Introduction to More Exciting Pressure Canning

When people decide to acquire a pressure canner, it is usually so that they can preserve excess garden produce.  But there is so much more that can be done--so much that is quite tasty and will be very desirable in the dark days ahead.  Pressure-canned foods add variety to the diet, especially in a world lacking fresh and frozen foods.

Now, I'm not going to reproduce the Ball Blue Book of Canning (hereafter the BBB) here.  Everyone should have a copy of that for reference for basic guidelines, correct preparation, and accurate processing times.  What I do want to do is explore some ideas for using a canner to prepare some less conventional foods that will save you time and definitely boost morale.

Vegetables

Most vegetables are canned per instructions in the BBB.  There's just not a lot that is exciting or different to add.  And actually, I usually prefer to dehydrate vegetables when possible.  But there are some situations where the dehydrated version just doesn't work as well in recipes.  One of those is dehydrated shredded zucchini.  Don't get me wrong; I do actually dehydrate quite a bit some years.  But when I rehydrate the zucchini for making cakes and breads, it doesn't reconstitute perfectly.  And some baked goods I want to have absolutely perfect.  And of course, I do just put several bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer, but I'm preparing for a time without easy electricity, so every year or so I can a few pints of shredded zucchini.  It gets packed in jars and processed per instructions for squash in the BBB.  And then when we want zucchini bread or cupcakes, we don't have to wait for the dehydrated stuff to rehydrate, nor are we dealing with cupcakes that are a little on the chewy side because the zucchini didn't fully reconstitute.

The other exception around here is potatoes. Yeah, lots of people can potatoes, but we never really cared for the texture, and unless they were being used in a stew, we never seemed to get around to eating them.  However, there is that other more popular way of eating potatoes in this country, the French fry.  Even if the pressure canner was not used for anything else, it would be worthwhile (in this family, at least) to acquire just to be able to have French fries when the grid goes down. These fries are so incredibly divine. Unfortunately, I can’t give you a taste. You’ll just have to trust me. Canning French fries is one of the first articles I posted on this blog; as such, not a lot of people have read it yet. All the work is done in the canning; when you wish to eat some fries (which will be often!), open the jar and put the fries into a strainer. Thoroughly rinse and drain to remove excess starch. Deep fry in peanut oil until they reach a golden brown. If your family is just not into the food storage thing because it's too horrible to contemplate eating that stuff, give these French fries a try.  You'll see a complete one-eighty as they realize food storage can be really good.

Dry Beans
Dry beans aren’t a particularly exciting item to can, unless you get excited about saving money, time, and energy. Dry beans normally take hours to prepare for each meal. By utilizing a pressure canner, you prepare beans for several meals at once, saving money now and time down the road. So how is it done?  Dry beans are truly one of the easiest items to can and a great way to get started with pressure canning.  Basically, you soak the beans for several hours or overnight; rinse, drain, and cook; fill jars about 2/3 full; add boiling water and salt; and process.  It might sound like a lot of work, but it is really quick and easy, and not at all messy.  Complete instructions are here. 

Meats

Canning in the meat world is just like canning in the fruit and vegetable world--follow directions and be careful.  There's nothing scary about it, and preparing meats is a lot faster and easier than preparing produce.  All meats are canned exactly as outlined in the BBB.  However, here are a few ideas for preparing and packaging meats for other uses.  Food fatigue is a real thing, and having a variety of tasty and familiar foods in our menu will be essential to maintaining morale in the coming crisis.

