Canning and bottling.

[nickdutch]

Does anyone know why it is not recommended to put water in the jars with the raw pork when canning it?

Is that just in case the fats of the meat bubble up and weaken the seal?

[Rosesandtea]

I do a lot of canning - started back in the 80s in the US (before I came here) with water bath canning.

I only got a pressure canner a few years ago - to me it was worth the postage cost from the US.

A couple of things I'd like to recommend:

1)Make sure your canning information is up to date - sometimes recommendations/recipes change as there has been more research done.

2) If you get a pressure canner with a gauge, make sure you get it calibrated on a regular basis (usually once a year). Was it someone here who had suggestions for the kind of place you could take it to?

I'm scheduled to do a canning workshop for a kind of "transistion town" event in January. I'd be glad to do a demonstration for anyone interested, but I think most on this forum can pretty well self-teach themselves. I've got a few youtube videos including one on doing water bath canning in a stock pot if anyone likes demonstration over reading, though.

[diamond lil]

What kind of things do you bottle? (or can !)?

[Rosesandtea]

Does anyone know why it is not recommended to put water in the jars with the raw pork when canning it?

Is that just in case the fats of the meat bubble up and weaken the seal?

Funny, I've just seen a recipe which calls for water to be added to ham chunks. However a lot of meats do produce a lot of liquid - fat and otherwise when cooked. You normally try to get as lean as possible with meats for canning. I was having a lot of failures with chicken, until a more experienced person told me he only uses chicken breasts for canning, as they have less fat. I experimented a bit and came up with a mostly-chicken-breast-with-one-skinless-thigh that worked well.

You don't actually need the meat to have water added, but you can add a bit to most things.

[Rosesandtea]

What kind of things do you bottle? (or can !)?

Most meats can be done although as I mentioned you have to watch the fat content. One thing I like to do is get meat when it's on sale and can it.

Pretty well all fruits can be canned in a light syrup, and I've seen recipes with them canned in water but they were for diabetics - grapefruit, I think it was that just had water. You have to be careful with the acid levels. Acid inhibits bacterial growth and the botulism spores.

Veggies because they are low acid need to be pressure canned. Most veggies can be canned but some need special treatment because of their density, etc. You can can small pumpkin chunks in water for example, but not pumpkin puree because the density means it might not get to the proper temperature in the middle.

Milk products sometimes take a slightly caramelized flavor if you pressure can them so if you are canning a soup it's best to can the basic stuff and then add the milk or cream later, besides they can also make the item too dense.

[Brambles]

Does anyone know why it is not recommended to put water in the jars with the raw pork when canning it?

Is that just in case the fats of the meat bubble up and weaken the seal?

There is no need to add water to raw meat as it makes it's own juices. Therefore, if you add water, you are likely to have too much liquid.

[nickdutch]

Does anyone know why it is not recommended to put water in the jars with the raw pork when canning it?

Is that just in case the fats of the meat bubble up and weaken the seal?

There is no need to add water to raw meat as it makes it's own juices. Therefore, if you add water, you are likely to have too much liquid.

But is it going to weaken the seal?

[Brambles]

It may stop the vacuum forming altogether because of debris on the jar and /or sealing disc.