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Post by SA Hunter on Jul 5, 2016 20:15:48 GMT 10
www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/9-foods-you-definitely-didnt-know-could-be-canned/People have been canning at home for years … decades actually. With all of this experience, you would think we all would know what can be canned in pressure cookers. We don’t. In fact, many people are under the very wrong assumption that fruits, vegetables and things like jam and soup are the only things they can home can. The reality is that you can home can just about anything you serve your family today. You aren’t limited to eating mushy veggies and fruits if you are relying on your food storage. You are in for a real treat when you see the following list of foods that can be canned and stored for years. Check out nine things you can preserve in your pressure canner so your family will be eating like kings for years down the road. 1. Hamburger patties. Imagine being able to have a juicy burger, perfectly seasoned, after a blackout. The next time ground beef goes on sale or you get a great deal on a side of beef, you don’t have to put it all in the freezer. It isn’t just patties you can preserve. Ground beef, in general, can be stored for years on your pantry shelf – as can meatballs. 2. Chicken legs and thighs. Eating your favorite cut of chicken cooked the way you like is a pretty common comfort food. You can bake it, fry it or put it on the barbecue with your favorite sauce. Your family will love the idea of their favorite meal, just like they used to eat, when things were normal. You can buy packs of chicken legs and thighs for just a few dollars. This is an excellent, inexpensive way to stock your food storage shelves. Chicken breasts are also an option. 3. Fish. Going fishing is a fun activity and instead of wrapping up your catch and popping it in the freezer, can it instead! Salmon, steelhead, halibut and trout are all excellent tasting after the canning process. You can fillet the fish or dice it up. You don’t need to add any salt or preservatives to the water in the jar. Let the fish do the flavoring. Add a little vegetable oil if you like. 4. Pot roast. It often goes on sale and the next time it does, buy a bunch and home can it. Cutting the roast into small chunks, adding a little salt and then processing it in the pressure cooker is all you need to do to add some nice red meat to your food storage. 5. Bacon. This is something few people want to live without. Canning it and adding it to your food storage means that, during a blackout or crisis, you will be able to make Sunday breakfast like you used to, bacon included. 6. Hot dogs. OK, it may not be the healthiest food, but imagine being able to grill up some hot dogs or whip up a batch of corn dogs for your little ones, even if the food in the freezer is spoiled. Hot dogs are cheap and often go on sale during the summer months, which is a perfect time to load up. 7. Butter. This is another staple you won’t want to live without. Load up on butter when it goes on sale and melt it down to put into your canning jars. It is important to note that the USDA does not have any approved methods for canning dairy products, and actually discourages it. However, any seasoned homesteader or canner will probably tell you many stories about eating canned butter without getting sick. Ghee, which is basically canned butter — regularly used in foreign countries. 8. Cheese. Cheese, glorious cheese in all styles like mozzarella, cheddar and even cream cheese. Again, this is another one of those items that people have been home canning for decades, but there is no official approved method. There is always some concern about bacteria growth, but if you go through the canning process the right way and store the jars in cool areas, you reduce the risk of bacteria growing and making anybody ill. 9. Cake. This is something nobody wants to live without, but baking a cake during a blackout or emergency could be difficult. Having jars filled with your favorite flavor of cake ready to eat when you get that craving will be an appreciated luxury. Cake mixes are easy to make or buy in bulk and you can fill your shelves with lots of cooked cakes to make any occasion a little more special.
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Post by Peter on Jul 5, 2016 21:04:04 GMT 10
As per every other time the topic is mentioned, be aware of the storage limitations of fats and their risk of becoming rancid.
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Post by ziggysdad on Jul 5, 2016 21:12:56 GMT 10
Anyone know how long home jarred or canned spaghetti sauce might keep?
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Post by Fractus on Jul 5, 2016 21:25:31 GMT 10
I have kept it canned for 12 months but then it is gone. Like eating it the next day, I think it tastes better after it is canned
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Post by Fractus on Jul 5, 2016 21:26:11 GMT 10
I do use very low fat in the process
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Post by ziggysdad on Jul 5, 2016 21:29:51 GMT 10
Ever canned meatballs in sauce?
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Post by Fractus on Jul 5, 2016 21:33:02 GMT 10
No, I wanted to but the boss does not like meat balls. I have done goulash, lentil soup, a very nice carrot, parsnip,vinegar sauce baked bean and various other beans in tomato
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Post by ziggysdad on Jul 5, 2016 21:37:57 GMT 10
It may sound terrible, but I wish I could pay someone (or a local company) to can for me. I love cooking, but don't dare trying my hand at canning...afraid I might inadvertently kill the family  |
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Post by Joey on Jul 5, 2016 22:04:49 GMT 10
No, I wanted to but the boss does not like meat balls. I have done goulash, lentil soup, a very nice carrot, parsnip,vinegar sauce baked bean and various other beans in tomato Why not can it for yourself? Interested in the canned cake  I guess it certainly wouldn't look like a slice of cake after its stuffed into a jar lol. But I guess you could fit 2 decent sized muffins or a heap of slice/brownies into a jar. They mention hotdogs, has anyone canned regular beef sausages? Obviously the nice red low fat ones or homemade no fat added ones would be better for longer term, as I guess floating them in vinegar like pickles might give them a fairly sour taste |
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Post by ziggysdad on Jul 5, 2016 22:11:27 GMT 10
Easier to just buy canned Plumrose Skinless Hot Dogs for $5 from your local Woolworths or Coles.
