this my canning blåg

i am learning to can, i will tell you about it here. photos sometimes. cost breakdowns, mistakes were made, recipe reviews.

last week i canned 5 quarts of turkey broth from a turkey i bought on sale on black friday. this was my first canning project. not including old vegetables i threw in, each jar cost $0. because the turkey was $10 and i don't think the bones are part of that price, right?
https://i.imgur.com/uN3v6WY.jpg

today i am canning chili from this recipe: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/chili_con_carne.html. i added more spices and a tablespoon of minced garlic to make it more similar to what i usually have. it made about 9.5 pints, the .5 i am eating for dinner (which i had to microwave for a long time as the beans are parcooked). each pint worked out to under $2. some other site said it was 60 g of protein for pint but i figured more like 40 g?

i am canning 10 lbs of sweet potatoes i got from costco

I've never heard of canning sweet potatoes, but they're available here year-round so I wouldn't have. Packed in syrup?

i did it in water but you can do syrup. i think they will end up very soft, the processing time is 90 minutes, but i can mash them if so. they are available everywhere year round i am just trying to have more cooked food around for when i get home after driving 90 minutes, saving time and dollars

i had my first broken jar in the canner. went to pick it up with the tongs and was like this is weird, the jar's moving but the food isn't. i did hear it pop while it was processing but didn't know what it was. i probably over-packed it to make all 10 lbs fit in 7 jars. whoops. i tasted a piece of sweet potato from that one. definitely soft. i might try raw packing them or larger chunks next time. the other 6 jars look good. the orangey clear liquid they end up with is attractive.

i canned split pea and ham soup a month or so ago, forgot to blog it

just canned 4 pints and 9 half pints of strawberry jam from what i picked this morning. only like 16 lbs of strawberries to go.

I don't envy the work required, but I do envy the results you'll enjoy.

how many cans will you end up with

also idk if this is a dumb question but how does canning jam compare w jarring? do you get longer shelf life

or wait is it a canner that also uses jars & you are using jars for the jame

lots of preserves memories from childhood, mum was a jam making fiend: i ate her plum
jam in sandwiches for lunch every day all through primary school. mum & dad once spent a whole afternoon & night canning green tomato pickles, dad in swimming goggles cutting onions lol it was a whole thing

i am enjoying yr journey <3

it's canning in jars, yes. i am gonna try low-sugar jam, preserves, then left the last quarter of the load for freezing or baking, don't know yet. also cut up some for yogurts this week.

My parents went through a canning phase when I was in elementary school. My mom's plum jam was v v delicious. Tomatoes, peaches are the other things I remember.

A friend is really into canning chutneys and the Major Grey style stuff she brought over last time was incredibly good, almost made me want to can but I fear the equipment involved. I will soon have more kitchen storage tho so maybe I will give it a go. Harbl u inspire me

it's not scary! the instructions for canning sound very strict to prevent botulism, etc., but they are not too hard to follow. especially because it's not necessary to sterilize things (and really, how can you "sterilize" something in your kitchen when the spores are literally everywhere?). i just boil all 5 minute water bath canning recipes for 10 min. i actually prefer pressure canning. it's a lot of work but i can do more at one time. my set-up for water bath canning is not great because i have a flat-top electric stove that has trouble boiling a large pot of water. i hope to have gas in the future. i do water bath canning in a 12 qt stockpot. if you are afraid just try a small batch of something water bath cannable in a stockpot.

i have canned all of my 50 lbs of tomatoes. got 6 qts of crushed and 7 qts of whole tomatoes. i would do this again--though perhaps only if i can grow them myself someday--but i learned some things. the yield is somewhat lower than one would expect (i knew this as this information is easy to find on the internet). a lot of labor for not much product. crushed tomatoes are a lot of work and mess. even with a long time boiling off the liquid, including some time saved by just separating juice off and boiling it in another vessel, i think they're too watery. whole tomatoes were more fun, and the boil-off time is pushed back to when the jars are eventually opened and turned to sauce. i lost a lot of liquid from the jars during pressure canning for a few possible reasons, one of which may be that the whole tomatoes hold a lot of air and liquid gets forced out. could try a hot pack of more cooked whole tomatoes next time.

i think next year i'll buy a smaller quantity and just do salsa, but most "approved" recipes, incl one i have done, have too much added acid. one i made was too limey, though fine to eat

i got 2 chickens from costco so i can make another load of "free" broth

i mean stock, i guess

i would like to report for the blåg also that the canned tomatoes taste really good, i've made a few batches of pasta sauce from the crushed but haven't yet cut into the whole. just takes a little while to boil it down to desired thickness. will definitely make more next summer but may boil first, then crush, to see if that's more efficient.

i have purchased another $9 turkey for stock. free range! black friday!

i got a half bushel of peaches. will make peach salsa tomorrow because they are kind of hard right now and recipe calls for under-ripe peaches, then jam later this week. multiple types of peach jam. then will vacuum seal and freeze a few pies' worth. i also got 2 quarts of pickling cucumbers so i need to do pickles first.

peach salsa was quite a project. lots of cutting and my hands are burning bc i touched a habañero but it's very good, also v pretty.

Jealous!

i made 3 pints and 2 half pints of jam. an experiment to see if the bulk pectin from the amish store is any good. tomorrow and wednesday i need to finish my peach projects! i was successful at quickly peeling them tonight, not sure what my problem with the blanching method was before but i dreaded it.

i got 2 boxes of plum tomatoes, may get more next weekend depending on how much i hate this

btw, the bulk pectin at the amish store doesn't work that well. it seems you need to use a lot of it.

ended up getting:

• 5 quarts of "sauce" (crushed tomatoes in grocery store language)
• 8.75 quarts of "crushed tomatoes" (more like whole peeled tomatoes but somewhat broken up)