Some Fall Canning

With this new house I  have a new set-up for canning.


My kitchen stove has a flat glass top which is lovely most of the time, except for when you're doing canning.  I have used it for some pressure canning for short amounts of time--i.e. peaches (6 min. at 10# of pressure).  However, I have been nervous about using it for any meats or beans which take up to 90 minutes for quarts.  I've heard stories of broken glass tops with the canner heated for so long.


Plus, let's be honest, I need to do more than one canner at a time if possible.


Earlier, in late summer, I was looking for a camp stove at my local Fleet Farm store. Which for those of you in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Iowa you know how much fun this store can be.


I was looking for a 2 burner stove which runs around $80-100.  My sister, a cousin, and one of my good friends all swear by their camp stove canning set-up.  However, instead of a 2 burner I found a 3 burner stove, on sale for $100.  Regular price $200!  Hubby thought I was a little nuts to get one this big.  However, he did help me set it all up and hook up the propane.





When you own 3 pressure canners like I do, a 3 burner camp stove is perfect.  The short story of the pressure canners is I bought one after we got married, inherited one when Hubby's grandmother passed away (that is the heavy double stacker), and then found another one at the thrift store for about $8 and I just had to replace the rubber ring and overflow plug (another $9). 





Here is the set-up all running out in my garage. 
With 3 canners I am able to can 32 pints in one sitting.  That beats 8 at a time, or even 16 with the double stacker.  This just worked out so slick.


Besides beans I have also recently canned Apple Pie Filling (recipe from the Ball Blue Book)





This is my favorite little contraption to help out with pie filling.
It peels, cuts and quarters all at the same time. 
This one is from Pampered Chef, but I've seen them at Target and other stores too.





Just quarter cut the slices and add them to some salt water to keep from browning.





This year I got apples from Fall Harvest Orchard and tried their pie mix bags.
You can see that different apple varieties produce different colors of apples.  Some are more white inside than others.





Delicious looking!
We made some crisp with the amount leftover that I didn't have room for and it was yummy!





Just last week I canned meats.
Above are jars of venison and black beans (they can the same amount of time) and below some pork chunks.  With beef as expensive as it is around here we've been eating a lot of pork.


I bought a pork loin at Sam's Club for $1.88/lb.  It was 10.21 lbs. for $19.19 and I was able to can 6 1/2 quarts worth of pork chunks.  I think I will go get another one and do it again.





I'm so excited to get our food storage back up to speed.  Canning does take work, but I like being able to just open jars later in the winter and basically have dinners ready to go.