Dawn, Karen, and Lisa have done it again. They have made something I was nervous to do, seem so easy. I haven't tried canning meat yet, but I sure plan to as soon as some hamburger goes on sale. I did try canning the butter though. We did it for family night and it worked out great. I poured the butter in the jars, Sarah put the lids on, and Scott tightened them down. Then we all went in and watched a movie and shook jars. I didn't have enough room in my jars for all the butter so I put what was left of the butter in a tupperware type jar and we shook it with the rest of the jars. I wanted to have a sample of what it would be like with me doing it, since recipes turn out just a little different with each cook, to know if I wanted to can more butter in the future. Generally, whenever butter has melted and then sits, it tends to get that gritty texture and it just doesn't seem to taste right. But to my surprise (not that I doubted Dawn) the sample butter in the tupperware blended back together just fine and we have used it on our toast for the last week.
Just a few side notes from the meeting:
A cold-pack canner, some call it a water-bath canner is not the same as a pressure canner. If you buy or receive an old pressure canner or if you haven't used yours in a while, make sure to get the pressure checked just to be on the safe side.
A 22-lbs turkey cans about 9 pints.
Recommended book: "Pressure Perfect"
The Utah State Extention Office (4-H) is a great resource for canning. They are in Provo on Center Street and just off University Avenue.
When canning butter make sure to use salted butter.
All of them recommend canning with someone, especially if you are going to do a big batch. It sure helped to have three of us taking turns shaking the jars. You get tired after awhile.
How long is the shelf life of the meat?
ReplyDeleteGenerally it is recommended 2-3 years but as long as the seal is not broken or bulging and smells ok when you open it, it is good for many more. My son had some deer meat that the neighbor canned and he said it was 14 years old and he loved it and didn't get sick. Dawn
ReplyDeleteThe manager of Macey's Grocery store meat department said that ground beef is the cheapest around the 4th of July and when the college students come back in the fall (end of August-1st of September.)
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