Great Northern Beans

You can never seem to have enough beans in the pantry.  I decided to can a few jars of Great Northern Beans with Salt Pork. 

You will need: 

2 pounds of beans

Salt Pork (3/4 inch cube in each jar)

Water

Jars, lid, bands, pressure canner and canning supplies.

Yields 9 pints

1:  Pour the beans out on a table or counter and sort out all the little rocks and bad beans. 

2:  Cover them in cold water and let them soak for 18 hours.

 I always soak my beans anywhere from 12 to 18 hours before canning.  If I get busy they soak longer.  By soaking your beans a long time you will get a nice tender, delicious bean when canned.

3:  Drain off that water and put fresh water over the beans.  

4:  Add salt pork and bring them to a boil. Boil them for 30 minutes.  Dip off any foam while they are boiling.

5:  After 30 minutes I put a 3/4 inch cube of the salt pork into each jar.  Use a slotted spoon and fill jars about 2/3 full with beans.

6:  Bring the water that the beans boiled in back to a boil and cover beans leaving 1 inch head space.  

7: Remove all air bubbles and adjust the head space.  Wipe the rims of  jars with a paper towel dipped in vinegar.  You can just use a wet paper towel if you don't have vinegar handy.

8: Place lids and bands on jars, tighten them down finger tight.  place the jars in the canner and put on the lid.  

9:  Vent steam for 10 minutes.  

Process pints at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes.  If you do quarts you need to process for 90 minutes. 

Check Charts for your elevation and Canner Type

Table 1. Recommended process time for Beans or Peas in a dial-gauge pressure canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time	0 - 2,000 ft	2,001 - 4,000 ft	4,001 - 6,000 ft	6,001 - 8,000 ft
Hot	Pints	75 min	11 lb	12 lb	13 lb	14 lb
	Quarts	90	11	12	13	14

Table 2. Recommended process time for Beans or Peas in a weighted-gauge pressure canner.
			Canner pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of pack	Jar Size	Process Time	0 - 1,000 ft	Above 1,000 ft
Hot	Pints	75 min	10 lb	15 lb
	Quarts	90	10	15

10:  Turn off the heat and let the pressure drop naturally.  Wait 10 minutes before removing the lid.  Remove the lid and wait 10 more minutes to allow the jars to adjust to the temperature in the room. Place jars on the counter to cool for 24 hours.

Label and Store in pantry.

National Canning Day

Thought I would remind everyone that today, October 23rd is National Canning Day....So what are all of you planning on canning today?

 

I will probably do the last of my peppers and make some more jelly. 

SWEET POTATOES

I love sweet potatoes, but I am the only one in my family that does, so I did a few pints today just for myself.  Here's how I did them.

Fill your canner with about 3 inches of water.  Place your jars in the canner and turn on the heat to keep them warm until you are ready to fill them. 

First I washed the potatoes

Then put them in a stainless steel pot and covered in water.  Boiled for about 20 minutes or until they are easy to peel.

You can also steam them if you prefer. 

I then put them in a strainer in the sink to cool for a little bit until I was able to handle them enough to take a paring knife and peel them.  

Next, I cut them into chucks and filled my jars leaving 1 inch headspace.  "Tidbit"  Starchy foods absorb water so you can leave a little more head space here but make sure when you cover them that you leave the proper "1 inch head space".

I made a medium syrup using 5 cups of water, 1 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1 1/2 cup of brown sugar.  I covered my potatoes with the syrup.  

Now, I removed all air bubbles and added more syrup to leave the 1 inch headspace.  I wiped the rims of my jars with a paper towel dipped in white vinegar making sure not to leave behind any sticky syrup so I would get a good seal. 

Put on my lids and rings.  Tightened down finger tight and put them in the canner.

I vented my steams for 7 minutes (All American) If you have a different canner then vent for the time your manual says to.   The presto says to vent for 10 minutes. 

Process at 10 pounds pressure for 65 minutes for pints or if you do quarts then it would be 90 minutes.

My finished Jars.

My leftovers...I ate and they were so good.

Don't forget to adjust pressure for your own elevation.

Click Here for Elevation Charts

Let pressure drop naturally.  Open canner and wait 10 minutes.  Place jars on counter to cool for 24 hours.

Lable and Store.

FYI

The only safe way to can Sweet Potatoes is in cubes or chunks. If you puree them, they will be to dense for the heat to penetrate to the center of the jars and you may not kill all the bacteria that can cause botulism.

Spiced Pear Preserves

Since I had pears, I decided to make some Spiced Preserves.  I found a recipe that did not add water and I wanted to try it.  The recipe just called for Pears and Sugar, but I wanted some spices.  The next batch I make I will also add a lemon thinly sliced.  I ended up with 9 half pint jars of yummy goodness!

