What are you canning now?

[ducks4you]

I will need to can aGAIN on Monday bc the tomatoes continue to ripen. Seems like the ones that wanted to rot have already done so, so I may be looking at a total of quarts to be over 60 before I am done.

 

[ducks4you]

I canned what I saved from the Thanksgiving turkey drippings, including the multitude of vegetables and herbs that DD used making it. It inCLUDED a lot of actual turkey, which I froze. Not surprising since it was over 20 pounds of bird. I took it to my blender and it smelled awesome.
Then, I attempted to pressure can it.
I won't be asking for DH's help anymore.
Taking a meat based product, trying to keep it from going bad, THEN, putting it into hot tap water to start, as he insisted the direction said to do, just doesn't make canning sense to me.
Hot with hot, cold with cold.
I made some dumb mistakes.
First, I poured boiling hot water over the jars of room temperature produce to clean them before putting them into the canner, and I cracked one jar.
I SHOULD have just been more careful ladeling, and maybe used a paper towel with some soap to clean the exterior, then rinsed them off with lukewarm water.
Second, I didn't leave them until the next day to TOTALLY cool.
TWO didn't seal.
It wasn't a total loss, as my dogs will attest to. They are wondering when they get this for dinner again.
I had leakage and it was a REAL MESS to clean. Maybe I didn't screw the lids on tight enough?!?!?
I need your opinions, pls.
I still have 2 1/2 pints of product, and I intend to store until February to use, JUST TO BE SURE that they sealed.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I canned what I saved from the Thanksgiving turkey drippings, including the multitude of vegetables and herbs that DD used making it. It inCLUDED a lot of actual turkey, which I froze. Not surprising since it was over 20 pounds of bird. I took it to my blender and it smelled awesome.
Then, I attempted to pressure can it.
I won't be asking for DH's help anymore.
Taking a meat based product, trying to keep it from going bad, THEN, putting it into hot tap water to start, as he insisted the direction said to do, just doesn't make canning sense to me.
Hot with hot, cold with cold.
I made some dumb mistakes.
First, I poured boiling hot water over the jars of room temperature produce to clean them before putting them into the canner, and I cracked one jar.
I SHOULD have just been more careful ladeling, and maybe used a paper towel with some soap to clean the exterior, then rinsed them off with lukewarm water.
Second, I didn't leave them until the next day to TOTALLY cool.
TWO didn't seal.
It wasn't a total loss, as my dogs will attest to. They are wondering when they get this for dinner again.
I had leakage and it was a REAL MESS to clean. Maybe I didn't screw the lids on tight enough?!?!?
I need your opinions, pls.
I still have 2 1/2 pints of product, and I intend to store until February to use, JUST TO BE SURE that they sealed.

I'm not sure what you mean to put it into hot tap water to start.

Your jars will need to be very warm or hot in order to ladle in hot liquid. I fill mine with hot water from the tap and let them sit for a bit.

Use a funnel insert to fill your jars. It will help a ton to keep the rims cleaner. Even after using one though, always wipe your rims with a piece of paper towel soaked with white vinegar. Keep rotating that towel tho, so that a clean part is cleaning each rim.

Place warmed lids and warmed rings on each jar. Finger tight. Means you use your dominant hand to tighten the rings while gently holding the jar with the other hand. Nothing extreme.

Place your lids into your pressure canner, which contains warm to very warm liquid. I add three plus inches of water, before I add any filled jars. I use the time filling jars, while the water in the canner is warming up on the range.

After processing, let sit in pressure canner for a few minutes after you've removed the canner lid. Then carefully, using a jar lifter, pick up each one and place on an old towel on the counter. Space them apart - like 1-2" so that they cool gradually. DO NOT TOUCH until the next day. If, after a few hours, you find one hasn't sealed (plinked down all by itself), then place it in the refrigerator for use.

The next day, remove rims. Wash jars gently. Dry gently. Label lids and put wonderful food away. Wash rings and put away.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

See photo of jars that have cooled overnight, still sitting on a towel. I've removed the rings that morning and are about to wash and label.

Here is canned potatoes. I can see that all the lids have pinged, but they are still cooling down. Don't touch until the next day.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

See the spacing of the pork jars?

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

When using pints, you can make two layers, by using a shelf.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I have my Mother's canner from when we were growing up. She is 91 and was here for Thanksgiving. She claims that my Grandmother used it too, but Mother is becoming forgetful/fanciful.

 

[ducks4you]

WOW, THANKS @Rhodie Ranch !
I KNEW that this was where I needed to go to find my answers.
First, I always use a funnel, and I keep two of them. I even use a funnel to fill my dedicated coffee bean canning jars, and other dry ingredients.
Second, I KNOW that I was sloppy filling my jars.
Third, I have packaged boiling hot to jars, first rinsed on the insides with boiling hot water from the kettle. I fill one jar in the sink, then transfer to the others before filling with product. Then, the rims/sides are wiped with a clean and wet paper towel, then lids and screw tops, placed on the stove next to the (hot water bath canner), to stay really hot bc IT is full of water at a rolling boil.
I have also filled cold jars with cold produce, but in a cold (hot water bath) canner, started the heat and successfully sealed the jars.
I GET this--hot to hot and cold to cold, no breakage.
This was my problem: I had refridgerated the turkey drippings and held off several days before canning.
(Can't IMAGINE why I would be busy on Black Friday!!)
I had the food at room temperature.
Do you suggest that I should have heated it up? How hot should the food be in this sort of situation, and how hot should the water that I measure into the pressure canner be in this situation?
Thanks, AGAIN!!

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I know that there are rules for cold and for hot pressure canning. I do both.

When I can raw meat or potatoes or veggies, I pack the jars cold. I place them into the cold water in the pressure canner and then slowly bring it up to temp/10 min venting, then pop the weight on.

If I'm canning something hot, like broth that needs to be liquid to pour into the jars, I place cold water in the pressure canner, turn the heat on medium, and then add the very warm jars.

My canner is so old, that I'm very careful to bring it up to temp at a moderate flame. I don't want it to warp or crack, so I'm gentle with it.

 

[ducks4you]

THAT's what I thought, cold jars put in cold water in the pressure canner.
The instructions seem to contradict this.
Does starting cold make any difference in the volume of water, 3 quarts? I am still a newbie.