[Wednesday]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', 'B')e strong, young warrior, and face your fears! It's a PITA to have to babysit it, but them's the breaks. How many times have you used your canner?

[Wednesday]

That is pretty much in line with the information I have been reading.

Oh if that thing blows up in my face, I'm just not sure how to live without a face.

[JPL]

We've tried various traditional techniques this year - mainly as an experiment. One of the best ones was to put stuff like tomatoes etc, with a liberal sprinkling of salt and sugar, into heated (and then sealed) glass bottles. That worked really well. Also traditional veg. pickles (with vinegar) into the same. The latter make your lips crinkle a bit when you first crack them open but the stuff does seem to keep pretty well )

Also the containers are re-useable (grin).

JPL

[strider3700]

My wife does the canning and appears to have the same fear. I was wanting to pick up a used canner and then just replace the seals, guage and valves. She won't go near it if I do that so I'm trying to find a new one thats good. The local home hardware store has both All American and presto brands in the large canning size. All american is $300 presto is $150. I couldn't see a difference with a quick look at the boxes.

[Loki]

I haven't used a pressure canner (though I plan on getting one), but I've used a water bath canner without incident thus far (knock on wood). It's really not much more dangerous than any other kind of cooking. Main problem I've had is handling the hot jars, but that's only because I'm too cheap to buy a jar lifter.

I'd recommend getting the Ball Blue Book. This tells you what you can preserve using the water bath method (pH 4.6 or lower). Great book. I recently made and canned applesauce using their directions and it turned out just fine. Here's a partial list of foods they say are suitable for the water bath method (listed in order of acidity):

Lemons
Pickles
Gooseberries
Apricots
Plums
Apples, Blackberries
Sour Cherries
Peaches
Sauerkraut
Pears
Tomatoes

[killJOY]

Loki, I actually can MORE high-acid foods than I do low-acid. I just use a water bath and even old bail-lid jars for applesauce, cider, etc etc. High acid is a lot easier, just lots of water to deal with.

[NEOPO]

Respect everything and fear nothing grasshopper.
We are laughing with you

We bought the big one that I figure at least two human biker zombie heads could fit into

She (my goddess) practiced a few times with some jam an such while I observed and helped 'cause I am good at acting stupid and yeah what a racket but no biggy once you get the right temperature.

Hmmm life without a face....isnt that a song or something?

I must be off now to start the "I am afraid of composting toilets" thread
<reckons people just like to see their own crap but that such a thread would be humorous and enlightening nonetheless>
<ponders why its called canning instead of jarring and what would be the opposite of a water bath>

[Wednesday]

Sort of off-topic, but I watched Cold Mountain again this week.

In one scene, a kind shopkeeper gave Nicole Kidman's starving character some salt pork.

What is salt pork and how does using salt to preserve meat work?

There was another scene where an old woman helped the man, giving him food, medicine and a place to rest. She claimed that all a person needed to survive was a goat. It was also the most tender, loving animal slaughtering scene I have ever seen depicted. When the time comes for me to learn to slaughter an animal, I want to do it just like she did.

Anyway...salt pork?

[kochevnik]

It strikes me that the thing to do would be to have some metal working guy build a safety cage (1/4" steel to fit around the pressure canner. You might even be able to find such a thing in the metal scrap yards.

Start the canner, plae the 'Shield of Life' over it and there you go.

I'm probably going to make one myself. Taking orders next year when I get spare time - anyone want one ?

There was a guy who built his wife a plate steel shield over their whole bed when they moved to LA - it was designed to protect them from earthquakes and the wife said she would move if he didn't make such a thing to protect them.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Merlin', 'P')ersonally, I find the Boiling Water Canner, filled with many gallons of boiling hot water and perched precariously on the gas burner, to be much more threatening/frightening than the pressure canner. I have nightmare visions of the pain and suffering that might ensue should the Boiling Water Canner ever spill off the stove while I'm loading or unloading it -- a far more likely outcome than the pressure cooker exploding.

[Loki]

This thread reminds me a bit of something I found when I was doing some archival research at the local historical society. It was a 1930s photograph of a large canning rig that was set up on a trailer pulled by a pickup. They'd apparently drive around and offer people their canning services. Kinda cool.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kochevnik', 'I')t strikes me that the thing to do would be to have some metal working guy build a safety cage (1/4" steel to fit around the pressure canner. You might even be able to find such a thing in the metal scrap yards.

Start the canner, plae the 'Shield of Life' over it and there you go.

I'm probably going to make one myself. Taking orders next year when I get spare time - anyone want one ?

There was a guy who built his wife a plate steel shield over their whole bed when they moved to LA - it was designed to protect them from earthquakes and the wife said she would move if he didn't make such a thing to protect them.

[steam_cannon]

I did include some links for some of the newer pressure cookers, but actually I've never used one of the newer ones myself. Only the old style...


For ahhh, canning yeah...

[SILENTTODD]

Here’s a link to a short article about solar canning. Plan on this year trying it myself. I have 5 different solar oven/cookers that I have been experimenting with for the last two years.

http://solarcooking.org/canning1.htm

[JPL]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Wednesday', '
')What is salt pork and how does using salt to preserve meat work?

[Merlin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', '[')url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_pork]Salt pork (Wikipedia)[/url]

It's sold in chunks and is almost entirely fat. I tried it, didn't like it.

[Pops]

Actually, I am more afraid of the boiling water you scald the jars and stuff in too. But probably the most dangerous thing is the steam coming from the regulator – it won’t kill you but can sure make you hurt yourself or someone else.

And be sure to let that baby cool before you crack the lid!

I’m not sure how often you should rebuild your cooker; we did ours (Presto) a couple of years ago even though everything seemed fine. I am sure it had never been done before – and I know it is at least 50 years old. At the least I would think a new pop-off is a good idea if you buy a used one.

[Steam_Engine]

I use one of the safe new-style pressure cookers almost on a daily basis. Cuts my energy used for cooking significantly because of the reduction in cooking times. Gadgets like solar cookers are cool but not particularly practical—too slow and not reliable enough in most climates.

[bobaloo]

An earlier post discussed Presto vs. All American brand cookers. If you're a member of this board you should be buying the All American, here's why. The Presto cookers, at least all I've ever seen, use a rubber gasket to seal the lid to the body. Those gaskets are good for a few years, then they need to be replaced. The All American cookers use a machined metal-metal joint that will last forever. I have one made in the 40's that still going strong. They're more expensive but the Prestos will be junk if you can't replace the seal.

Remember that you have the gauge to measure the pressure, as well as an emergency relief valve which will trip if the pressure gets too high. It's possible to screw up enough to blow one up but it ain't easy. I must admit once when I was pressure cooking a bunch of rye grain I spazzed out and caused the over pressure relief valve to trip. Scared the piss out of me and made a mess, but all was fine.