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Post by Peter on Jul 5, 2016 22:14:19 GMT 10
Easier to just buy canned Plumrose Skinless Hot Dogs for $5 from your local Woolworths or Coles. Yes, which is why I buy canned foods - it's cheaper to buy the can of food than it is to buy the ingredients (unless you have the farm/garden in place), Let alone the jar... I however consider canning a useful skill to have; there may come a time when we can no longer buy foods and must depend on home-preserved products to see us through tough times... |
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shinester
Senior Member
China's white trash
Posts: 3,119 
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Post by shinester on Jul 6, 2016 5:10:17 GMT 10
It may sound terrible, but I wish I could pay someone (or a local company) to can for me. I love cooking, but don't dare trying my hand at canning...afraid I might inadvertently kill the family Assuming you followed the very easy instructions [basically most foods are 90mins at 10lbs, meats 15lbs], that is had it under the correct pressure for the correct amount of time, then you will have had the 'jars' at 125C for long enough to completely steralised the contents. It's also cooking them, which is great for soups and so on. Some people put in raw meat and use that time to do the slow cooking. The reason for the elevated temp is to kill any potential botulism spores. An Autoclave does 'exactly' what a pressure canner does and they use it for surgical instruments. Unless the seal is broken which is easy to know, the lid doesn't have pressure [or the glass breaks] the contents will remain sterlile indefinately. The taste and nutrient quality will diminish slowly in time, particularly if exposed to heat or light, though it will remain sterile. Fats[lipids] will oxidize causing a poorer taste, though it's still sterile. Ultimately canned foods will last indefinitely and I've been doing it for about a year now and there's people on here for much longer, and many yanks having done it for decades. If you do the research, you'll understand what's happening and if you're still not convinced just buy canned foods as it's the same process. I do canning for better tasting, a way to convert larger harvests into storage and it's often cheaper. |
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Post by ziggysdad on Jul 6, 2016 7:24:24 GMT 10
Thanks, Shinester. At this point I am only really interested to try canning or freeze drying my homemade spaghetti sauce (with or without meatballs). It isn't about cost - it is about having ready access to a food that takes 6-8 hours of simmering to make. May explore this further down the road.
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Post by frontsight on Jul 6, 2016 21:43:57 GMT 10
As a nerd dude with some food/micro background, I will throw in my 2 cents worth. The commonly used 125 degree is chosen because us nerds swear by the 12 D(power 10) reduction for botulinum spore at 121 degree (250F). Supposedly you only need less than 3 min to do that. BUT here are a few factors to be considered -Different positions within the Canning retort will have a different heating rate -Smaller cans will heat up faster -Solids in can will heat up slower, so it takes longer to can chicken drum sticks than meat sauce. -bugger that I am not going to go back to my 2nd year exam questions in 1998  IMHO food manufacturers can can much better than us because they have worked out how long it takes for the least heated spot of the system with temperature loggers. The closest we can get is to use Autoclave tapes. They are cheap to buy and will turn black once the temp is reached. So you can do a dry run with cans filled with water to say how long it takes to heat up to the right temp and hold it there long enough. A few things to watch out for: -All solids must be covered by liquids -The less head space, the better -The can is not sealed until it cools down, holding the cans at high temp too long will cause it to leak into the pressure cooker, once the pressure is dropped to a safe level, open and dump all cans into cold water to cool (with top lid just above water), it will seal better. -Acidic food is safer, if you drop the pH below 4.5 you won't get botulinum growing evebn if you don't can it properly (there will be other stuff, but you are like likely to die) -Nothing to do with bacterial safety, but high the lower the water activity (add more salt and sugar), the slower the food will degrade. Unless you do it for fun, it is better off to just buy off the shelf cans, but hell, I have canned lots of strange foods before. By the way I have put ammo and money in can before too (no I did not heat it up) |
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shinester
Senior Member
China's white trash
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Post by shinester on Jul 6, 2016 23:43:54 GMT 10
Nerd up bro, always love good info and welcome your input. Slightly off topic, but something I've been trying to find for a while, can you possibly nerd up on long term fat storage, ghee seems to be the best option though I've not been able to pull empirical data for it, only hearsay. Fats are hard to store due to rancidity and I'd love to have a definitive answer on how [if possible] to store them for a decade.
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Yeah, wouldn't that then suggest that the recommendations of the American government of heating for 90mins and using no bigger than 1L jars would do the trick?
-All solids must be covered by liquids - normal canning practice.
-The less head space, the better - canning needs head space to create a vacuum seal. What makes less head space better when that head space creates the vacuum upon cooling? I'm guessing it means less air.
