon. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp.