Got serious and ordered a pressure canner

YAAAAAAAAAAHHHH, bnoles! Mine arrived yesterday, too. I'm really looking forward to getting at it, but I've decided to be patient and wait for the weekend. I want to take the time to read everything and not be in a rush. There isn't enough time after work during the week to really test it out for the first time. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing even though my Mom and Grandmothers all used them and never thought twice.

I'm a little nervous about trying my new, used pressure cooker. When I was young and still lived at home, I once open the lid before it was ready!  It went POW and the lid ended up on the floor.   Just have to follow the instructions and no mind wandering.

CapeCoddess wrote:

mschaef wrote:This is on my list of things I want. I just need to get over the fear of using one before I buy one...lol. 

There's a great book on Pressure Cooking that starts out telling the whole history of the Pressure Cooker, which is basically what the pressure canners are.  It explains how safe todays cookers are.  I checked it out of the library and was glued to the book until I finished that part.  It's called Miss Vickie's big book of pressure cooker recipes by Vicki Smith.

It's worth the read for peace of mind.

bnoles, what's first???  

CC

I've read that. That is a great book, and she also has a really good website too. There's lots of safety info regarding pressure cookers that definitely should be read. Some of it will reassure people about how safe the modern ones are compared to the older style (which is still on the market and maybe even still dominant there). Some of it will remind people, especially who are canning, that there are rules of the road it makes a lot of sense to follow.

What ever you do,  do not confuse pressure cookers with pressure canners they are different animals entirely .

I've just down loaded the free copy of "  JeBouffe home canning step by step guide "  (copyright 2011 )  today 20/9/13 .  Website  ..... " jebouffe.com"


I spent a couple of minutes working through the website to find the free down loads .... of which there are many  ( it can be on Kindle, Mac & PC.  etc. etc. and spent all day reading through the down load once I printed it off on my PC/printer ( 40 pages )

 The introduction was a big eye opener as it said only use the most up to date system and recipes for hot water bath canning or pressure canning as things have changes dramatically in the last five or so years.

The only jars recommended to be used for pressure  canning and HW canning are KILNER or Mason type jars with screw bands and single use metal lids with the integral rubber seal .
They give some vary valid reasons for not using any other sort of jar or lid .

Thankfully as I'm just starting out on the pressure canning and HW canning thing   I only have four one pint over centre wire clip, glass lid & rubber gasket jars .   These will  be  made redundant and be used for storing dried pulses , sugars or rice etc. .

 

 On reading into it , pressure cookers persay are out for pressure canning as you cannot guarantee that the temperature and pressure have been attained of you use them ,  though they can be used for hot water bath preserving so long as you can get at least 1" ( 25mm ) of boiling water above the jars when they are sat on a rack /trivet in the open pan & a lid is in  place over it to keep the heat of the boiling water in and the top area above the boiling water sterile.

Yes, Plantoid, you are sort of right. Pressure cookers (usually pretty small) are only for cooking in, but, pressure canners can be used to can or you can also cook in them.
Thanks for the link. Haven't had time to look at it yet.
Things(ways to cook or can) do change over time. Society changes as the generations change. I have been canning or helping with putting up food for several of those generations.
Maybe the germs that we have now are worse than what was around 50 yrs. ago?
I don't recall any of my family or friends dying from old methods that may have been used 40 or 50 yrs ago.
Jo

I think it is more to do with instructions being simplified so that people stop poisoning themselves with Botulism or various food poisonings .


 And that over the years certain types of containers have been found to be the cause of illnesses  occasioned by failed lid seals of certain types of jar and or  the seal used or the  container lid . 
Some countries keep medical records of such illnesses ( we don't in the UK sadly ) I think that's how & why  the USA food agency came to set out their approved & tested recipes & rules for canning and HW bathing

 I remember my mum putting a dozen quart tall preserving jars full of hot boiled sweetened  plums , goose berries , rhubarb or vegetables  etc.  in  heavy preserving jars ( made by Kilner , similar to Mason screw top jars ) ,  glass lidded a metal pressure ring , rubber gasket & screw banded  . Put into the old cast iron oven on a oak platform  in the kitchen range back in the early to mid 1950's .  Keeping  a decent coal & wood log  fire going , using the only time piece we had in the house the alarm clock ( besides dads pocket watch ) she'd time the cook /sterilization for a couple of hours
.Gosh I can fair smell the bubbled over plum syrup that got cooked on th oak ( we used to be allowed to scrape the toffee'fied stuff off and eat it once she'd taken the jars out and put them on the wooden pastry board to cool down .

 That just wouldn't pass muster these days

I started canning last Fall, and use my Presto (see below) for both HWB and Pressure methods. So far, so good! Just don't rush.

