|
Post by feather on May 14, 2020 20:35:24 GMT
7 qts of mushroom pot pie filling
|
|
|
Post by karenbc on May 15, 2020 21:12:34 GMT
Had a canning spree yesterday - did 6 quarts of 1% milk, 3 quarts of 1/2 & 1/2 coffee cream in smaller jars. Tried a different method I've been hearing about on Facebook Rebel Canners - cold milk in jars, cold water in pressure canner, vent 10 minutes, bring up to pressure (10 lbs), shut off and let cool down. Looks good, but the taste will be the test.
Also did up Italian sausages (store bought) 2 quarts of them. Big chunk of bologna cut into pieces for frying with eggs later. (Hint to self - remember bologna swells when canned with water!)
|
|
|
Post by feather on May 17, 2020 0:05:28 GMT
Strawberry Jam 10 lbs of beautifully ripe strawberries=20 cups mashed (on sale <$10) 3 cups erythritol 5 packages (1.75 oz)of Sure Jel (pink box) low or no sugar pectin, each dissolved in 3/4th cup of water Bring to a rolling boil for one full minute. (2 large kettles) Water bath can for 10 minutes. 13-12 oz jelly jars 4-pints (and one jar for the fridge) To me, it is the perfect sweet/tart bright strawberry flavor. At first mr feather thought it was too tart, but it grew on him by the 4th piece of toast. I don't know if these will set, but the one in the fridge set, so I have high hopes.
EDIT: next morning: The jars that were all liquid and floating fruit, I'd tipped over a few times to distribute the fruit inside. This morning they are set! So this recipe is good.
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on May 17, 2020 2:08:59 GMT
7 qts of mushroom pot pie filling Would you mind giving your recipe for the filling? I have an empty pie shell and I could make that tomorrow!
|
|
|
Post by feather on May 17, 2020 2:11:33 GMT
I'm making my list, checking it twice, for grocery shopping, as I found this recipe and I want to make it. It is for Chicken Pot Pie, thickened after storage. I'm substituting mushrooms for the chicken and planning on thickening it after storage to serve over or in crispy potato cups. (thinking mashed potatoes formed into a small individual casserole size, like a bowl or cup) for 7 quarts of Chicken (Mushroom) Pot Pie Filling Pack Raw 4 cups sliced carrots 2 cups sliced celery 2 medium onions chopped 3 cups frozen peas 8-10 cups cubed chicken (chopped mushrooms) 6 tablespoons mixed basil thyme and parsley Salt (optional) Pepper (optional) 6 quarts of water (obviously won't use it all) Leave 1 inch of headspace Pressure can 75 minutes at 10 lbs pressure. Has anyone made it before? Did you like it?
|
|
|
Post by feather on May 17, 2020 2:15:10 GMT
solargeek, since canning thickeners is a no-no, I thickened it with toasted ww pastry flour, added miso, mustard powder, pepper, salt to taste. I toast the ww pastry flour (1/4th cup for a quart of filling) by putting it in a heavy bottomed pan, turning on the heat, moving it about with a wooden spoon, until it smells toasted and becomes a little tan. Then I remove it from the heat, and add the cold filling, bring it to a boil and stirring.
|
|
|
Post by ketoriverfarm on May 17, 2020 2:17:12 GMT
9 pints of rhubarb juice. My 2020 canning has officially begun.
|
|
|
Post by feather on May 17, 2020 2:19:42 GMT
9 pints of rhubarb juice. My 2020 canning has officially begun. Let the races begin! That is so great that you have rhubarb. Somehow we never got them started and get really established here even though I know they grow well here.
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on May 18, 2020 1:46:01 GMT
featherThank you so very very much. We were on the go all day and had about 2 inches of rain hampering us. I plan to make this probably with chicken too -- yum
|
|
|
Post by feather on May 18, 2020 1:54:51 GMT
|
|
|
Post by karenbc on May 28, 2020 3:43:45 GMT
Got my new Carey electric canner! Yes, it only does 4 quarts at a time. But it's so convenient to leave it set up on the counter all the time. I can see this being handy for doing leftover soups & stews, and things like that.
This morning I sautéed up mushrooms with butter and garlic powder. Canned those in pints, without water. Then did carrots, in chunks, raw packed with water over top.