• Beef. I can a good quantity of stew meat to be used as is in stews, but also to be shredded for use as taco filling, French dips, etc. Ground beef also gets browned and canned so that I can make soups and casseroles very quickly. 
• Pork. Some pork is canned in chunks for later use in chili or to be shredded for taquito filling or super quick pulled pork sandwiches. The Cooperative Extension has never tested the safety of canning smoked or cured meats, including bacon.  It may be perfectly safe; it may not be. 
• Bacon.  The Cooperative Extension does not recommend canning bacon for a variety of reasons, all of which are sound. That being said, there are still a lot of people doing it.  I admit to it myself, but now only for bacon ends and pieces, and not the strips that are "dry-canned."  I have posted on bacon in the past, including how people do it and exactly why the Cooperative Extension opposes the practice.  
• Chicken. Home-canned chicken makes for quick chicken salad sandwiches or adding to a summer salad for a main dish meal. And with a can of chicken on hand, it takes no time to get homemade chicken noodle soup ready when someone comes down with a cold.
• Chicken bones. This isn't being recommended as food for people, though apparently in some cultures chicken bones do get thoroughly cooked and mashed or blended in some dishes.  I'm not entirely sold on the safety of this in general, but it does work for making chicken bouillon.  However, chicken bones can be pressure canned, just like chicken meat is, for feeding cats.  After being pressure canned, the hollow bones are easily mashed with a fork and fed to cats. Unfortunately, the chicken bones are too high in protein to be fed to dogs (may cause kidney damage).

Convenience foods

Pressure canning is great for preserving the harvest, but it’s also ideal for making life easier with convenience foods for days when we're just too busy or sick to cook.  A ready supply of stew, chili, and soup provides peace of mind for those situations when they arise.  Each family will have its own favorite recipes, so I'll refrain from posting any here.  Most any recipe can be adapted for canning, one just needs to always remember to process for the time stated for the ingredient that needs the most time and highest pressure.  Read your BBB for specific guidelines here.

A pressure canner is going to cost $100-$300. But the peace of mind that comes from preparing your own food? Priceless.

Links to related posts:
A Few Thoughts on Pressure Canners
Canning French Fries  
Canning Refried Beans  
Canning Hamburger Patties
Canning Bacon 
Canning Chicken
Canning Ham
Canning Pork 

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com  

Canning Your Own Chicken Stock

Most commercial chicken stock on the market now is sold in those aseptic boxes rather than cans.  As such, commercial chicken stock doesn't have a great shelf life--two years in the best of cases.  However, there is the advantage of possibly being the better choice in earthquake country since there is no glass to break.
If you want to make your own however, because you don't live in earthquake country, or you think being able to control what exactly goes into your stock is important, here's a recipe for you. It's really pretty quick and simple, yet so nice to have to get meals together quickly. 

Homemade Chicken Stock
about 3.5 lbs raw chicken, cut into pieces
16 cups water
2 stalks celery
1 carrot
2 medium onions, quartered
1 tablespoon salt, optional*
8 peppercorns
2 bay leaves


Directions
In a large stock pot, bring all ingredients to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 2-3 hours, or until chicken is tender.  Remove from heat.

Remove all the solids by straining through a sieve or cheesecloth.  Set the meat and bones aside for another use.  Put the stock in the refrigerator until the fat solidifies, about two hours, and remove it.

To prepare for canning, heat the chicken stock to a boil.  And in the meantime prepare your pressure canner, jars, and lids as usual.

Pour the boiling chicken stock into hot jars, leaving one inch of headspace, apply lids and bands, and process:  20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts, at 10 pounds pressure and adjusting for your altitude per your pressure canner's directions.

Yield:  8 pints.

*In this recipe, as in most canning recipes, the salt is optional.  In canning, salt is not a preservative and it is not going to affect the pH.  It is for flavor only.  If you or someone you are preparing this food for is on a low-sodium diet, you can omit the salt and let individuals salt their food at mealtime.

As for the chicken you used to make the stock, you can use it to make dinner.  Casseroles, chicken salad sandwiches, and Hawaiian haystacks are good choices.  You can also dehydrate it to turn it into chicken bouillon.  

Don't throw away the chicken fat!  Like bacon fat, it can be used to saute vegetables and season savory dishes.   If nothing else, drizzle it over pet food.

If you don't have a cat, just toss the bones.  However, if you do have a cat, pressure canned chicken bones work well as an emergency cat food that we have resorted to several times when our daughters failed to tell us that we needed to re-stock the cat kibble.  Directions for this are at the link below.


