Corsaire
New member
Hi all, Looking for advice, hints, tips, do's and don'ts for canning / putting up foods. Never done it before so all information will be appreciated including recipes and equipment recommendations.
Canning / Bottling / Putting Up - 101?
- Thread starter Corsaire
- Start date
duncan99210
Well-known member
We were given this guidance by a couple of sets of folks who'd done extensive long cruises.
The bottle meat and oily fish, take clean, intact jars (we use frankfurter jars, because you can fit three or four into our pressure cooker) and scald them, just like making jam. Then pack the jar with meat plus flavourings if you like and top off with water. Firmly place the lid on the jar and place in the pressure cooker. Load the pressure cooker with jars and then add water until the cooker is about 3/4 full. Heat the cooker until it gets to pressure and then steam for 90 minutes. Allow the pressure cooker to cool until it looses pressure, open it and remove the jars. Allow the jars to cool in the air. When cool the lids should be slightly dished, showing the lids have sealed and there's a vacuum inside the jar. If the lids haven't dished and they pop when pressed, the seal didn't work and you should eat the meat as soon as possible.
Use within a year or so of preserving. Before use, do the press test on the jar lid: if it pops, the meat will have gone off. Don't be tempted to open the jar down below: the smell of bad meat is nauseating (don't ask how I know), just ditch the jar without opening it!
There's lots of receipies out there on the web but the essential thing is a long period at high temperature inside a pressure cooker.
The bottle meat and oily fish, take clean, intact jars (we use frankfurter jars, because you can fit three or four into our pressure cooker) and scald them, just like making jam. Then pack the jar with meat plus flavourings if you like and top off with water. Firmly place the lid on the jar and place in the pressure cooker. Load the pressure cooker with jars and then add water until the cooker is about 3/4 full. Heat the cooker until it gets to pressure and then steam for 90 minutes. Allow the pressure cooker to cool until it looses pressure, open it and remove the jars. Allow the jars to cool in the air. When cool the lids should be slightly dished, showing the lids have sealed and there's a vacuum inside the jar. If the lids haven't dished and they pop when pressed, the seal didn't work and you should eat the meat as soon as possible.
Use within a year or so of preserving. Before use, do the press test on the jar lid: if it pops, the meat will have gone off. Don't be tempted to open the jar down below: the smell of bad meat is nauseating (don't ask how I know), just ditch the jar without opening it!
There's lots of receipies out there on the web but the essential thing is a long period at high temperature inside a pressure cooker.
Ludd
New member
Use apressurr cooker to get max heat. I use jam or pickle jars( the ones with the button in the lid). Cook as normal, the put in jar. Place jar (s) in pressure cooker, up to pressure , depressurize quickly, open a d put lids on. Satisfying " click" as jat cools a d button goes down. I do stews , pickle beetroot and it works for me. If the button stays down, fine. If not bin contents.
Store the jars securely(foam pads) as a blow can break the seal.
25931
Well-known member
In many cruising areas there is a glut when fruit is in season and if you go a little way inland it is literally for nothing. Bottle as above but for less time. You can also make jam or marmalade but this requires stability as the pan is open. I find a wok safer as it is less inclined to boil over.
BobnLesley
Well-known member
I can provide first-hand methods for Meat, Butter & Cheese; also some Fish ones, though we've not tried those ourselves: -
Bottling meat (Canning):
I use old jam jars etc. Any jar will do as long as you are satisfied that you will get a good vacuum seal.
Sterilize the jars in the pressure cooker by steaming for 10 minutes with the lids loose – or as we do, just wash them with bleach and then rinse them well.
Cut the meat (any meat) into 1 inch chunks (or use mince or sausages) and pack in the jars leaving about 1cm headspace.
Add ½ tsp. Salt or 1 bouillon cube (optional) - we never add either.
Add no liquid. Screw lids on tight and place in pressure cooker on a rack or trivet.
Fill to about ½ - ¾ of the way up the jars with water and place lid on without the weight.
Heat and then free steam for 10 minutes then place weight on and once up to pressure cook for a further fifty minutes.