-The can is not sealed until it cools down, holding the cans at high temp too long will cause it to leak into the pressure cooker, once the pressure is dropped to a safe level, open and dump all cans into cold water to cool (with top lid just above water), it will seal better. - the pressure drops as soon as you turn off the heat and the value of the lips is in effect mostly a one way value. You do get a small amount of material in the water having said that at times, though that's usually because you over filled the jar in the first place. You absolutely CAN NOT drop a 120C+ hot jar into cold water. NO NO NO! It will break spectacularly.
-Acidic food is safer, if you drop the pH below 4.5 you won't get botulinum growing evebn if you don't can it properly (there will be other stuff, but you are like likely to die) - I was under the impression that the heat steralized everything and spores were the only thing that could beat elevated cooking temperatures, and especially 100C [boiling]. Happy to be wrong, please explain. Unless you meant say pickling without heat.
-Nothing to do with bacterial safety, but high the lower the water activity (add more salt and sugar), the slower the food will degrade.
- good to know, thanks. I assume that is to do with chemical reactions which are less prevalent in more saline/sugary solutions?
"Unless you do it for fun, it is better off to just buy off the shelf cans" - what makes you say that? I'm never going to make it a commercial venture, I'm just curious in what way is it 'better'. Better is a relative term and would depend on your context. Is it better for taste, absolutely not for my pallet, my canned foods are better tasting than any tinned food I buy. Is it better on price, well it depends, meats generally are better priced in tins. Is it better safety? I'm not sure how it would be unsafe if you follow the correct procedures. So I'm curious about your position here.
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Post by frontsight on Jul 7, 2016 0:08:55 GMT 10
Well, there is no good answer it it. Even frozen at -25, fat still goes rancid. We can somewhat slow it down by doing the following
-Add anitoxidants like BHA and BHT (most people won't do that)
-Add more "natural" antioxidants such as Vitamin C and E. The problem is neither is very heat stable but Vitamin E is far better, being fat-soluble and far more heat stable if I remember correctly
-Heat it up to inactivate the enzymes (lipase) present
That leaves us with reduction of oxygen and reduction of water (thru drying or adding a massive amount of sugar and salt).
Hard Fats are more stable than softer fat/oil because unsaturated fatty acid easily under goes cleavage, releasing volatiles
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Post by frontsight on Jul 7, 2016 0:32:24 GMT 10
ooooo... I can't type... so many typos....
-The less head space, the better - canning needs head space to create a vacuum seal. What makes less head space better when that head space creates the vacuum upon cooling? I'm guessing it means less air. It is just our way of making sure the liquid is covering up the solid bits for better heat transfer, plus less chance of forming condensation (no unsafe in canned food, just a layer of water on top later)
- the pressure drops as soon as you turn off the heat and the value of the lips is in effect mostly a one way value. You do get a small amount of material in the water having said that at times, though that's usually because you over filled the jar in the first place. This is a tricky one... the stuff in a can does not really boil too badly when heating (boiling point is much higher at under pressure), it is when you start to drop the pressure, it start to boil, the faster you drop pressure, the worse it boils...
You absolutely CAN NOT drop a 120C+ hot jar into cold water. No I wouldn't do that neither (I have never done jars by the way, only cans)-
-Acidic food is safer, if you drop the pH below 4.5 you won't get botulinum growing evebn if you don't can it properly (there will be other stuff, but you are LESS likely to die) - Typo here
-I was under the impression that the heat steralized everything and spores were the only thing that could beat elevated cooking temperatures, and especially 100C [boiling]. Happy to be wrong, please explain. Was trying to say if pH is low enough, you get away if incorrect canning temp, at pH <4.5 Botulinum does not grow, if they were not inactivated due to incorrect canning temp.
-Nothing to do with bacterial safety, but the lower the water activity (add more salt and sugar), the slower the food will degrade.
- good to know, thanks. I assume that is to do with chemical reactions which are less prevalent in more saline/sugary solutions? Yip, water acts as a medium for many reactions, so but making water less available, you slow down the reactions
"Unless you do it for fun, it is better off to just buy off the shelf cans" - what makes you say that? I'm never going to make it a commercial venture, I'm just curious in what way is it 'better'. Better is a relative term and would depend on your context.......... So I'm curious about your position here..... Technically, some nutrients will be degraded if heated too long so we try to minimize heating, factories can do that due to their understanding of heating/time curve in their system... but in reality, well I am just lazy........
"recommendations of the American government of heating for 90mins and using no bigger than 1L jars would do the trick", it should, I think its a bit overkill but perfectly safe
By the way without pressure cooker, there is one more thing to try... its called tyndallization, you heat it up to boiling/ sub boiling temp, kill everything except spores, cool and wait a day for spores to germinate (they are now not so heat resistant), heat again, repeat the process for 3 days..... This is something that was mentioned in our text books and what they did before pressure cooker/retorts, generally considered safe but not as reliable as canning. So I would do that if I am stuck in a topical island and need to make food to last a few weeks to sail back to civilization but if I could, I would can instead.
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