Links to related posts:
DIY Chicken bouillon
Pressure canning chicken (and bones for the cats)

For further reading:
https://www.freshpreserving.com/chicken-stock---pressure-canning---ball-recipes-br1070.html
https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/why-you-should-never-throw-away-chicken-fat-0160956/
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/caution-when-using-chicken-fat-for-cooking/
https://www.thekitchn.com/good-question-what-to-do-with-1-66534

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com

Expanded Food Storage--Pressure Canning Chicken

All right, this is going to be a pretty short post because canning chicken is so very easy. 

Raw pack:  Canning raw chicken is almost brainless.  Fill jars loosely with raw meat pieces "in suitable sizes for canning."  I aim for 1/2-inch to 1-inch cubes.  Allow 1-1/4" headspace.  Add salt, if desired, 1 teaspoon per quart, 1/2 teaspoon per pint.  Do not add any liquid.

Hot pack:  Boil, steam, or bake chicken until it is about 2/3 cooked.  Fill jars with pieces and hot broth.  Allow 1-1/4" headspace.  Add salt, if desired, 1 teaspoon per quart, 1/2 teaspoon per pint. 

To process the jars, follow the directions that came with your pressure canner.  Meats and other low-acid foods must be preserved using a pressure canner, not a pressure cooker, and not a water-bath canner.  Directions vary slightly but significantly among pressure canners, and so you must use the directions that came with your canner.

Now for just a few notes.

Something one of my physiology professors shared--super high-level stuff:  "A pint's a pound the world around."  What this means for you is that about one pound of chicken will fit in a pint jar.  But loosely packed, it will be a little less chicken.  If I were canning ten pounds of chicken, I'd plan on using twelve pint jars.  

Chicken (and rabbit, by the way) are the only meats that require 1-1/4" headspace.  They expand more than other meats during the canning process.  

If you are canning chickens that your raised and freshly butchered yourself, chill those chickens for six to twelve hours before canning.  Trust me on this.  If you don't, you'll be sorry.

You may can chicken with or without the bones.  Processing times with the bones are less than without the bones.  No, that's not what one would normally expect, but it is true.  The USDA says so.

If you have cats, you might wish to can the chicken bones to make food for them.  To do this, cram as many bones as you can into the jar and then add boiling water.  Process with your other jars of chicken.  To feed the cat, pour canned bones into a bowl and mash them with a fork.  That's all it takes.  Do not feed this to dogs.  The protein content is too high for dogs and will harm their kidneys. 


For further reading:
Ball Blue Book:  The Guide to Home Canning and Freezing
The USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning 
https://www.freshpreserving.com/chicken-stock---pressure-canning---ball-recipes-br1070.html
http://prepared-housewives.com/diy-canned-chicken-pressure-canner/  (super-detailed, complete, blow-by-blow report on how to can chicken with lots of pictures for the super-nervous first-timer who can't believe it's as easy as I've described above)

Expanded Food Storage--Refried Beans

We eat a lot of refried beans here, so the majority of the beans we store are pinto beans.  It's the New Mexican heritage coming through; my ancestors were in Santa Fe and Albuquerque before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.  And I grew up learning to make the food my mother made, who made the food her mother made.  We have a lot of tortillas and beans.

For years I tried to make refried beans the way my mom did.  Soaking the beans several hours or overnight, cooking, invariably burning when a baby's diaper exploded all over creation or a toddler expressed a sudden desire to become a graffiti artist with a Sharpie.  Sometimes the beans just wouldn't soften and be as smooth as I thought they should be, so I tried adding butter or cheese.  That sometimes helped, but it sure added calories and expense as well.

About ten years ago, I decided to try pressure canning dry beans.  They are absolutely fabulous.  We won't eat anything else.  The stuff that comes from cans looks more like dog food now.  Beans must absolutely be pressure canned.  They are a low-acid food, and using a water bath creates conditions ripe for the growth of botulism, a pretty deadly condition now, even with all the benefits of modern medicine.  Don't do it, even if the Amish or your grandmother or great-grandmother did. 