Remove cooker from heat and let pressure release naturally. Remove weight and leave for 10 minutes before removing jars. Place them on a towel away from draughts
After an hour or so of naturally cooling, the lids will ‘pop’ down, test the seals by checking that the lids remain concaved and do not pop up and down when pushed with a finger. Any that fails the test use straight away
BEFORE USING CHECK SEAL, SMELL CONTENTS AND IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT Yes you do screw the lids tight before cooking and no the jars don't then explode - I promise.
Preserving cheese:
Any cheese can be kept in oil. I tend to use cheddar and the cheapest vegetable oil I can find. Use a wide mouth container with a good seal (you don’t want the oil to leak). Cut the cheese into usable size pieces, pack loosely in the container and cover with the oil. To use, take a piece from the oil and dry on kitchen paper. The longer the cheese is left the more mature it tastes, so start with mild/cheap cheese; for our taste, it gets too strong after about 4 months.
Brining Butter: Sterilize any wide mouth jar (we find Carrefour or similar pate jars are perfect) in boiling water or bleach/rinse. When cool press the butter into the jar to within 1cm of the top, while squeezing out all the air bubbles Fill to the very top with cool, strong cold brine (1/4 cup of salt to 2 cups of hot water - cooled). Butter packed this way will last for 6-12 months in a cool place such as the bilge.
Dip out butter with a clean knife as needed and top up with clean fresh water - once opened, we just drain off all the water and put them in the fridge. We 'found' one in the bilge that was at least two years old and the butter was still perfect.
Bottled Tuna – never tried it ourselves
Fillet tuna. Remove skin and lightly scrape flesh to remove blood vessels and any discoloured flesh.
Cut in to pieces that will fit the jars (salsa jars are perfect).
Pack into hot jars (boil in water for 10 minutes). Leave 1-inch headspace.
Screw lids on tight.
Put in Pressure Cooker half filled with water and free steam for 10 minutes.
Bring up to pressure and cook for 1 hour 40 minutes.
Turn off heat and let pressure return to zero naturally. Wait a few minutes then open vent. And lift off cover. Let stand 10 minutes before removing. Stand jars upright on a towel and covered. After 24 hours test the seals by checking that the lids are concave and do not pop up and down when pushed with a finger. Any that fail the test use straight away.
BEFORE USING CHECK SEAL, SMELL CONTENTS AND IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT
PICKLED FISH – never tried it ourselves
Ingredients
Cubed Fish,
6 large onions sliced in rings,
3 cups brown vinegar,
1 cup water,
¾ cup sugar
3 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp Turmeric
6 Bay leaves
1 ½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp Black Peppercorns
1 cup Sultanas
2 Tbsp of Flour
Method
Fry the cubed fish in oil; for about 1½ mins.on each side until just cooked through. Season well with salt and pepper and set aside.
Simmer onions in the vinegar, water. Bay leaves, sugar, turmeric, curry powder, sultans, salt and peppercorns for 10 –12 minutes until they are just cooked but still crisp. Thicken the sauce with the flour mixed to a smooth paste with a little of the hot sauce.
Place layers of fish, onions and sultanas in a jar and pour hot sauce over. Remove the air with a non-metal spoon and place lids on tight.
Leave for 3 days before eating. Will keep for months in the cupboard
Bottling meat (Canning):
I use old jam jars etc. Any jar will do as long as you are satisfied that you will get a good vacuum seal.
Sterilize the jars in the pressure cooker by steaming for 10 minutes with the lids loose – or as we do, just wash them with bleach and then rinse them well.
Cut the meat (any meat) into 1 inch chunks (or use mince or sausages) and pack in the jars leaving about 1cm headspace.
Add ½ tsp. Salt or 1 bouillon cube (optional) - we never add either.
Add no liquid. Screw lids on tight and place in pressure cooker on a rack or trivet.
Fill to about ½ - ¾ of the way up the jars with water and place lid on without the weight.
Heat and then free steam for 10 minutes then place weight on and once up to pressure cook for a further fifty minutes.
