Saturday, October 3, 2009

Continuing Adventures in Canning Meals

One of the big items on my agenda for this weekend was to cook and pressure can seven quarts of chili. The pressure canner I bought has a maximum capacity of seven quarts. I have only used once before today and only canned four quarts that time. I'm always looking for ways to conserve energy and am interested in knowing how well the pressure canner will process at full capacity. But unfortunately, I've discovered that although my pressure canner can hold seven quarts, my crockpot can apparently only hold four or five quarts. Since I'm only canning soups and stews for now, everything gets cooked in the crockpot, then transferred immediately to the hot quart jars for processing. So the number of quarts I process at one time is, for the moment, limited to the amount I can cook up in the crockpot at one time. So I will have to postpone my seven quart canning experiments until I process some fresh fruit or vegetables and can make sure I have enough on hand to do seven quarts at one time.

Today's efforts were not wasted though. In another forty minutes, the processing time will be finished and the cooling process will begin. By this evening, I'll be able to set my four quarts of homemade chili next to the four quarts of Spring Skillet Stew I processed last week. A full cupboard is a beautiful thing!

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5 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I'm just sitting here smiling at your chili meeting up with that Stew! You Go Girl!

October 3, 2009 at 4:54 PM  
Blogger HossBoss said...

Ha! Well, three of the four quarts of chili joined the stew in the cabinet. One of them landed in our bowls for supper. I made a batch of Marie Callendars Cornbread to go with it and Yeoldfurt went back for seconds, so I would say it turned out fine! Still don't know if things will go as well with seven quarts in there at once ...guess I'll have to buy some vegetables to process so I can find out!

October 3, 2009 at 7:19 PM  
Blogger ErinAndBrad said...

Ok, we need to get canning again too - you make me feel very guilty - thanks HB! :)

October 3, 2009 at 9:10 PM  
Blogger HossBoss said...

Hey, Ernie ...nice to see you here! Don't feel guilty. I've only just started myself. We all have to start sometime!

October 3, 2009 at 11:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love this time of year! Listening to the hiss of the steam in the pressure canner, and the bubbling of the water in the water-baths. Looking at all the pretty colored jars in the pantry when the day's work is done. There is no better "simple" pleasure in this world. :)

October 5, 2009 at 12:40 PM  

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