You will need Pears

 (Use them while hard, ripe ones will turn to mush)

Sugar

Spices

(I used all spice and cinnamon)

One lemon thinly sliced.  (optional)

Wash your pears.  Peel & Core.  (Save peels for jelly)

For each quart of pears you will need 1 cup of sugar.  I used a quart jar and cut my pears into it until it was full, then poured them into a med/large stainless steele pot.  I then sprinkled a cup of sugar over the pears.  Once you pot is full, cover it and let it sit in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.  The sugar will dissolve and pull liquid from the pears.  It should look like this.

Start the pears cooking and turn heat to low.  Allow to simmer over low heat for about 2 hours.  Add whatever spices you like.  I only used 1/2 tsp of allspice and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.  Let cook another hour or until pears are tender and translucent. 

Like this.

Remove pears from syrup and set aside. They should look like this when done.

Continue cooking your syrup over medium heat until it thickens real good.  Return the pears back to the pot with the thickened syrup and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Ladle hot preserves into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Like this.

Wipe rims with a clean paper towel dipped in vinegar to ensure a good seal.  Remove air bubbles.  Put on lids and rings and tighten down finger tight.  Process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.  Remove lid and wait 5 more minutes.

Place jars on counter to cool for 24 hours.

Lable and Store.

I did not use lemon in this batch but want to in then next one. You would thinly slice it. Remove seeds and cook with the pears. Remove and discard the lemon when you are removing the pears to thicken the syrup.

CHILI CON CARNE

Love Chili and worry that you might not be able to can it safely at home.  Here is a tried and true recipe. 

Yields 9 pints of Chili

3 cups dried pinto or red kidney beans

You can mix the beans to use half & half

5-1/2 cups water

5 tsp salt (separated)

3 pounds ground beef

1-1/2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped peppers of your choice (optional)

1 tsp black pepper

3 to 6 tbsp chili powder

2 qts crushed or whole tomatoes

 Wash beans thoroughly and place them in a 2 qt saucepan. Add cold water to a level of 2 to 3 inches above the beans and soak 12 to 18 hours. Drain and discard water. Combine beans with 5-1/2 cups of fresh water, and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat simmer 30 minutes. Drain and discard water. Brown ground beef, chopped onions, and peppers in a skillet. Drain off fat and add 3 teaspoons salt, pepper, chili powder, tomatoes, and drained cooked beans. Simmer 5 minutes. Caution: Do not thicken. Fill jars, leaving 1-inch headspace

Remove Air Bubbles and put on lids and rings.  Wipe rims of jars with a paper towel dipped in vinegar to ensure a good seal.  Tight rings finger tight.  Process according to tables below.

Table 1. Recommended process time for Chile Con Carne in a dial-gauge pressure canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time	0 - 2,000 ft	2,001 - 4,000 ft	4,001 - 6,000 ft	6,001 - 8,000 ft
Hot	Pints	75 min	11 lb	12 lb	13 lb	14 lb

Table 2. Recommended process time for Chile Con Carne in a weighted-gauge pressure canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time	0 - 1,000 ft	Above 1,000 ft
Hot	Pints	75 min	10 lb	15 lb

Reference:  National Center for Home Food Preservation

Peanut Butter Candy

I know that this blog is dedicated to canning, but we all like a little sweets every now and then, so I thought I would make some good home made peanut butter candy. 

 

Ingredients

4 cups of sugar

1 12oz can of evaporated milk (I use carnation)

1 18oz jar of peanut butter (I use Jif)

a pat of butter (not margarine)

1 tbsp of pure vanilla extract

 

In a large heavy bottom stainless steele pot or a cast iron skillet ( I have always used a cast iron skillet when making candy until just recently I decided to try my heavy pot) combine the sugar, butter and cream.

 

 

Stir well and bring to a boil over med/high heat.  Reduce heat and boil steadily while stirring for 5 minutes.  You can have a small bowl of very cold water and test your candy after 5 minute by putting a spoonful in the water.  If it forms a soft ball it is ready. 

 

 

I have found that 5 minutes is almost the perfect timing if it is kept boiling good and stirred well. 

 

Remove from heat and add 1 tbsp of pure vanilla extract and the whole jar of peanut butter.  Stir well.

 

You will notice that the candy has a glossy shine.  Stir vigorously until some of the shine goes away and the candy starts to thicken.  You can tell it is ready when it starts sticking to the sides of the pot like in this picture.

 

When it looks like this it is ready to pour into a 9x13 inch pan.  Make sure you have your pan ready by taking a little butter and rubbing it all over the inside of the pan.  Pour you candy in the pan.  If you like it thinner, then you can use a larger cookie sheet or even plates.

 

 

Cool, Cut into squares and store in a covered container lined with wax paper in the refrigerator.

 

My family loves Peanut Butter Candy, I hope your's does as well. 

 

Variations: If you like Peanut Butter Fudge you can add 1/2 cup of Hershey's Cocoa to the sugar, cream and butter before starting the cooking. 

When I do Fudge I like to also add 1 cup of black walnut kernals and stir them in just before pouring it into the pan to cool. 