For awhile, I did what lots of friendly folks on the internet recommended and canned beans dry, without any prior soaking.  The Cooperative Extension offices state that this is not a safe practice, but do not state why, at least as far as I have been able to find in my research.  However, in my experience, no matter how careful I was, I had a very high seal failure rate with canning dry beans.  Every jar was carefully checked before I put it on the shelves.  But invariably, one-quarter to one-third of the seals would have failed by the time I was ready to use the beans, usually within a couple of months.  Pre-collapse it was a waste of time and money.  Post-collapse it could be a lot worse.

The process for pressure canning beans is quite simple.

• Soak the beans overnight (about 1/2 pound per quart), removing any discolored or shriveled beans.  OR
• Put the beans in a large pot and cover with boiling water.  Boil for two minutes, remove from heat, and let sit for one hour.  
• Drain and rinse beans very well.  Beans are notorious for having little bits of dirt in them.  Soil is what harbors the bacteria that causes botulism.  
• Regardless of what soaking method you have used, put the beans in a large pot, cover with fresh water, and boil for 30 minutes.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon salt per pint, 1 teaspoon salt per quart.  This is optional, but highly recommended, unless you're on a salt-restricted diet.  It is not necessary for safe canning.
• Drain beans and fill jars with beans and clean boiling water, leaving 1-inch headspace.
• Remove bubbles, wipe rims, and apply lids.
• Process pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes, according to directions for your canner and any adjustments that need to be made for altitude. 

When you're ready to use your beans, simply open the jar, bring to a boil for ten minutes (which is what should be done for all home pressure-canned foods, and even commercially canned foods, just to be safe), and drain off and reserve some of the cooking water.  Mash for perfect refried beans, adding in reserved water until you reach your desired consistency.

This same canning process works for any dried bean.

The advantages of home canning dry beans now are the usual--getting your family used to eating beans, no preservatives, you know what's in it, having a convenience food, yada, yada, yada.  The advantages post-collapse are even more significant.  Beans take a whole lot of time and water and fuel to prepare.  Preparing them by canning saves all three, all of which are going to become a whole lot more valuable to all of us.

Links to related posts:
Baking with Beans
Beans in Food Storage
Refried Beans
Bean Flour   
Pinto Bean Fudge  

For further information:
https://www.clemson.edu/extension/food/canning/canning-tips/30canning-drying-legumes.html  LINK
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/beans_peas_shelled.html

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com   

12 april 2021

Easter Dinner--Canning Your Own Ham

I like holiday meals.  I love the smell of a roast, the anticipation of some super tasty mashed potatoes and gravy, the obligatory Jell-O salad, and a fresh green salad or vegetables.  Some of these dishes might be a little difficult to pull off post-collapse, but I'm hoping and planning to be able to make Easter and Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinners as close to normal as possible.
Our Easter menu dinner usually includes the traditional stuff, you know, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, ginger glazed carrots, green salad or frozen veggies, and carrot cake for dessert.

Each year that I grow potatoes, I try to make them last into spring.  I had better luck when we lived in Missouri and I could grow bushels of potatoes and store them in the storm shelter.  Living in a desert with only grow boxes for the garden and no root cellar for storage has its challenges.  Litters of Great Pyrenees puppies who break into the garden beds don't help, either.  So while I store a good supply of instant potato flakes for soups, they'll also do double duty for making mashed potatoes at Easter.  Thankfully, with fresh potatoes recently harvested, we don't have to do that for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The gravy will come from the Magic Mix recipe posted yesterday.

Garden carrots usually survive the winter in our refrigerator; post-collapse they will have been over-wintered in the garden and harvested when needed.