All sealed. Happy camper here in mosquito land.
|
|
|
Post by feather on May 28, 2020 6:52:43 GMT
karenbc, How are the mosquitoes up there? I hear they are as big as birds. Would you mind sharing the features of an electric canner? I know zero minus 11 about electric canners. Does it have a gauge or rocker or weight or jiggler or is it just not anything like a regular canner? Does it have a timer on it? I seriously would like to hear more about it.
|
|
|
Post by karenbc on May 28, 2020 12:24:24 GMT
karenbc , How are the mosquitoes up there? I hear they are as big as birds. Would you mind sharing the features of an electric canner? I know zero minus 11 about electric canners. Does it have a gauge or rocker or weight or jiggler or is it just not anything like a regular canner? Does it have a timer on it? I seriously would like to hear more about it. I've only had mine a week - so I'm a newbie with it yet - but here's what I've learned so far. It's a Carey-Nesco brand, which as far as I can tell is the only Instant Pot that is also a pressure canner, and not just a pressure cooker. It holds 4 wide mouth quarts, or more pint jars. It doesn't have a gauge, rocker or jiggler as you would know them on a stove stop canner. What it has are 2 different coloured Pressure Limiting Valves, black for 10 lbs. and green for 15 lbs. These drop into a slot on the top of the hinged lid. The pressure valves are marked Exhaust - Air Tight - Exhaust and they turn to one of those settings. Filled jars are put onto the rack in the drop in "inner pot". 8 cups of hot water are then added. Close and lock the lid (it turns to the lock position easily) The control panel on the front has a lot of different things. I'm going to copy the pressure canning directions and tape it inside the cupboard door above where the canner sits, so I can check it each time. Okay, so jars are in the canner, water added, lid closed. Then "High" is selected for meat, veggies, sauce, soup, etc. Then the time the product needs to process is selected...wish it would jump by 5 or 10 minutes, but it's minute-by-minute...I've done 45 minutes so far, so push the darn button 45 times...not going to be fun for a 90minute product! But what about exhausting the steam? That comes next - That green Pressure Limiting value, is turned to one of the Exhaust positions. Once the canner heats up, it will show E10 (exhaust 10 minutes) and will steam like mad. It will count down to E0 and then beep. At that point the green thingie needs to be turned to Airtight. The canner will come up to pressure, and start the countdown on it's own. When the countdown is finished, it will beep 3 times and will show as OFF. You have to leave it sit for 1 hour at this point to cooldown. Long message - but that's it.
|
|
|
Post by feather on May 28, 2020 16:01:21 GMT
karenbc, great great description. I'm glad it was a long description with all the features. I too would like the smaller size, 4 quarts as we become a smaller family and have a smaller garden. I wonder when Carey Nesco comes out with the next version, if the button pressing issue will be resolved.
|
|
|
Post by karenbc on May 30, 2020 17:41:55 GMT
karenbc , great great description. I'm glad it was a long description with all the features. Thanks feather. It was fun writing it and doing so helped to set the process in my mind too. It's supposed to be another thundery day with rain, so I'll likely try to get to canning up a bag of carrots.
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on May 31, 2020 12:25:58 GMT
This Carey/Nesco electric pressure CANNER sounds like a wonderful product. I own the WECK Electric canner (WB). But I couldn't find anywhere in the literature the approvals from any of the extensions or the USDA or any of the places that normally approve new canning equipment. I realize this is not a new piece of equipment and has been out for at least seven years. Is there any place you know of that you can tell me where it was approved?
Edit to add: This is the only commentary I can find on its safety. From Amazon customer questions:
"We say it's safe for pressure canning for a few reasons. First, the main reason that the USDA disapproves of all electric pressure canners for canning low acid foods is because it's impossible to monitor the temperature to ensure it's getting above the recommended temperature (250*F). We've specifically designed this unit to get higher than 250* F, and stay that way with a constant pressure. This unit gets to, and stays at, a higher pressure than most pressure cookers, you can see this with the higher amount of steam coming out of this compared to a regular pressure cooker. The Smart Canner and Cooker also comes with two different valves for different altitudes to make sure the unit is staying at the proper pressure/temperature. TL;DR: The USDA doesn't recommend any electric pressure canners because of the lack of temperature monitoring, but the Carey Smart Canner and Cooker is designed to take care of that for you. see less
Maddie Manufacturer · January 7, 2019 Leave a Comment | 0 of 1 found this helpful. Do you? Yes No | Report abuse If this is specifically designed to meet the appropriately specified temperatures and other concerns, then why has it not been tested independently to be approved? After all, if it meets approval, it would be the only one on the market, yes?