 

 

 

 

 

Layered Beef Stew

My granddaughter, Taylor and I decided to do some stew today.  I usually do quarts as in a previous post, but got these great pint and half jars on sale at Lowes and thought we would do something pretty.  This is also a good way to make sure your ingredients are evenly distributed among your jars.

Ingrediets:  Yielded 14 jars (Pint and Half Size)

5 to 6 pounds of stew meat

6 to 7 pounds of potatoes

4 large onions

8 to 10 stalks of celery (I used One package)

2 pounds of carrots

2 quarts of tomatoe juice (Mixed with broth you
cooked the meat in)

Seasonings of choice

Fresh ground pepper

Canning Salt

First we cooked our meat for about 30 minutes.  While it was cooking we cut up all the other veggies.  This is what we started out with, but we ended up cutting up more to use up all the broth.   The total we cut up is what I listed as ingredients.

Taylor started with the meat and layered all these goodies in the jars.

Here's her pretty jars

I added the tomato juice to the beef broth that the meat cooked in along with the seasonings. Brought it to a gentle boil.

Add a tsp of salt to each jar.

Next we covered the stew with the hot broth leaving one inch headspace.  Removed all air bubbles.  Put on lids and rings and tighened down finger tight.

We placed the jars in the canner and put on the lid.

Vented the steam for 7 minutes (All American) or 10 minutes for the Presto

Put on the weight and processed for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.

Let steam drop naturally.  Remove lid and wait 10 minutes.

Place jars on counter to cool for 24 hours

As you can see from the picture, most of the veggies floated to the

top.  This is the one thing I don't like about raw packing anything.  Hot packed foods don't float as bad, but it doesn't hurt the finished product.

Lable and Store

 

Pear Jelly

Pear Jelly is a fun easy way to use up your peels and cores when canning pears.  I placed all my peels and cores into a container, put a lid on it and placed in the refrigerator until I could get them juiced. 

To make pear juice from peels,   Just put them in a pot and cover in water and bring to a boil.  Boil about 20 to 30 minutes while mashing the peels to release all the flesh and get a good flavor. 

Place in refrigerator for 24 hours. 

When ready to make jelly, bring mixture to a boil and then strain through a jelly bag or cheese cloth to collect the juice.

Recipe yields approximately 8 half pint jars of jelly.

Ingredients:

4 cups of prepared pear juice

2 tbsp of lemon juice

5 1/2 cups of sugar

1 box of regular pectin

1 pat of butter

1/2 tsp of cinnamon (Optional)

Measure your sugar in a bowl and set aside. Mix your pectin with 1/4 cup of the sugar that you have measured out. (Don't use extra sugar to mix with the pectin).

In a 6 to 8 quart stainless steele pot, combine pear juice, butter, lemon juice, cinnamon and pectin mixture.

Bring to a boil that can't be stirred down.

Add sugar all at once and return to a boil that can't be stirred down.  Boil for exactly one minute.  Remove from heat and skim foam if needed. 

Ladle into clean, sterile jars.  Wipe rims with a paper towel dipped in vinegar to ensure a good seal. 

Place lids and rings on jars.  Tighten down finger tight.

Place jars in water bath canner and process for 10 minutes.

Remove lid and wait 5 more minutes.

This picture is without the cinnamon

Place jars on counter to cool for 24 hours.

Label and Store.

Mountain Dew Jelly

My grandkids and I decided we would try making the "Famous" Mountain Dew Jelly.  This is not the type of jelly I usually do, but thought it would be fun and a way to spend some time with my grand children, Tucker and Taylor. 

This recipe will yield 6 half pint jars of jelly

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of mountain dew

2 tbsp lemon juice

4 1/2 cups of sugar

1 box regular pectin

1 pat of butter

Measure your sugar in a bowl and set aside.   Mix your pectin with 1/4 cup of the sugar that you have measured out. (Don't use extra sugar to mix with the pectin).

Combine mountain dew and lemon juice in a 6 to 8 quart stainless steele pot.  Bring to a boil and boil gently for 3 minutes.  Let cool slightly.

Add pat of butter and the pectin/sugar mixture to the pot and bring back to a boil that can't be stirred down.

Add your sugar all at once.  Return to a boil that can't be stirred down and boil for exactly one minute.

Remove from heat and skim foam if needed.

Ladle jelly into hot, steralized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean paper towel dipped in vinegar to ensure a good seal.

Put on lids and rings.  Tighten down finger tight.

Place in boiling water bath and process for 10 minutes.  Remove lid and let sit for 5 more minutes.

Place on counter to cool for 24 hours.

Label and Store in a cool, dark place.

Give a Jar

I was recently reminded of the quote.  Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.  Author Unknown.

 

It got me to thinking..that is a lot like our home canning.  Everyone likes getting a jar of our home cooked goodness....

 

So Canners, we need this motto...

 

Give a man a jar of food and he will eat for a day...Teach a man to can his own and he surely will not go hungry.