Whether we have a green salad or frozen vegetables pretty much depends on when Easter falls and the weather.  In Missouri I was able to grow beautiful lettuce under a hoop house.  I haven't been so successful with keeping a hoop house up here (thanks, dogs!).  And even though Easter falls just about as late as it can this year, as of this writing (20 February 2019) things aren't looking very promising to being able to start a garden anytime soon.  We've got six inches of snow covering the boxed beds right now and another six inches of snow in the forecast for the next two days.  So this year it will probably be frozen broccoli; post-collapse I would use the freeze-dried broccoli, perhaps with some Magic Mix cheese sauce if the broccoli didn't reconstitute as well as I would like.

Carrot cake made with dehydrated carrots will be covered next week.

Which brings us to the ham.  There are the cute little ham-shaped tins of ham sold in the grocery store, and I guess that's what most people would go with.  But I don't really like pressed ham.  And my dad gives the family a pig for the freezer every Christmas, so we have an abundance of ham here.  We eat what we can, and can what we can't.  :)

Canning ham is definitely not recommended by the nice folks at the Cooperative Extension offices.  This is not because it has been shown to be unsafe.  It is because it has not been shown to be safe.  The safety of canning ham has never been tested.  They just don't know whether it's safe, so they have to advise against it.  Which is totally understandable.  However, the problem is with ham that has been smoked and/or cured.  The researchers just don't know if smoking or curing will alter the chemical or acid/base composition such that bacteria would grow more readily, or whether it would be more difficult to achieve the requisite temperatures, or anything else that could go wrong.

So what if you use a fresh ham, one that has not been smoked or cured?  Well, then, it's just another cut of pork.  And it can most definitely be canned.  Most of the time when I can ham, it is diced or cut into larger chunks for soups and casseroles.  But those don't look so festive when served as Easter dinner.  Instead, I can slices of ham in a wide mouth jar.  Using the inside edge of the band for a wide-mouth jar as a template, I cut slices of ham into circles and place them in the jar, leaving one inch of head space.  Add 1/2 teaspoon salt per pint, 1 teaspoon per quart, and then pour in boiling water, again leaving one inch of head space.  Place lids and bands on finger tight, and process according to directions for your canner, altitude, and jar size, generally 15 pounds of pressure and 75 minutes for pints, 90 minutes for quarts.

When it's time for dinner, make a brown sugar or apricot glaze and warm in the oven or in a skillet on the stove.  Enjoy!

Links to related posts:
Magic Mix Gravy
Carrot Cake
Pressure Canning  Pork
Pressure Canners 

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

Expanded Food Storage--Pressure Canning Pork

In my family the first Saturday in December is Tamale Day.  My mom and aunts began this tradition over thirty years ago as a way of celebrating our Mexican heritage and keeping connected with the family.  We continue the tradition, but because my family is some distance away from the others and because my family is rather large by today's standards, we celebrate and make tamales on our own.  And we do it in a prepping kind of way.

Everyone else in the world slow roasts and shreds the pork for filling tamales the day before.  I do it the year before, but without roasting.  I can the pork.  It makes getting ready for Tamale Day so much less stressful.  The pork is perfectly cooked and shreds so easily.  Of course, canned pork is not just for tamales.  We also use it for making super speedy pulled pork sandwiches, quesadillas, and tacos.  It's a major convenience.

And it's so easy.

Cut up the raw pork into one-inch cubes.  Try to remove as much fat as possible to reduce chances of seal failure.  Pack into canning jars.  I use quart jars for the pork that will be used to make tamales, about one quart per dozen tamales, and we usually make twelve to fifteen dozen tamales and then freeze them.  I use pint jars for pulled pork sandwiches, quesadillas, and tacos.

Fill jars to one inch below the rim and add salt--one teaspoon per quart, one-half teaspoon per pint.  Do not add any liquid.  Liquid is never added when canning raw meats.  The meat produces its own juice.  Wipe rims very carefully with vinegar.  Most say to just use hot water, but when dealing with foods that may have fat on them, vinegar will cut that fat and make for a better seal.  Put on lids and bands and process per instructions for your particular canner and your altitude and jar size.  Typically pints are processed for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes.

