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Canning

edd5322

edd5322

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Im getting lots of eggs now from my hens so i want to start pickling them and have looked into canning.I was wondering if any of you guys knew a good place to buy the equipment from ?

Seen the canning pack on Amazon witch is around £40 , so not to bad.But the jars are what seems expencive as im sure i will need more when i start growing.

Any suggestions?
 
Look at American sites and see if you can find one that ships to UK. Even with postage, it often works out cheaper. The Quartermaster gets all the canning supplies we need from USA and still saves about 40%.
Other than that, Morrisons, Dunelm and Sainsburys often have Jars on offer. In fact I've just looked and Dunelm have 20% of Kilner stuf ATM.

http://www.dunelm.com/search/kilner+jars?autoSuggest=true#facet?scroll=918&pageSize=wide

We have approaching 300 jars and it's still not enough:eek:
 
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MikeR thanks i will take a look.

Dont need quite that many YET haha

So glad i joined this group theirs a wealth of knowledge on here and always people willing to give tips and hints, thank you all.
 
MikeR im right in my belief that the screw top pressure jars are the ones to go for right (the ones boil with lid on then leave to cool)?Not the clip top ?

Just a question as my wife says her Grand perants used clip top, but they are german so they do there own thing.
 
You can use both, just be aware that it's the quality of the glass that matters. You need a proper preserving jar for bottling and canning.

Here are a few resources for you to take a look at.

USDA home preserving.
http://nchfp.uga.edu/index.html
They have their own book it's probably the bible of canning (and it'S free to download)

http://www.healthycanning.com/wp-co...plete-Guide-to-Home-Canning-2015-revision.pdf

Ball home canning

http://www.freshpreservinguk.co.uk/

And for the perfect Pickled Egg.....

https://www.sarsons.co.uk/recipes/pickled-eggs

You can thank me later.:D
 
Any pan that is deep enough to hold your jars plus at least one inch of water is fine for bottling or water bath canning. You can then get one of these.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tala-10A00...F8&qid=1522849297&sr=8-1&keywords=canning+set

The quartemaster used to use an old stock pot with a teatowel in the bottom before we went high tech and imported a pressure canner from the USA. We can now can all our own veg, soups, meat and fish.
 
Just the sort of information l need aswell. l just checked my jam stores and there's enough for my whole extended family for an awful long time. l'm going to try bottling some of the fruit from the freezer instead.
 
im going to order them from a place called www.luckyvitamin.com
great prices and reasonable post, thanks for the tip MikeR(to look in usa, thought post would be far more expensive)
 
Thanks Harry but im a bit funny about eggs as it is so i would rather cook them and preserve.
 
I warn you now. Once you have tried home preserved food you won't want to open another tin. Hence the reason we have 300 jars and counting. We now even can meat and fish over freezing because it's cheaper to store and doesn't rely on electricity. The quartermaster does a blinding home canned curry, pulled pork and beef ribs. Home canned minced beef, bacon bits and chicken thighs are the ultimate convenience food and damn tasty.
 
How difficult is the pressure can way?
as some stuff needs to be pressurized doesnt it?
 
TBH it's no more difficult than Boiling Water Bath. It's not the pressure that matters, but the temperature. All bottled or canned food is preserved under pressure to aid a seal of the jars, but high acid foods are fine to be boiled at 'normal' pressure as you are using acidity to aid preservation. Low acid foods need to be preserved at a higher temperature to kill bacteria and spores and this can only be achieved under pressure of 10lbs or more, depending on altitude. The USDA canning manual explains the process much better than me, But please feel free to ask questions and I'll help where I can.

One thing I will say. Beware canning "experts" on the inernet! If you find some new method or a recipe you like the look of, do some research first to double check everything. Botulism is the big thing to avoid and is a killer. I know it sounds dramatic, but I can't stress this enough.
 
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I was reading into it to MikeR, thinking of ordereing the pressure cooker too so i can do it all.
 
Make sure you get a pressure CANNER, not a COOKER.

You can cook using a pressure CANNER but you can't can food using a pressure COOKER.

Again, the USDA book tells you all about the difference.

Just so you know we have a 16qt Presto. Had it about 7 years now and it's a champ. We use it for pressure canning (obviously!) water bath canning. it will cook a packet of dried beans in under 5 minutes which we then dehydrate.
 
Must disagree here Mike..
Don't pay over the odds to import a pressure canning set up from the US. Go to a charity shop and buy an old fashioned pressure cooker for just a few pounds (make sure it still has the weight for the pressure release valve)
They're exactly the same except the pressure canning set up will have a little rack to keep the jars slightly off the bottom of the pan (you can make this yourself out of thin metal)
The pressure canner will heat the food and jars slightly beyond 100degreesC cooking it without the food in the jar actually boiling due to the increased pressure inside the sealed pressure cooker. Basically you cook the food in the jar in a bath of water rather then cooking the food then placing it in the jar while still hot. Do not tighten the lids on before the jars have finished cooking (just rest them in place) after cooking remove them from the canner/cooker and just tighten them up hand tight, as the food continues to cool it should create a vaccume seal between the rim of the jar and the lid
 
Ystranc, that's bollox mate. Before anyone does anything I strongly recommend you read expert advice from USDA and draw your own conclusions.
 
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