Cooking & Food Canning Weights-n-Yields 2015-09-20

Ganado submitted a new resource:

Canning Weights-n-Yields - canning, measurement

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Interesting G. The wife used to do canning and we're thinking about getting back into it again. We used to have fruit trees when we lived in northern Nevada and we canned the excess.

Interesting that they note the peck as a unit of measurement. When Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, I guess that was roughly two gallons dry weight.

You have to wonder how many of today's younger dorts even know what a bushel is.

 

On the subject of canning generally, one of my favorites is pickled eggs. 12-14 (depending on size) will fit in a 1qt jar. The pickle can be the same recipe you'd use for dill pickles.

I think pickled eggs are often overlooked as a survival food, but they have several advantages.

They're cheap, nutritious, and quick & easy to can. No fuss, no mess, and no waste. The shells go back to the chickens or can be spread in the garden.

Pickled eggs are Pasteurized twice--once in the boiling and once in the canning. I've never had a jar go bad.

Being already hardboiled, they don't require additional cooking before serving.

And they aren't bland. They have that special dill flavor, and are perfectly pre-salted. (Both will be a advantage after the poop hits the prop.) They can be a side dish, main course, liven up salads and sandwiches, and generally help stave off food fatigue for quite a while.

They're also a unitary ration--one size fits all and you always know exactly how long the jar will last.

I find the flavor matures in about 3 mos, and only gets better after that.

Peeling a large number of eggs the traditional way can be a pain, but check out this crazy Russian. His trick is legit. I use it all the time now.

 

@Altoidfishfins 'a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck' that's how i remember that one.

@UncleMorgan nice video, made me laugh and I agree pickled eggs are a great food but oh man the smell later if your body doesn't digest them well =) The Russians do a pickled beet that is wonderful as well as pickled whole tomatoes

Fermented Tomatoes:
about 30 tomatoes (I used plum tomatoes but any will do)
1 small bunch of fresh dill
15 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
3 liters of water
1 tbs of whole black pepper
3 bay leaves
6 tbs kosher salt
9 tbs sugar

- In a pot, bring water to a boil, add salt, sugar, black pepper and bay leaves. Turn heat off. Let brine to cool down to a warm temperature. In a couple of hours test with your finger - it should be slightly warmer than your finger.


- Meanwhile, wash your tomatoes. With a fork, make holes in a base of tomatoes for brine to penetrate better.


- Pack tomatoes in a clean jars, fairly tightly.


- Distribute garlic and coarsely chopped dill evenly between jars, on a top of tomatoes.


- When brine is cooled down (about temperature of your shower ), pour it in a jar, covering all tomatoes.

- Place jar lids on a top ajar. Do not cover it completely. Let tomatoes seat on a counter for 3-5 days (depending of your room temperature). On a second or third day you will notice that brine becomes milky - it is the way it should be. If your top tomato in jar is not quite under water - turn it on another side every day.

- On a third day you can try your tomatoes. Most like it won't be ready and will taste differently but not quite right, so let them seat in a room temperature more. As soon as you decide they are ready - transfer jars into a fridge. Next day, cold, they will taste amazing.

- Do not be afraid to error on either side - I'm talking about when to stop fermenting process by placing tomatoes in a fridge. Often it is matter of taste - some likes it mild, some likes when it bites like a carbonated drinks do. Fermenting will continue in a fridge but very-very slowly, so eventually your tomatoes will become more fermented. Enjoy! When you will get used to its special taste - please, try to control yourself and do not eat tomatoes right from a jar, one by one, in a one seat!

Washing dill...



Lower part of your dill bunch with a think stems is just perfect for brining tomatoes.


Nice and tender dill tops I'll save for my salads.



Pouring warm brine into jars.



Standing..Day 1.


Day 2... Not much of a difference.


Day 3. Note that brine becomes more cloudy - that's how it should be.