Remove cooker from heat and let pressure release naturally. Remove weight and leave for 10 minutes before removing jars. Place them on a towel away from draughts
After an hour or so of naturally cooling, the lids will ‘pop’ down, test the seals by checking that the lids remain concaved and do not pop up and down when pushed with a finger. Any that fails the test use straight away
BEFORE USING CHECK SEAL, SMELL CONTENTS AND IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT Yes you do screw the lids tight before cooking and no the jars don't then explode - I promise.
Preserving cheese:
Any cheese can be kept in oil. I tend to use cheddar and the cheapest vegetable oil I can find. Use a wide mouth container with a good seal (you don’t want the oil to leak). Cut the cheese into usable size pieces, pack loosely in the container and cover with the oil. To use, take a piece from the oil and dry on kitchen paper. The longer the cheese is left the more mature it tastes, so start with mild/cheap cheese; for our taste, it gets too strong after about 4 months.
Brining Butter: Sterilize any wide mouth jar (we find Carrefour or similar pate jars are perfect) in boiling water or bleach/rinse. When cool press the butter into the jar to within 1cm of the top, while squeezing out all the air bubbles Fill to the very top with cool, strong cold brine (1/4 cup of salt to 2 cups of hot water - cooled). Butter packed this way will last for 6-12 months in a cool place such as the bilge.
Dip out butter with a clean knife as needed and top up with clean fresh water - once opened, we just drain off all the water and put them in the fridge. We 'found' one in the bilge that was at least two years old and the butter was still perfect.
Bottled Tuna – never tried it ourselves
Fillet tuna. Remove skin and lightly scrape flesh to remove blood vessels and any discoloured flesh.
Cut in to pieces that will fit the jars (salsa jars are perfect).
Pack into hot jars (boil in water for 10 minutes). Leave 1-inch headspace.
Screw lids on tight.
Put in Pressure Cooker half filled with water and free steam for 10 minutes.
Bring up to pressure and cook for 1 hour 40 minutes.
Turn off heat and let pressure return to zero naturally. Wait a few minutes then open vent. And lift off cover. Let stand 10 minutes before removing. Stand jars upright on a towel and covered. After 24 hours test the seals by checking that the lids are concave and do not pop up and down when pushed with a finger. Any that fail the test use straight away.
BEFORE USING CHECK SEAL, SMELL CONTENTS AND IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT
PICKLED FISH – never tried it ourselves
Ingredients
Cubed Fish,
6 large onions sliced in rings,
3 cups brown vinegar,
1 cup water,
¾ cup sugar
3 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp Turmeric
6 Bay leaves
1 ½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp Black Peppercorns
1 cup Sultanas
2 Tbsp of Flour
Method
Fry the cubed fish in oil; for about 1½ mins.on each side until just cooked through. Season well with salt and pepper and set aside.
Simmer onions in the vinegar, water. Bay leaves, sugar, turmeric, curry powder, sultans, salt and peppercorns for 10 –12 minutes until they are just cooked but still crisp. Thicken the sauce with the flour mixed to a smooth paste with a little of the hot sauce.
Place layers of fish, onions and sultanas in a jar and pour hot sauce over. Remove the air with a non-metal spoon and place lids on tight.
Leave for 3 days before eating. Will keep for months in the cupboard
AMCD300
New member
OldBawley
Active member
We have a slightly different approach.
Since we cook most of the year ( except summer ) on the wood burning stove we have heat for free.
No need for a pressure cooker.
Maybe the higher temperature of pressure cooking is better to kill germs, it also kills taste. We like slow cooking.
We can by putting the jars in a normal cooking pot, keep the ( seawater ) boiling for min half an hour, big jars more.
Take the jar out of the boiling water and put it upside down to cool. The content of the jar will boil further ( small bubbles forming in the liquid )
Leftovers could be frozen but canning is more secure. We use whatever jar that fits into our biggest cast iron cooking pot. Jars with big openings and clean covers.
Even a small leftover of good meat will be a treat when exhausted after summer sailing. Just open, heat and an excellent gourmet meal is there. No work.