That's all there is to it.

When you open a jar for making tamales, drain off and reserve the liquid.  It is used in making the masa.  For all other recipes, you can save the broth for using in soup, or you can do what we do and pour it over the dogs' food.

If we're making pulled pork sandwiches, we just heat the meat with some barbecue sauce.  For tacos, add your own seasonings to taste.

When times get really interesting, and when cooking fuel becomes expensive either in terms of money or of time spent gathering, and time for preparing food becomes even more scarce than it already is, being able to preserve foods and having those foods ready to eat will be really invaluable. 

And even more invaluable will be having learned how to do this before the crisis hits.

Expanded Food Storage--Canning Bacon

Disclaimer: The FDA does not recommend canning bacon.  Why this is, I have never been able to find.  If you find a source or know why, please let us know in the comment box below.  That said, preppers have been canning bacon for years.  Do your own research and decide what is best for your family.

Potatoes grew extremely well for me our first year in Missouri, and so I did what any normal gardener would do the next year--I planted a whole lot more.  And we grew a whole lot more.  I canned a lot of them, but we still had bushels for eating throughout the fall and winter.  Potatoes were on the dinner menu every night.  And while I did include soups and casserole dishes, we also had a lot of baked potatoes.  Usually you can't go wrong with baked potatoes.  Most everybody enjoys them.  We always had salt, pepper, butter, grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream to dress them to our liking.  (Oh, and ketchup.  Some of the kids had to have ketchup.)

It was one of those years when we were trying to eat as much as possible only what we produced, not from economics but from the preparedness standpoint of wanting to see if we could grow what we needed and eat it.

And the children were getting tired of spud this and spud that.  So I opened a jar of canned bacon and briefly fried it to crisp it up and add to the table for topping baked potatoes. I was really surprised at what a difference it made to everyone.  And I realized we needed a lot more bacon in our preps.  For us, it has become one of those essential foods that can really make a difference and lift our spirits.

Like I mentioned above, I've been canning bacon for years.  Learn from my experience and can what you need or want for your family without waste.

Bacon Ends and Pieces

Let's begin with canning bacon ends and pieces.  It's fast and easy.

First off, you must have a pressure canner (no, you cannot substitute a pressure cooker).  You will process your canned bacon according to the instructions provided with your canner.

Second, you will need jars.  For my family of seven, I can bacon ends and pieces in four-ounce and eight-ounce jars.

Third, you will need the bacon.  Bacon ends and pieces are sold in 2.5- to 3-pound packages at Walmart and discount grocery stores and most larger chain grocery stores.  Most of the pieces are pure fat or pure meat with very little that actually looks like bacon strips.

When I started canning bacon ends and strips, I threw away a lot of fat.  Huge waste.  I got to thinking about it and realized that the fatty pieces should just be canned separately so that they could be rendered into bacon grease later.  So that's what I do now.  When canning bacon ends and pieces, I fill four-ounce and eight-ounce jars with mostly meaty pieces, eight-ounce jars with just fat, and eight-ounce jars with pieces that look more like bacon strips.  Nothing is wasted.

When it's time to make dinner, the meaty bacon will be crisped up in a frying pan.  Of course, the bacon has already been fully cooked in the pressure canner.  But you know how fabulous the smell of bacon frying is, and most people like their bacon toppings for potatoes, soup, and salad to be crisped up a little.

The canned bacon fat gets rendered into bacon grease as needed.  I use the grease for frying potatoes and hamburgers as well as making tortillas (subject of a future post).

The pieces that look more like bacon strips (and there never is that much of this kind in the packages I buy) get eaten like bacon.

Bacon Strips

Canning bacon strips take a little (or a lot) more time.  Most bacon-canning aficionados recommend using quart jars.  If you really need your bacon in full-length strips, then this is the way to go.  But if you don't, that's a heckuva lot of bacon, or a lot of wasted space if you don't fill the jar completely.  I can fit almost a pound of bacon in a pint jar, and that is plenty for my family of seven for most any meal.  Plan accordingly for your family.

