Immaculate kitchen compared to my red clay dust, open windowed/no AC, cat hair daily, 98 today if lucky; oh and no remote cool dark place to store until I dig a hole in the ground.....But you have me ravenous and plotting at the very sight. You ARE a wonder.
I took the plunge and now have a shelf in the pantry with w/b beef & cabbage vegetable soup, carrots, and chicken and dumplings. I was concerned that the baths, afterward, appeared a tad greasy. (These were two separate canning events.) I checked all the jars, even turn them upside down after they cooled and all seemed fine. Of course the chicken concerns me more, but I did add vinegar - though maybe only half of what you recommend. What do you think?
I’ll be honest, DL, ditch the chicken meals if you only used half the vinegar in them. If the vinegar you used amounts to 9% or over they’ll be fine, but if not they won’t be safe to eat, sorry. The vinegar and strength of it is crucial. The greasiness usually comes about from not tightening the lids adequately but if your lids made the seal and you can tip the jars and nothing leaks out or makes any kind of “escaping” noise they will be fine. Also sometimes that greasiness can come from the old label glue on reused jars if they weren’t removed. Well done for doing this! Meals on the shelves is more of a security these days than money in the bank imo. x
Oh, some days Substack drives me nuts! It won't let me edit my own posts now! as if not being able to edit my notes wasn't bad enough....:/
I wanted to edit it to add, once the jars are filled with food and you've added the vinegar, herbs etc, top up each jar with freshly filtered water to just below the lip of it. Can't believe I forgot that and am so sorry. Old age!
Immaculate kitchen compared to my red clay dust, open windowed/no AC, cat hair daily, 98 today if lucky; oh and no remote cool dark place to store until I dig a hole in the ground.....But you have me ravenous and plotting at the very sight. You ARE a wonder.
I took the plunge and now have a shelf in the pantry with w/b beef & cabbage vegetable soup, carrots, and chicken and dumplings. I was concerned that the baths, afterward, appeared a tad greasy. (These were two separate canning events.) I checked all the jars, even turn them upside down after they cooled and all seemed fine. Of course the chicken concerns me more, but I did add vinegar - though maybe only half of what you recommend. What do you think?
I’ll be honest, DL, ditch the chicken meals if you only used half the vinegar in them. If the vinegar you used amounts to 9% or over they’ll be fine, but if not they won’t be safe to eat, sorry. The vinegar and strength of it is crucial. The greasiness usually comes about from not tightening the lids adequately but if your lids made the seal and you can tip the jars and nothing leaks out or makes any kind of “escaping” noise they will be fine. Also sometimes that greasiness can come from the old label glue on reused jars if they weren’t removed. Well done for doing this! Meals on the shelves is more of a security these days than money in the bank imo. x
Great stuff Valkrie. Really useful advice. Thank you x
Oh, some days Substack drives me nuts! It won't let me edit my own posts now! as if not being able to edit my notes wasn't bad enough....:/
I wanted to edit it to add, once the jars are filled with food and you've added the vinegar, herbs etc, top up each jar with freshly filtered water to just below the lip of it. Can't believe I forgot that and am so sorry. Old age!
But, c'mon SS! Get your act together!