Even as I write, my old (30 yrs.) All-American Pressure Canner is processing 9  3/4 pint jars of Chanterelle mushrooms we harvested yesterday in the woods back of the house--5 pounds of the beauties!  We left the nubbins just starting to come up because weather(wo)man said it should rain tonight and tomorrow--so more 'shrooms.  Current canning: mushrooms sliced and sautéed in butter/olive oil with minced garlic and a splash of chardonnay wine, heated until hot through.  Placed in jars (if more liquid needed, used hot chicken stock) processed at 40 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure.  Ain't free produce great?  Nonna

Nonna, what approved recipe are you going by that is acceptable to use butter/oil for canning.  Just curious as it sounds delicious.

Meatburner, First answer, Experience:  it's what I did several years ago when I couldn't find a recipe for canning chanterelles, so I used the technique we used for sauces/steak topping (sliced chanterelles braised in butter/olive oil with minced garlic, finished with a splash of white wine) ladled into jars, added a bit more liquid (chicken stock) and canned them as recommended for mushrooms: fill sterile jars to within 1/2 inch of rim, add liquid to barely cover sautéed mushroom slices, wipe rims, fit with sterile lids/rings, tighten, place in pressure canner, bring to 10 lb. pressure and process for 40 minutes.  Since the first two years success with this "recipe," I saw no reason to change it.  However, since then, I have found a couple of sources on line that use techniques similar to our experiment.  We like taking a jar of chanterelles out and turning it into a sauce to serve over a broiled steak, or make into a "gravy" for roast meats and/or home-grown potatoes.  Having said this, I'd love to hear how others in the SFG community use wild mushrooms.  Hmmm?  Nonna

Thanks Nonna.  It sound yummy.  My question was where did you find an approved recipe for it.  Experience is a wonderful thing but an approved method was what I was looking for.  Don't take my question wrong Nonna, I just was asking.  Hope you are okay with that.

meatburner wrote:Thanks Nonna.  It sound yummy.  My question was where did you find an approved recipe for it.  Experience is a wonderful thing but an approved method was what I was looking for.  Don't take my question wrong Nonna, I just was asking.  Hope you are okay with that.

Hi meatburner.... whose approval are you seeking for the recipe? Curious minds need to know.

The NCHFC site and Ball Blue Book are the ones I refer to the most. There may be more great approved sources out there.   Experience is a wonderful teacher but with our food source so inadequate with the nutrients of the past, I am very leary of experience being my guide.   They used to put hot liquid in tomatoes and turned the seal side done until it pinged.  That was fine when we had wonderful soil, but we don't now.  Please don't take this as being trying to argue or prove any point whatsoever.  I just wanted to know if the process was approved by current standards and would like the source.  That's all I was asking.

Oh, I see that I misunderstood the question about "where did I get the recipe."  With said misunderstanding, I described the cooking of the mushrooms (official canning instructions call for filling the jars with boiling ingredients).  The actual pressure canning step came from an official canning book: "Putting Food By - Fourth Edition."  Also see I wrote that they should be processed  at 10 lb. pressure for 40 minutes, which should have read "45 minutes" (same as Blue Book instructions).  Does this help?  Nonna

Sure does help. Thanks. We love mushrooms in about everything which peaked my interest. I wish I knew enough to pick wild mushrooms as there is apparently a lot around here. Just never had the opportunity to go mushroom hunting with someone experienced.  Thanks again!

Meat burner , seeing as you love mushrooms ...... don't go over the top with them as you can get mushroom poisoning if you eat too many .

We found out the hard way when  we grew ten bags of supposedly spent mushroom compost and took about six pounds of mushrooms for a Sunday feast .

We  had a Mushroom day consisting of
Two big 9 inch ones each for breakfast & poached egg.
Mushroom soup, mushroom pate & raw sliced mushrooms with a bit of ham salad  for lunch.
 
Evening meal was home made stroganoff with mushroom juices and also very heavy with sliced steamed buttered mushrooms

We had to go see the doctor ..the head aches were blinding and lasted for three day or so .

Wow, Plantoid, what kind of mushrooms were they?  Meadow mushrooms like the most common commercial variety? Or something more exotic? I've heard some folks have allergic reactions to some 'shrooms, morels come to mind; and inky caps don't play well with alcohol, leaving the eater-inbiber with a flushed hot feeling and nausea. 

According to Orson K. Miller, Jr.'s book Mushrooms of North America, "...there is no broad group of poisonous fungi.  Toxins are found in many different families of mushrooms....Most toxic species are not fatal to man.  Even when eaten in quantity, they produce only nausea, act as a laxative, or induce mild hallucinations."  Then he goes on to list six families of toxins.  Hmmmm.  However, the "toxins that are fatally poisonous," like the Aminita family's phallotoxins and amatoxins, "are fatal in a most hideous manner" inducing extreme pain, profuse vomiting, distorted vision; then the victim may even feel a bit better, but the toxins are attacking the liver, resulting next in extreme pain, often culminating in death.  Some have been given warning names, like: Destroying Angel (Aminita virosa); Death Cap (A. phalloides); Fly Agaric (A. muscaria), etc. Though a couple of the Aminita family are edible, they look too much like poisonous cousins of theirs for me to take a chance.  Which is why PapaVino and I NEVER pick ANY of the amanita family, or those that look like amanitas.