Just as for canning bacon ends, you need a pressure canner.  You will also need the right jars, wide mouth pints or quarts.  Bacon may be safely canned in regular mouth jars, but it's a lot harder to get it in and out. A wide mouth pint jar will hold just under one pound of bacon strips.

You also need parchment paper.  Wax paper will not substitute and will not hold up to pressure canning.

For best results, partially brown bacon strips on low heat.  (Higher temperatures cause more curling of the bacon, making it harder to roll up the bacon and wasting space in the jar.)  Lay bacon strips side by side in the middle of the parchment paper.  Fold the ends of the parchment paper over the ends of the bacon strips.  Tightly roll up the bacon and parchment paper, like you would roll up a sleeping bag or cinnamon rolls, really making the roll as tight as possible.  Put bacon roll in your jar.  If it doesn't fit, remove one strip of bacon at a time until it does fit.

Canning Bacon

Fill your jars with bacon, leaving the appropriate amount of head space for the size of your jars.  Wipe the rims and threads of each jar very carefully with fresh paper towels and vinegar.  Vinegar cuts grease, and even the slightest bit of bacon grease on the rim of the jar will prevent a seal from forming.  I actually recommend wiping each jar twice.  Bacon grease can be very hard to eliminate.

Put the lids and bands on and place in your canner.  Process your jars of bacon according to instructions for your canner and your canning guide for processing ham.  

After processing and cooling on the counter overnight, wash jars and bands very well in soapy water, then dry, label, and store.

When the time comes, you will be so very grateful to have these little jars of culinary joy.

UPDATE, 20 February 2019:

In researching for another post, I came across this quote from Dr. Brian Nummer, Utah State University, Extension Food Safety Specialist.  The original link is now dead; this link is to where the quote was posted.  https://www.healthycanning.com/home-canning-cured-meats-bacon-brined-corned-ham-etc/

QUESTION: I am not sure who to direct this question to, maybe you can forward it to the person who can give me the answer. A lot is going around right now about canning bacon by rolling raw or cooked bacon in parchment paper (I think that is what it is called) putting it in quart jars with no liquid and pressure canning it at 15 lbs for 90 min. Is this safe to do and store in a cold storage room for an extended period of time? Thank you for your time. Susan
ANSWER: This practice is NOT recommended . The possible reasoning behind this advice is that bacon has nitrites in it that prevent the growth of C. botulinum (the botulism microorganism). Therefore “canning it” would somehow preserve it and make it safe to eat. However, there are many holes in that reasoning.  
1. The advice is NOT research based. No one has actually studied the process to determine if indeed it is safe from food-borne illness.  
2.There is no mention of “bacon” with nitrites (cured bacon). If people think its safe, they may try other processed meats. None have been research tested and all may result in botulism.  
3. Canning something “dry” will NOT generate enough heat to make things safe. Heat is transferred by water. In a pressure canner steam heats the water inside a canned food transferring that heat to the food. A temperature of 240-250 F for 30-120 minutes is needed to make a pressure canned food safe (via a research-tested process). Without water the temperature the bacon reaches will not be enough to destroy the botulism organism!”

So now there is an answer from what I would call a reputable, reliable, knowledgeable source.  There has been no research conducted to determine if the process is safe.  

And so now I ponder whether to pull this post from the blog.  For now, I'm going to leave it up so that readers can learn from the new information.  But also, I have some thoughts.

All home-canned foods processed in a pressure canner are supposed to be heated to boiling before eating.   It's something we should all practice every single time we open a jar.  Heating the food to boiling will neutralize any botulism toxin that may have survived.  (Note that this is "neutralizing" the toxin, which is produced by the C. botulinum bacteria.  The bacteria have to be heated to 250 degrees to be killed.)  Once the toxin has been neutralized, there is no danger of developing botulism.  If the bacon is cooked after it is opened, it should theoretically be safe.  Also, the news media is pretty good about informing the public of cases of food poisoning.  These things make their rounds on the internet.  I've been paying attention to this topic for at least a decade online, and through other media since I first became interested in food storage at the age of 11.  In the mid- to late-1970s, there were all kinds of story lines in TV shows like Emergency and Medical Center where characters became sick due to botulism.  My mother was persuaded that home canning was dangerous and quit preserving her own jam, and said I was foolish to begin canning myself.  I have not been able to find anything online about anyone getting botulism from home-canned bacon.

