Anyone canning?

I just took 18 pints of pork & beans out of the canner. 17 pints of chicken broth earlier in the week. 18 pints of chili beans last week. I dislike heating the house and paying for air conditioning to remove the heat in the summer, so I can most every week throughout the winter and use the heat generated instead of paying to eliminate it. Just wondered if anyone else is canning in January?

No, do all mine in the summer, green beans and such, my friends can venison. I have never tried that.

Bk

We do a lot of canning in the summer. As the garden comes in we freeze some and can some.
The jars sitting on the shelf now look as good as the bags of Blaschak sitting in the garage.
I feel rich!
-Len

I do all the typical things from the garden as they come in, but get the unusual things done while it's cool. You're right about the feeling of accomplishment & satisfaction, I've been canning on my own for 30+ years and I still feel good when I see the days efforts all lined up.

My wife does most of the canning. She puts back somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 jars a year. Mostly stuff from the garden. We live in apple country so lots of apples get run through the food mill and the canner. She will not touch canning meat though. Last year we canned the boy's deer... mmmmmmmm good! For our family not being really big on venison, that's the best way I've personally ever eaten it. It's a messy process though. Wife walked into the kitchen half way through the process and without saying a word turned right around and walked out. I heard her a couple days later describing to a friend what looked like a "crime scene". No canning in the winter though. Most of the stuff comes due in the summer and fall. The air conditioner runs full bore during the canning days... that eats into the profits!

tom

I don't do near as much in the winter as I do in the summer. I do try and catch the short times when I don't have to run the AC but last summer it pretty much was on the whole time. I do the best I can to work through it. My goal this spring is to get my outdoor kitchen finished and then do all of my canning outside. Mostly I do stuff as the garden gives it to me. I hope to increase how much I can this year. Had a baby 6 weeks ago and every dime counts!!

I use the canner that I got from the local amish sheet metal shop.It is a stainless piece that closely resembles a laundry kettle for the top of a wood stove.I think it holds about 14 quarts.In the summer we can what is safe to can with the hot water bath method.The rest we freeze.It helps greatly to can outside when the air conditionioning is on. I really enjoy cooking and canning the applesauce in the fall when it is cooler.I was just recently at the store when I noticed a quart of canned peaches, $6.39. Things are getting rough in the food store anymore. The canner has paid for itself many times over.I just got a Cawley-Lemay wood stove [forgive me] that has a safety rim just for cooking and canning.I can't wait to fire up that beautiful stove this summer outside. Mike

Predict this thread will become very popular as the economy continues to rock bottom.

Love homemade pickled beets!!
Bread & butter pickles too. You can't eat just one ........... jar.
My wife and I do a LOT of canning. Mostly from the garden as it comes ready.
We blanch and freeze the broccoli and some of the green beans. Everything else gets canned or goes in the root cellar.
There's usually about 120 qts of tomato sauce on the shelf. It sounds like a lot but we usually just make it to the next seasons batch.
We've been getting into the more unusual varieties lately, like purple carrots and such. Looks cool in the jars and taste great!
Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite. Everything but the turkey is homegrown. Gotta love it!

Be nice to see some pics of gardens, canned goods etc.

For great canning recipes, check out the recipezaar website.

Ray and Kathie

In my travels today I snagged a seed packet of rutabagas. I guess some would call them an acquired taste but I love them. I have always had a time finding them around here as they are not the most popular of the root crops by a long shot.I can't wait to get them in the dirt.Come on spring. Mike

Hey Mike
My wife makes carrots and turnip. She boils them together, mashes them like potatoes. Adds butter, salt and pepper.....delicious!
I guess Turnips and Rutabagas are basically the same. I'd say Rudabagas have a sweeter taste to them though.
So, did you get the purple top variety?

Ray

PS Check out Seed Savers exchange for some really cool and unusual heirloom varieties.

Just made up four quarts of beef stock for soups and stews last night on the stove top. Also made up some beef bean and barley soup at the same time. The Vigilant series has a nice hot cast iron griddle on top and you need a few different height trivets to make simmering possible when running it at max 700*F. Might as well use some of that stove top heat and freeze it up for later

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:Just made up four quarts of beef stock for soups and stews last night on the stove top. Also made up some beef bean and barley soup at the same time. The Vigilant series has a nice hot cast iron griddle on top and you need a few different height trivets to make simmering possible when running it at max 700*F. Might as well use some of that stove top heat and freeze it up for later

Outstanding

Ray, You are correct,the seeds are the purple top variety.Usually when we are able to get them at the grocery they always have a wax coating on them.Do you know if they have to be waxed to keep? Thanks for the tip on seedsavers,I will check it out. I am looking at the garden right now and this unseasonal temperature is making me think of seeds and seedlings. Can't wait to get the Gravely with the rotary plow on to whip that soil into shape.Come on spring. Mike

A wax coating on the seeds?
Never heard of that before. I'm thinking that maybe it's to prevent moisture from making the seeds germinate before you actually want them to.
So there must be something you do to prepair the seed for planting.
Instead of throwing out those silica packages, I put them in with my seeds in a sealed jar to absorb any moisture.
I've heard of using your fingernail to scrape certain types of seed before planting, which will increase your germination rate.
I usually get my seed from Burpee's and Harris Seed Co. I'll have to look through my catalogues, see what I can find out.

My gardens are still under two feet of snow. It was almost four feet, so I'm gettin' there.
Dug out my heat pads for the flats. I'll be starting my lettuce next month.