I do not can grounded meat. Goes bad. Chicken and other birds : take the bones out. They have air inside.
Octopus can be stored for years.
Before we sailed to Turkey for wintering, we bought lots of pork in Rhodes Greece and canned it. Even bacon. In those days no pork in Turkey except for wild boar. Wild boar was sold as dog food. We bought half a boar and did some canning. Best meat I ever had.
I even can sea snails. Boiled, cleaned, canned. Boiled for 5 minutes in its soup ( Secret ) then in the hay box for 24 hours. Cleaning ( only the meat is kept ) and canning. Excellent amuse guele with the first drink.
After opening a jar you know within milliseconds if something went wrong. The stench is so bad you have to throw away the glass. Sometimes it happens, especially when canning leftovers with lots of ingredients.
Each winter it happens I have to cut the electricity to the fridge/ freezer. No sun or wind for days, so the fridge is the first to be stopped. Never a problem with canned stuff.
Since we cook most of the year ( except summer ) on the wood burning stove we have heat for free.
No need for a pressure cooker.
Maybe the higher temperature of pressure cooking is better to kill germs, it also kills taste. We like slow cooking.
We can by putting the jars in a normal cooking pot, keep the ( seawater ) boiling for min half an hour, big jars more.
Take the jar out of the boiling water and put it upside down to cool. The content of the jar will boil further ( small bubbles forming in the liquid )
Leftovers could be frozen but canning is more secure. We use whatever jar that fits into our biggest cast iron cooking pot. Jars with big openings and clean covers.
Even a small leftover of good meat will be a treat when exhausted after summer sailing. Just open, heat and an excellent gourmet meal is there. No work.
I do not can grounded meat. Goes bad. Chicken and other birds : take the bones out. They have air inside.
Octopus can be stored for years.
Before we sailed to Turkey for wintering, we bought lots of pork in Rhodes Greece and canned it. Even bacon. In those days no pork in Turkey except for wild boar. Wild boar was sold as dog food. We bought half a boar and did some canning. Best meat I ever had.
I even can sea snails. Boiled, cleaned, canned. Boiled for 5 minutes in its soup ( Secret ) then in the hay box for 24 hours. Cleaning ( only the meat is kept ) and canning. Excellent amuse guele with the first drink.
After opening a jar you know within milliseconds if something went wrong. The stench is so bad you have to throw away the glass. Sometimes it happens, especially when canning leftovers with lots of ingredients.
Each winter it happens I have to cut the electricity to the fridge/ freezer. No sun or wind for days, so the fridge is the first to be stopped. Never a problem with canned stuff.
rigman
Member
Sounds horrendous. A recipe for food poisoning.
Think we will stick with the fridge and freezer.
Think we will stick with the fridge and freezer.
OldBawley
Active member
Bull***t. We survived 18 years of canning. As I said, canning is way more secure than freeze.
Anyway our freezing compartment is small and when fishing is successful we need lots of jars to cope with the catch.
Not this year, done many miles of trolling here in the Argolic / Saronic and nothing yet. Hope the good season for trolling is starting now.
Industrial canned food can go bad as well, in fact it happened just about as frequent as our own canning failures. We had cans of peaches developing little holes and leaking. No rust. Have to admit they ware over date of expiry.
A good advice : if you are afraid of food poisoning, don't go eating out.
NornaBiron
New member
I've looked into canning with my pressure cooker and agree, it's not worth the risk.
To can safely a pressure canner is required in order to maintain a steady high pressure for an extended time. Pressure cookers just aren't designed for this and pressure canners are difficult to come by in Europe.
Botulism and other forms of food poisoning don't always smell bad
https://www.cdc.gov/features/homecanning/index.html
OldBawley
Active member
The free ebook “ A guide to Canning Freezing curing & smoking meat Fish and game” mentions the temperature for canning meat must be 115°C. That is above cooking temperature of water so a pressure vessel is needed. That is all according USDA.
