What kind of ready meals do you can?

[mythreesons]

Why do the jars have to be hot? Won't they get hot when lid closed?

So it doesn't shock the jar.. from what I understand if you put hot food in a room temp jar it could break the jar.

 

[seedcorn]

Thanks. Guess I've been doing it wrong all these years.

 

[mythreesons]

Thanks. Guess I've been doing it wrong all these years.

Are you talking about pressure canning?

 

[seedcorn]

Yes. Although everything I put in there is between warm and hot.

 

[Beekissed]

The need for the jars to be hot in that method is so that you can put the hot chicken and water/broth into the jars and get them into the hot water of the canner before they cool down and to prevent jar breakage when all this is happening. This is all done so you can cut down on total canning time in the pressure canner than you would use if raw/cold packing....supposed to change the texture of the meat as an end result, rendering it not so very mushy.

 

[canesisters]

Got a canning question.
I always roast my chicken first. A friend raw packs and always has a couple jars fail - we figure because of the fat.
Those of you who raw pack chicken, do you have this problem? And, how do you avoid it?

 

[Beekissed]

Got a canning question.
I always roast my chicken first. A friend raw packs and always has a couple jars fail - we figure because of the fat.
Those of you who raw pack chicken, do you have this problem? And, how do you avoid it?

I've never had a jar of chicken to fail and I can fat and all...I actually ADD chunks of fat to the jar. I've done it both ways and never had a jar to fail, so not sure what your friend is doing but whatever it is it's likely the cause and not the nature of the meat canned. Folks can up hog lard and even can things packed in lard all the time to keep the fat from going rancid, so it's not likely fat is the cause.

 

[canesisters]

Are you canning meat stripped off the bone, or bone and all?

 

[ducks4you]

I have a brand new pressure canner (Christmas present), but I'm WAAYYYYY too busy to learn to use it now. I'll wait until the winter to experiment with it.
One of my favorite winter side dishes that I can in the summer is tomatoes + zucchini + onions. It is such a wonderful summertime tasting treat to open up and eat from a pint in December.

 

[canesisters]

@ducks4you , that mix is REALLY good with pasta and a little sour cream.