Canning Class Day 5 – Pressure Canning

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this one… it’s been a CRAZY week around here!

You also need to know that if it wasn’t for my dedication to getting this on my blog I would not have stayed as long as I did. It was almost painful to sit through between the technical difficulties and the fact that most of the students that day hadn’t been to any of the other classes (and they probably should have been) so we spent over half of the time covering stuff from the first 4 classes. Ugh!

So, here’s what I learned… (other than the fact that pressure canning is WAY too big of a pain in the rear to even be worth it)

1. Anything with vegetables, meats, poultry, seafood, soups or legumes must be canned in a pressure canner.

2. Boiling water baths for a longer period of time is NOT a safe method.

3. No matter what the recipe says a dial gauge must read 11 pounds.

4. You don’t need to go to 15 pounds if you are below 1000 feet in elevation.

5. It takes 20 to 120 minutes to destroy bacteria.

6. Only a propane burner rated below 12,000 BTU is considered safe for outdoor canning. Use at your own risk!

7. Jars can be kept hot in a 250 oven with jars placed in a baking pan with a bit of water in it.

8. The water in the canner should be at 140 for raw packed jars and 180 for hot packed jars when you place the jars in the water. Then bring to boil.

9. When letting the canner cool, remove from an electric burner.

10. It takes 30 minutes for pints and 45 for quarts to drop to 0 psig naturally.

11.. Never leave jars in canner after it drops to 0 psig. It will reverse vacuum seal the lid of your canner. It will NOT come off!

12. NEVER use thickeners, pasta, rice, barley or other grains in foods to be canned. (except for pie fillings and jams/jellies)

13. You can raw pack meat and poultry.

14. Don’t use bouillon paste, only dry.

15. You may can pre-cooked meat patties in broth or bouillon. Just don’t add egg or grains.

16. Pickle Crisp will help potatoes or carrots not to get mushy. Use 1/4 tsp per quart and 1/8 tsp per pint. Be sure to peel potatoes completely!

17. Salt is not necessary for pressure canning.