That's why chanterelles are so reliable to pick/eat: once you've held a couple in your hand and examined the characteristics, you're good to go because there is no other 'shroom family with those characteristics: gills have low blunt ridges (instead of sharp), forking--even forming netting in older specimens; cap color (here in Oregon) almost egg-yolk golden (Cantharellus cibarius), or white (Craterellus cantharellus), in mature specimens, the edges turn up some, forming a depression in the center.  We've found some with a span of over 7".  So far I've not met anyone who's suffered an allergic reaction to chanterelles.   Nonna

Nonna ,

When you realize we ate about five pounds each in one day of the usual commercial strain mushrooms you'll see we were engineers of our own downfall aka " The headaches "  .
 
We had also cropped some of the bags on the Saturday , what we didn't eat we simmered in water and bitter then drained them ande froze them in 1/4 pound batches for soups 7 stews etc.

 We didn't realise it at the time .. bit like a blinding two day  hangover (whatever one of those is  )

Plantoid, Wish you knew the scientific name for the mushrooms you ate so you could research its characteristics for allergic reactions and/or sensitivity to some chemical in that mushroom family.  The most common commercial mushroom in our supermarkets is Agaricus bisporus, a domesticated cousin of the choice wild meadow mushroom Agaricus campestris.  In The Mushroom Hunter's Field Guide, by Alexander H. Smith (1973), the author, writing about a cousin of these mushrooms, describes Agaricus subrutilescens: "Edible and choice.  Young caps broiled and served on toast are delicious, but unfortunately some people like myself are very allergic to the fungus."  Could it be you have experienced an allergic reaction to the 'shroom?  Funny, though, that you both experienced such an allergy at the same time.   Hmmmmm,  Nonna

Nonna, my dh had an overeating day with morels. They grow some more when it rains a bit. We picked a plenty and cooked them. Then it rained, repeat, all day long.
He was one sick puppy next day.
I, on the other hand, am allergic to most all mushrooms. I don't eat italian food away from home. It is immediate, my stomach spits even just sauce with the mushrooms removed.
Jo

littlejo, With six major groups of toxins that may be, alone or in conjunction with another group, in mushrooms, I can easily see why folks may find themselves allergic to some, if not all, mushrooms.  Further research today indicated mushrooms in different places worldwide may have stronger toxins than others like them growing a distance away.  Wonder if it is connected to the minerals they take up from different soils?  You are faced with a challenge each time you eat out (some sauces use dried forms of mushrooms in them, or infusions of oil with, say, truffles).  Hope you have selected restaurants that will be very up-front in letting you know the ingredients used.  Nonna

I once ordered a steak, it was topped with mushrooms. I sent it back and told the waiter, if he did not want to clean it up, then he would make sure the chef did not just scrape off the shrooms. You're right, I don't eat out much, and only in places I know.
Jo

Another HooRay for SFG!  We know what we're eating   And another reason to can our extra veggies/fruits.  This coming week will be a big one for me in canning arena: one of our two Asian pear trees is loaded.  They are very nice when put up in a light syrup infused with lemon zest and fresh lemon juice.  Yumm.  Nonna

I think that  Agaricus Arvensis ( Horse Mushrooms or field out of the field where horses have been ) was /is the scientific name for the initial  commercial strain of mushrooms we ate .

 Over the years it will like as not have been selected and chosen for qualities such as appearance and keeping at the expense of taste and texture no doubt.

Perhaps not so much as an allergy , just too much of a good thing .

plantoid wrote: Dear Santa Clause,

David has been a good boy all year and always eaten his greens  ( well not fresh garden peas he hates them )

If you have room on your sleigh would you bring him , " A 21 & 1/2  quart All American Canner "
 He would be delighted with it even if it were the only crimbo prezzie he got .

Lots of love

Davids secret admirer and friend

Dear Santa Claus,
Today 17 Dec 2013 at around 19.30 hours some idiot left a battered box containing 24 pounds of aluminium on my doorstep , which was very very annoying for I stubbed my toe on it as I fumbled in the dark to get my keys in the door lock .

Further investigations  showed it to be one brand new ALL AMERICAN PRESSURE CANNER ...... sent from the USA . So would you please take the canner off my Christmas stocking list .

May I now ask you  for a Canon EOS 7D digital camera with  two image stabilised lenses & a 64 gig memory card instead please as I've been a really good boy and kept my bedroom tidy .


This picture  is to prove I have that canner ,though I could use two if you want to leave things as they originally  were .




PS you can see how poor we are ....we still have the same table covering as last year .


Luv & kisses
X X X X X X X X

David .