What are you canning now?

[ninnymary]

hot pack into jars means the contents are heated up before filling the jars, then put on lids and process.

instead of BWB to process we use the oven instead, this is an older method that is no longer recommended, but it is what Mom knows how to do and we're ok with it and will keep doing it. you need a good oven with a reliable temperature control.

i fill up the jars, wipe the rim so it is clean, put on the lids like any other time you'd can something, twist the ring on firm and then put them in the oven at 250F for half an hour to an hour. if the oven is too hot or not hot enough you have to know what you are after, but once you know your oven it works out fine. must inspect the jars for chips and cracks before using. i've had two jars this year that had chipped rims and one jar i cracked while cleaning - but it was such an old jar we sure got our money's worth out of it.

anyways i've posted in other threads including some titled for oven canning so you should be able to find me rambling on more about that in those threads. i do not do oven canning for anything that would be required to be pressure canned instead. so only items that are acidic enough so that it would not be a botulism risk - that is anything that would be safe for BWB.

Wow, I've never heard of using the oven for canning. I like the idea. It seems so much easier. I getting to the point where I get very nervous using all that boiling water in the canner. It scares me to lower the jars. I'm afraid I will bang them together or that I will get burned!

How long do you heat up the diced tomatoes? Won't they disinegrate?

I'm going to check out your other posts on oven canning.

Thanks
Mary

 

[R2elk]

i dunk them in boiling water until the skins are ready to come off then we core them and cut them into chunks and i hot pack into jars and then oven can to seal them. i can do up to 24 quarts in a single batch. they are plain tomato chunks, no spices or other things added as we'll do whatever with them when we need them through the coming year. goulash, macaroni and tomatoes and chili all use them plus whatever else Mom thinks up to cook that can use tomatoes - about 70% of them end up as macaroni and tomatoes as we really like that plus we have a good friend who's a vegetarian who really loves it too so we make a few gallons at a time when we make it. i like it best when it is fresh and the pasta is still firm enough and the juice hasn't gotten all soaked up by the pasta, melt some butter on it and i'm all set.

About the only thing I do different is to add one teaspoon of salt to each quart jar. When I wasn't adding the salt they would spoil within a year but with the salt added they keep for years. I do the water bath which means 4 quarts at a time for me.

Macaroni and canned tomatoes is good. We used the big elbows. Now I also do canned tomatoes with a bell pepper and penne pasta.

 

[flowerbug]

Wow, I've never heard of using the oven for canning. I like the idea. It seems so much easier. I getting to the point where I get very nervous using all that boiling water in the canner. It scares me to lower the jars. I'm afraid I will bang them together or that I will get burned!

How long do you heat up the diced tomatoes? Won't they disinegrate?

I'm going to check out your other posts on oven canning.

Thanks
Mary

there are risks involved, if you blow off some lids, break a jar or otherwise cause mayhem it's not my fault.

i have had jars break in the oven. not many, but it does happen. we've done thousands of quarts, i can't even say how many it has been that long, but once in a while a mess does happen. maybe one in a thousand - seems about right or perhaps fewer. once in a while a jar won't seal, we either eat it or keep it in the fridge until we do the next batch and add it back in with those.

we do not do a small dice, they are large chunks, but it ends up being a fair amount of juice too by the time the tomatoes are heated up and then canned. we don't remove seeds or snot, that's all a big part of the flavor of the tomatoes for us.

 

[R2elk]

Not actual canning but I bottled 24 lbs. of sweet clover honey. Very light colored and delicately flavored.

 

[ducks4you]

Don't use you oven for canning. You NEED to SEE (with a water bath canner) a solid rolling boil so that you jars seal and don't leak product. You cannot use the oven with a pressure canner.
One more thought...if you are water bath canning, with the standard spackle wear black canner that has 7 jar spots in the rack, I suggest no more than 5 quarts at a time. You could also hot bath 2 jars of pints to fill it. I never seem to have enough head room to cover 7 quarts and then, it takes LONGER, sometimes the jars leak. NEVER have this problem with pints.

 

[ducks4you]

19 quarts tomatoes, 5 pints tomato juice, 5 1/2 pints spiced pears (from the tree that almost died of blight 4 years ago.) Peaches are waiting in the fridge for processing, more of 30+ surprise harvest this year, which are frozen, and will be processed this winter into some kind of preserves.
I still have some jars of tomatoes + onions + zucchini. Must of done a good job, bc when I open a jar it tastes like I canned them yesterday!

 

[jbosmith]

I canned the last 14 pints of apple sauce two nights ago which finishes up fall canning for me. My freezers are completely full, and I still have soups, potatoes, beans, a couple more batches of salsa, etc. that I'll can later on, but I wait until the house is cold and dry so that it feels like I'm getting double duty out of the energy usage.

 

[jbosmith]

I never seem to have enough head room to cover 7 quarts and then, it takes LONGER, sometimes the jars leak. NEVER have this problem with pints.

I recently got sick of my black canner making a mess when I did quarts and bought a shiny new stainless 13.5" pot off Amazon. The canner rack fits in it, it has a nice layered bottom so it heats evenly, and it has a glass top that I can see through. The top also sits inside the top lip of the pot which I think is key. The black one that I was mad at sits on top and water sputters out if it's not on just right. As a side bonus, it gives me a second 5 gallon stainless pot that I can simmer tomatoes/apples/whatever in.

 

[seedcorn]

Tried jalapeño relish. Used quite a few jalapeño. Then, diced up another bunch placed in vinegar/water and set out to ferment.

 

[ducks4you]

Just pressure canned 7 quarts of chili this weekend.