Joseph Earl Johnson Jr. · April 16, 2020"
|
|
|
Post by feather on Jun 1, 2020 2:12:13 GMT
solargeek, Usually the testing people from say the university extension offices will work with the national center for home food preservation and the manufacturers. The testing approval is usually about the method of canning and not usually for one or two canners but safe procedure for all of them. They don't get money easily and must get grants. This one article describes some of the trouble with that. www.hjnews.com/news/local/usu-extension-research-turns-up-concerning-results-for-electric-pressure-cooker-canning/article_f7a30867-9c7d-5d77-9c5b-f9e1fbb0297d.htmlThey specifically mention the Carey canner. There was some testing done (a grant was received). I loved hearing about it from Karenbc. The manufacturer has made the claim that this is a CANNER not just a cooker. Manufacturers often are looking at selling more of them but I still like the sound of it for smaller batches. The manufacturer gave directions for canning, as Karenbc describes. While it is currently not 'approved', for many reasons, one of which is lack of funds and another is lack of testing, I find it interesting and theoretically sound under certain circumstances. I read a lot at the NCFHP site: nchfp.uga.edu/search.html and searched out 'pressure canning electric', and looked what their procedure is, how long it takes for things to get approved. I found nothing. Maybe they'll do more testing on the smaller electric models soon. I didn't find anything about current testing, which may or may not be going on.
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on Jun 1, 2020 3:45:36 GMT
feather, I too looked at NCFHP and the extensions but found only the same articles from 2015-2019. No, I don't think they are doing any testing or else we would have found it. But until they tell us it is safe, I would feel concerned everytime we ate anything I had pressured canned. Sort of like russian roulette.
|
|
|
Post by karenbc on Jun 1, 2020 4:04:17 GMT
Guess this is why I'm part of the Canning Rebels group on Facebook I'm comfortable with canning with the Carey. I do enjoy hearing all opinions.
|
|
|
Post by feather on Jun 1, 2020 13:29:19 GMT
solargeek, I understand and have concerns on that too but I think we all miss vital information if we don't share information, some of that might be coming up in the future. Guess this is why I'm part of the Canning Rebels group on Facebook I'm comfortable with canning with the Carey. I do enjoy hearing all opinions. karenbc, I remember you are a rebel canner and I'm a safety canner (belong to a different group, the canning and preserving with love FB group). I bet our two groups have a lot of information and experience to share, and so we should.
There are so many very particular rules in the safety rules, that can be tweeked, that some may call that pushing the envelope. I know a canner on our group here in HF that has done experiments and shared them here and I was sure glad to read about it, the more we share then the more we know.
In the safety group because it is so strict some of the people don't understand that some of the rules are not actually safety rules, they are 'to taste' rules. The salt issues with my family, we don't use salt in canning except for pickles and that is reduced, but most safety canners don't know it is an optional ingredient for most things. Salt can be added when serving or each person to their own, if anyone wants to.
As an example, soups or stews, as a basic rule should be no more than 1/2 full of solids and 1/2 full of liquid, but I can tell you, that is an eye ball measurement. I've never heard of anyone measuring their solids by any other method than the eyeball measurement.
In the strawberry recipe on this thread just above/below, there are no safe canning guidelines to say, you may or may not use erythritol, but I did. So I'm pushing the envelope. Many of the canning rules around using artificial sweeteners allow only one type, swerve, due, they say to the texture not breaking down. (In my cynical mind, I do wonder if those testers were given a grant from the Swerve company to get that kind of approval of a brand name (along with the chemical name).) I'm so much less concerned with my jam looking like or having the same texture as anyone else's jam while I have concerns on the nutritional aspect of the specific sweetener. So have I broken the rules.
I actually learned something yesterday and the day before reading the ncfhp recipes on tomato products. To paraphrase, there is no problem in making tomato sauces by taking tomatoes, reducing the volume by 1/2 and that makes it a sauce. (that is in fact how I make what I call my 'thick sauce') To make a paste, continue to cook it reducing it yet another 1/2 volume. The limitations on size of jars for sauce are pint and quart. The limitations of safety on paste are 1/2 pint size, because the heat may not penetrate to the middle of the paste due to density.