Day 4. Yes, it is definitely cloudy. Do not forget to flip over that upper tomato sticking out of a brine . I decided to leave jars on a counter one more day. Tomorrow they will go to a fridge and tomatoes will be ready to eat.


Cold, juicy, right from a fridge it will go with anything - right now I'll be eating it with simple ciabatta bread and cheese.


Enjoy fermented tomatoes as is, whole, piercing upper end with your teeth, sucking cold refreshing juices out (have napkins handy!) and then biting into a glossy sweet&salty flesh.


Or cut them in a half for more controlled consuming Eat it with a skin - it's a fiber and good for you and you can skip on your artificial fiber drink today!


Day7... tomatoes are disappearing from a jar.

Isn't it a pretty site?

 

I don't know....(I've not really ever worked with "measures" like this)
Good God. I am good with all the various common units in Physics... and I must admit.
(LoL)
Reading that sheet (for me) is like looking at a New Kind of chemsitry.... (almost) which... I guess... it is.

But it's very very cool.
this is the kind of stuff I think we SHOULD be learning. Definitely. My Mother used to can food.
so I SORT OF (instinctively) know sorta what it's about... but obviously... it's a "science" --- sort of.

impressive info.

 

-
it looks delicious

 

Canning Lids, Why remove the ring
Why Remove Rings From Canning Jars? - Living Homegrown
Why Remove Rings From Canning Jars?


I’m sure you are familiar with the standard 2-piece canning jar lids. The flat lid sits on top of the jar and the ring tightens around it holding the lid in place as you process the jar in either a water bath or pressure canner. Most canners use this type of canning lid.

But did you know that it is considered unsafe to leave the ring on a canning jar AFTER it has been processed?

Sometimes when I mention this to people, I get a deer-in-the-headlights response. I think part of the problem is that few canning books even mention this. Also, most photographs of canned foods show the rings on the jar. Heck, I’m guilty of this myself! I like to photograph the jars while they are cooling (and the rings are on). I guess I am just excited and don’t want to wait for them to completely cool. But doing this gives the illusion that they are being stored that way.

Important: Now, let me be clear. The rings DO need to stay on the jars while the jars are cooling down after processing. They should only be removed after the jars have reached room temperature.

Do you want to know why ?
I thought so. Read on…




The main purpose of that ring is to align the lid properly on the jar and to hold it in place while the vacuum seal forms. After that, it has served its purpose.

Three Things Can Happen If You Don’t Remove the Rings
You can get:

1) A False Seal: The ring can inadvertently hold a lid on a jar that has a broken seal. In other words, if the vacuum seal is compromised, that ring will make it LOOK like it is okay even if not sealed. Then later, when you pull that jar off the shelf and open it, you may or may NOT be sure if it was already open or not. And depending upon how long that jar has been unsealed, you may not notice that the food is going bad.

2) Rust: Leaving the ring on can lead to rusting of the ring. Have you ever left a ring on and then later had trouble twisting it off because of rust? I have. Then as you wiggle and fight with the ring, you can break the seal on the jar…or was the seal already broken? Hmmm…Reason number one comes back to bite us again. We don’t know if we “just” broke the seal or it has been open for a week or more.

3) Mold: Yes, mold can grow under the ring and that can lead to the vacuum seal being lost. This happens because food sometimes siphons out of the jar during processing and gets trapped under the ring. As it sits, it begins to mold and that mold grows and can push on the edge of lid and break the seal. In fact, after your jars are completely cooled, you should remove the rings AND wipe down the jars to remove any stick residue. Then label the jars and sit them on the shelf.



Bonus Tip:
You should also avoid stacking jars on top of each other. Again, many photographs show jars stacked and it gives the illusion that it is okay to leave them like that. But actually the weight of the top jar can break the seal on the bottom jar. And stacking jars will prevent you from seeing if the bottom jar has lost its seal.

Now I know it is a pain, but you should try to sit jars in a single row when storing them on the pantry shelf. I realize that this is not always possible. But at least you now understand the reason behind the recommendation.