Do your own due diligence.

Expanded Food Storage: French Fries

One of the primary challenges in becoming prepared to deal with future events, and especially in getting family members to join enthusiastically with us in our planning, lies in facing the fear of the unknown, like what are we really going to have to eat, as well as the fear of the known--AACCKKKKK!  YOU DON'T REALLY EXPECT ME TO EAT THAT, DO YOU?!?!

And you know, it's been my observation in the many food storage classes that I've attended, and much of what I've seen online (fortunately, there are some notable exceptions), that most people are going to be really sad when TEOTWAWKI hits.  The vast majority will be sad that they didn't store enough; and many of those that did store enough food calorie-wise will wish they'd put a little more thought into what they were going to be eating.

When the trucks stop rolling, life will definitely change without fresh produce and frozen foods.  But just because doom and gloom are on everyone else's menus, doesn't mean it has to be on yours.  And that's exactly where the focus of the weekly blog post on expanded food storage will be.

Today's star is home-canned potatoes.  The kids actually beg for them.

("How can this be?" you ask.  "Did the woman raise her children in a cave?  Do they only get ice cream at Christmas?"

Truth be told, plain cut up and canned potatoes don't actually send tingles down anyone's spine here.  I like canning and I like having all my jars full all the time, and canned potatoes don't do anything for me, either.  They're kind of a hassle to can because they have to be peeled first, and if you're using them for mashed potatoes, well, the texture just isn't quite right.

But is there anyone in your world that doesn't like French fries?  Probably not.  (But even if there is, great.  That's more fries for everyone else.)

So the first step in winning "Mother of the Year" is to buy a French fry cutter (you can get a cheap one from Amazon for about $13--I think mine lasted 2-3 years, probably 60-80 quarts of fries).  Use the large blade (1/2"); the smaller size fries will break too easily.  Then buy a bag or box of No. 2 Russet potatoes; these are large potatoes, but not the monster size they serve at church dinners.  You need to scrub the potatoes well, but they don't need to be peeled.  (In canning, potatoes that will not be eaten as French fries must be peeled to remove all dirt.  Dirt is where we get botulism spores.  Botulism kills.  However, French fries will be fried at very high temperatures--350-400 degrees--for several minutes, creating conditions to render harmless any botulism toxin that may have developed.)  Cut the potatoes with your French fry cutter.  Follow instructions from your Ball Blue Book (you do have a copy, right?) but reduce the initial boiling time for the potatoes from ten minutes to three minutes.  Drain the potatoes and let cool until you can handle them comfortably.  Carefully stack the potatoes on their sides in a wide mouth quart jar, add one teaspoon salt per jar, and fill to within one inch of the rim of the jar with boiling water.  Process per instructions from your Ball Blue Book  and your pressure canner.

When it's lunchtime, open the jar and shake the fries out into a strainer.  Rinse and drain well to remove any excess starch.  Deep fry in peanut oil at 350-375 degrees until fries are golden brown.  The amount of time this takes is going to vary based on how many fries you put in the fryer and how large your fryer or pan is.  I usually cook 1/2 quart at a time.  (One more tip:  If we're in the middle of TEOTWAWKI and you are having to guess as to whether your oil is hot enough for frying yet, drop a few kernels of popcorn in the oil.  When the temperature hits 350 degrees, the popcorn will pop.)  Salt, eat, and prepare yourself to be showered with praises.

Related posts:
Hamburgers
Hamburger buns
Ketchup
Mayonnaise
Milk shake  
Tomatoes  

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