karenbc, I have another question on the Carey Nesco electric pressure canner. In the article I had read, it said there is 'no cool down cycle', but you said there is a point, after pressure canning, it turns to off and then you must leave it off to cool down for an hour. I can't see a problem with the cool down cycle. My own full sized pressure canner on the stove takes about 40-45 minutes to cool down on its own. They sited that some of the botulism toxin is killed during the cool down cycle and cool down cycle is important. How long does it actually take for the cool down cycle after pressure canning in the Carey? As a practical number of minutes, how long does it take at a minimum until there is no pressure and you can safely remove the lid? Could you check it next time you do 4 quarts?
|
|
|
Post by karenbc on Jun 1, 2020 15:34:09 GMT
feather I don't have to wait for the next batch through the Carey to answer you question! A few days ago I did carrots in pints. Canned for 25 minutes, then the machine beeps and comes up with "OFF" on the panel. At that point the instructions says to unplug and wait one hour to open. I did that, and the lid turned when I pushed it to the open position.
A couple of days ago, I did the same process, but with quarts of carrots and for 30 minutes canning time. After the 1 hour time period I turned the weight valve from airtight to exhaust just to be sure the pressure was down. It wasn't - and steam started to come out. So turned the valve back, waited another 15 minutes and tried again. Same thing, still under pressure. For an experiment I tried turning the lid to the open position. No dice, that lid was not moving. After 1.5 hours, the valve did not exhaust any more steam, and the lid opened.
I was a little concerned with doing the quart sized jars - they come right up to the top of the inner pot of the canner. The lid is rounded up, so the jars did fit perfectly, but as that is different from my stove top canner I was wondering how it would all come together. This is also why waterbath canning in quart jars in a Carey does not work - not room to give the amount of water needed above the jars. Pints however can be waterbathed in the machine, though I haven't tried that yet.
There are some rules I never break when it comes to canning feather...the length of time a product needs to process is one of them. I also am a little over the top when it comes to sterilizing jars - washing them in hot soapy bleach water first. Then putting on a cold cookie sheet and into a cold oven. When the temperature gets to 210F I time it for 10 minutes, and leave the jars in the oven to cool while preparing the product.
|
|
|
Post by feather on Jun 1, 2020 16:26:07 GMT
feather I don't have to wait for the next batch through the Carey to answer you question! A few days ago I did carrots in pints. Canned for 25 minutes, then the machine beeps and comes up with "OFF" on the panel. At that point the instructions says to unplug and wait one hour to open. I did that, and the lid turned when I pushed it to the open position. A couple of days ago, I did the same process, but with quarts of carrots and for 30 minutes canning time. After the 1 hour time period I turned the weight valve from airtight to exhaust just to be sure the pressure was down. It wasn't - and steam started to come out. So turned the valve back, waited another 15 minutes and tried again. Same thing, still under pressure. For an experiment I tried turning the lid to the open position. No dice, that lid was not moving. After 1.5 hours, the valve did not exhaust any more steam, and the lid opened. I was a little concerned with doing the quart sized jars - they come right up to the top of the inner pot of the canner. The lid is rounded up, so the jars did fit perfectly, but as that is different from my stove top canner I was wondering how it would all come together. This is also why waterbath canning in quart jars in a Carey does not work - not room to give the amount of water needed above the jars. Pints however can be waterbathed in the machine, though I haven't tried that yet. There are some rules I never break when it comes to canning feather...the length of time a product needs to process is one of them. I also am a little over the top when it comes to sterilizing jars - washing them in hot soapy bleach water first. Then putting on a cold cookie sheet and into a cold oven. When the temperature gets to 210F I time it for 10 minutes, and leave the jars in the oven to cool while preparing the product. This is a great discussion. I wash my jars in soapy water and put them in the dishwasher, then when I'm going to can the next morning, I run the dishwasher on heated cycle. I stopped 'sterilizing' when the rules changed recently not requiring sterilizing in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes--which I usually spilled boiling water on my hands or arms doing that. Usually my floor took a lot of spills and although cleaning it was a plus, it was also a hazard and a pain in butt.
Thanks for the answers about Carey's cool down cycle. So it must be insulated even more than a stove top canner to hold the heat and pressure for so long. An hour and a half is twice what I have for mine to cool down naturally without releasing the pressure valve. Now I won't worry about the cool down cycle part. Wow that sounds great. It has the equivalent of weights for the amount of pressure too. Weights prove the pressure, and the temperature is consistent based on altitude. I'm having a hard time finding it that it is not approved yet.