My Flemish grandmother and her generation did not know about the USDA, just used a non pressurised canning device. Tinned metal with a big thermometer in the centre. Canning was done at ..say 98° since 100° is hard to reach in an open vessel.
My mother has not heard from the USDA neither, she still uses (at 85 years ) the open sterilizer.
I used our pressure cooker for years, then found out using an normal open Le Creuset round Dutch oven on the wood burner worked fine.
We all lived long life's, no food poisoning.
But I agree, All should follow the USDA recommendations, wear bicycle helmets and life jackets when near water.
Not me.
My Flemish grandmother and her generation did not know about the USDA, just used a non pressurised canning device. Tinned metal with a big thermometer in the centre. Canning was done at ..say 98° since 100° is hard to reach in an open vessel.
My mother has not heard from the USDA neither, she still uses (at 85 years ) the open sterilizer.
I used our pressure cooker for years, then found out using an normal open Le Creuset round Dutch oven on the wood burner worked fine.
We all lived long life's, no food poisoning.
But I agree, All should follow the USDA recommendations, wear bicycle helmets and life jackets when near water.
Not me.
NornaBiron
New member
Each to their own, personally I prefer to follow the advice which is based on science.
OldBawley
Active member
In 2002 we met a French liveaboard in Kapi creek Turkey. The little creek had been his wintering hole for 30 years, he left France as a very young man, lived of what he fished and some repairs for others.
His way of preserving octopus was keeping them alive in a big sort of hold under his boat. He hunted the octopus by spear gun so from time to time he had a dead one, had to can the octopus.
Each year he visited his old mother back in France, was a good boy, knew he had a huge heritage coming.
This France visit he had among other stuff a big jar with a complete octopus for his Maman.
I sailed him to Göcek, he took a bus to Istanbul, flew to Paris. Then auto stop to LeHavre.
A 65 year old guy which I had shaved almost bald, paratrooper boots and self made rucksack with his best knitted pullover in it wrapped around the big octopus jar.
Grandpa hippie. Old skinhead.
In Paris airport he retrieved his rucksack and saw fluid was leaking out of it. The jar was broken, he started cursing as only French can. Puutaing... cette merde...
He opened the rucksack to look at his best ( Only ) white pullover and walked away, holding the leaking rucksack far in front of him. The white pull was ruined, having the octopus skin over it and stinking at Octopus á la vinaigre. Still cursing he did not notice the custom lady who tried to stop him. She then halted the totally confused sailor, holding on to the rucksack. A bit of a struggle, and my friend was overwhelmed by some very big angry security people, taken in a lock hold and asked what was in his rucksack leaking and stinking like that.
By then he was so furious he grabbed into the sack, and slammed the big slimy octopus on her desk, covering everyone with food. Total silence.
That was enough for him to be confined for a few hours after the security guys did some very hard handed things to him.
Later, back in Turkey he told me it was all my fault. Before leaving he had asked me to cut his hair with my electric hair clipper and by accident I had cut a bald stripe all over his head after which we had to cut all of it. Darn.
The bald head was the reason of his problems, the octopus was no problem because he had donated it to the lady custom, saying she could stick it where she wanted.
His boat is still in Kapi creek, saw it on a recent youtube vid.
His way of preserving octopus was keeping them alive in a big sort of hold under his boat. He hunted the octopus by spear gun so from time to time he had a dead one, had to can the octopus.
Each year he visited his old mother back in France, was a good boy, knew he had a huge heritage coming.
This France visit he had among other stuff a big jar with a complete octopus for his Maman.
I sailed him to Göcek, he took a bus to Istanbul, flew to Paris. Then auto stop to LeHavre.
A 65 year old guy which I had shaved almost bald, paratrooper boots and self made rucksack with his best knitted pullover in it wrapped around the big octopus jar.
Grandpa hippie. Old skinhead.
In Paris airport he retrieved his rucksack and saw fluid was leaking out of it. The jar was broken, he started cursing as only French can. Puutaing... cette merde...