Another question if you don't mind. Have you heard of other electric pressure canners by other manufacturers? I still want to know what is up and coming, to be approved maybe later.
|
|
|
Post by karenbc on Jun 2, 2020 14:54:46 GMT
I have not heard of any other brand of electric pressure canner - lots of instant hot pots, but not canners. I did a lot of searches before ordering to see if I could find other brands.
I've tried the boiling water method to sterilize jars - but didn't like it for all the reasons you mentioned feather. Plus I always felt the chances of the jars being dinged or rims chipped was higher this method. I don't have a dishwasher - so that is out for jar sterilization.
|
|
|
Post by feather on Jun 2, 2020 15:44:07 GMT
I have not heard of any other brand of electric pressure canner - lots of instant hot pots, but not canners. I did a lot of searches before ordering to see if I could find other brands. I've tried the boiling water method to sterilize jars - but didn't like it for all the reasons you mentioned feather. Plus I always felt the chances of the jars being dinged or rims chipped was higher this method. I don't have a dishwasher - so that is out for jar sterilization. karenbc, I haven't either because safety canners groups are shushed about it, lol. I also googled electric pressure canners. Google often confuses cookers with canners. Wiki pedia says this: We're ahead of the curve.
|
|
|
Post by lilith on Jun 9, 2020 1:41:47 GMT
Does it count as canning when you pop a cork in the bottle? I just finished a ten gallon batch of wine.
|
|
|
Post by feather on Jun 9, 2020 1:52:12 GMT
Does it count as canning when you pop a cork in the bottle? I just finished a ten gallon batch of wine. If you mean you bottled 10 gallons of wine, yes. If you mean you finished drinking 10 gallons of wine, no. That's quite an accomplishment. What kind of wine is it? I've only made vinegar-wine and it's not as complicated as wine.
|
|
|
Post by feather on Jun 9, 2020 16:31:25 GMT
Anyone make strawberry jam the old fashioned way. Is there a temperature I need to reach for gel consistency? (edit to add: the temperature is 220 deg F or 8 degrees above your boiling temperature) I'm going to cook down strawberries, have no low sugar to no sugar pectin on hand, erythritol I guess I'll add that at the end. Mr feather picked up a couple bags of strawberries and my freezer space is full.
Edit again: 10 lbs of strawberries, cleaned and hulled. 2 cups for the strawberry vinaigrette, which I froze for future use. The rest I simmered. After 2 hours I added 1/2 cup lemon juice. Simmered until reduced by half. Added 1 and 1/2 cups of erythritol to sweeten. Canned in 9-12 oz tall jelly jars. The leftover was put in the fridge and thick enough. It is surprisingly strawberry-ish, strong strawberry flavor, delicious. (I never did get it to reach 220 deg F even when it was reduced by half, and it was sticking to the bottom of the pan at about 3 hours, so more stirring.)
I would do this again with other fruits, as long as I had 4 or more hours to simmer it down. It's really nice. I'm going to watch for fruit sales. Peach and plum would be great. If our cherry tree gives us lots of cherries, this is how I'll make them.
EDIT again: in retrospect, this kind of recipe would be better made in a slow cooker to reduce it without burning. All 9 were tattler lids, all 9 sealed, YAY.
|
|
|
Post by feather on Jun 10, 2020 15:15:05 GMT
karenbc, I was looking around for more information on the carey nesco canner. Tom and I talked about it, and he suggested trying to hold the timing button (timing +) for a longer time, to see if it would increase and advance in larger numbers. In fact, when I was looking at videos, I learned that the Nesco Smart Canner is the same canner as the Carey Smart Canner, the Carey Nesco is the same one just rebranded. In the videos they pressed the timing button for longer and it did (after a little bit) advance to more minutes than 1 at a time. Tom and I also chatted about the steam exhaust portion of the canner, and as long as the steam is a steady and not intermittent steam, for 10 minutes, then it should be okay.
|
|
|
Post by karenbc on Jun 12, 2020 17:26:34 GMT
Tom was right! I held the button and it flipped forward quickly. Much appreciate the tip.
Did up 4 quarts of plain carrots yesterday. And 5.5 pints of Rhubarb BBQ Sauce - need to play around with the recipe more or find a better one. I had one last year, and be darned if I didn't lose it!
|
|
|
Post by ohiodreamer on Jun 16, 2020 19:33:53 GMT
Potatoes are the current project. #25 pounds drying, 14 quart canned, about to start 18 pints. That will leave me about 30 or 40 more pounds to process tomorrow.
|
|