He opened the rucksack to look at his best ( Only ) white pullover and walked away, holding the leaking rucksack far in front of him. The white pull was ruined, having the octopus skin over it and stinking at Octopus á la vinaigre. Still cursing he did not notice the custom lady who tried to stop him. She then halted the totally confused sailor, holding on to the rucksack. A bit of a struggle, and my friend was overwhelmed by some very big angry security people, taken in a lock hold and asked what was in his rucksack leaking and stinking like that.
By then he was so furious he grabbed into the sack, and slammed the big slimy octopus on her desk, covering everyone with food. Total silence.
That was enough for him to be confined for a few hours after the security guys did some very hard handed things to him.
Later, back in Turkey he told me it was all my fault. Before leaving he had asked me to cut his hair with my electric hair clipper and by accident I had cut a bald stripe all over his head after which we had to cut all of it. Darn.
The bald head was the reason of his problems, the octopus was no problem because he had donated it to the lady custom, saying she could stick it where she wanted.
His boat is still in Kapi creek, saw it on a recent youtube vid.
GHA
Well-known member
Is it possible for any kind of bacteria to grow with the seal still fixed airtight under a vacuum?
I've never had anything canned loose the seal but if it wasn't sucked in tight then it would be straight over the side.
NornaBiron
New member
Absolutely, if the bacterium is inside the jar at the start and it is not heated sufficiently for long enough to kill it or the spores.
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/ensuring_safe_canned_foods.html
I have tried to find European links but as canning is less common here the vast majority are from the US.
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GHA
Well-known member
But can the bacterium live without creating gas increasing the pressure, or rather decreasing the vacuum inside the jar so the cap isn't sucked in?
NornaBiron
New member
Yep.
.' Some microorganisms that grow in canned foods, however, do not produce gas and therefore cause no abnormal appearance of the can; nevertheless, they cause spoilage of the product.'
Taken from https://www.fda.gov/food/foodscienceresearch/laboratorymethods/ucm109398.htm
GHA
Well-known member
Ta.
Quick google hints that the Bacillus capable of breeding without producing gas aren't harmful but the food will taste off, but just a quick look though. Not a huge amount of info coming up.
http://www.healthycanning.com/flat-sour/
https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=+flat+sour+spoilage+harmful&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5
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Gerry
Well-known member
Canning is a terrific way to preserve food BUT it needs to be done in a responsible fashion. Meat and some other products MUST be canned in a pressure cooker or you risk botulism- that can kill you!
May I suggest getting a copy of the Blue Ball book of preserving http://www.lakeland.co.uk/70767/Ball-Blue-Book®-Guide-To-Preserving . It is an excellent starting place. There are also any number of excellent websites.
I have canned the vast majority of our ships stores for over a decade now. I make up dishes such as beef and veg stews, chilli, bolognaise and then can them to provide excellent quick meals when on passage. In the summer I use veg gluts to make soup and can this for use throughout the winter. The local community orchard provided enough apples last autumn to supply filling for pies and crumbles for the entire year.
Just this week I have prepared enough tomato ketchup ( cheap toms at local farmers market) to last a year and a vast vat of carrot and ginger soup that filled twenty jars ready for the winter.
May I suggest getting a copy of the Blue Ball book of preserving http://www.lakeland.co.uk/70767/Ball-Blue-Book®-Guide-To-Preserving . It is an excellent starting place. There are also any number of excellent websites.
I have canned the vast majority of our ships stores for over a decade now. I make up dishes such as beef and veg stews, chilli, bolognaise and then can them to provide excellent quick meals when on passage. In the summer I use veg gluts to make soup and can this for use throughout the winter. The local community orchard provided enough apples last autumn to supply filling for pies and crumbles for the entire year.
Just this week I have prepared enough tomato ketchup ( cheap toms at local farmers market) to last a year and a vast vat of carrot and ginger soup that filled twenty jars ready for the winter.
Normalfornorfolk
Member
The only downside I can see to this is having large aounts of heavy and breakable glass jars in the boat. Is storage a problem?
How do you prevent the lids from rusting, or isn't that a problem?
How do you prevent the lids from rusting, or isn't that a problem?
