“I am finally canning!”
So, how was it? Give us the juicy details on your chicken. I was thinking of doing up a batch of soup or something for my first batch to test the waters.
“So, how was it? Give us the juicy details on your chicken. I was thinking of doing up a batch of soup or something for my first batch to test the waters.”
Gee, wish I had thought of that. If it was a failure, I’d lose a lot less money!
After partially cooking the chicken and thinking that I had SO much more work to do - I realized that the labor-intensive part was done. Pretty neat. I boiled up about 22 chicken breasts (no, DW, I don’t know what kind of chickens they were!).
Metmom - thanks for your step by step instructions in this thread. I pretty much followed those and they helped me feel a little more organized doing something for the very first time.
I cut the chicken breasts in halves and tried to fit as many into each jar as possible. Not as many fit as I had imagined, but I now know I can mash ‘em down some. I had some water in a tea kettle boiling, like metmom recommended, and added it to the jars, measuring the headspace. I had gotten this little pack of canning accessories from Walmart and it had a jar lifter and a head space measuring tool that doubles as a bubble releaser. That thing was pretty handy. 1 1/4 inches head space is actually a lot of space in a quart jar. But all 22 breasts fit in 7 jars with a little left over for the cats to snack on ;)
After that, it was easy. The canner did all the work. I added 3 quarts of water to the canner, brought it to a boil, put the 7 jars in, put on the lid, and let the steam vent for 10 min. Then I put on the pressure regulator and the psi starting rising pretty quickly. It was pretty easy to keep it at 11psi, but it was still nice to have the 3 piece regulator that I bought separately for the Presto canner making a little racket so I knew the pressure didn’t drop much.
I think I likely overcooked them some, but will find out when I open the first jar. The Blue Ball book said to cook ‘em until they were only slightly pink in the center. But I processed the jars for 90 minutes! I wonder if that overcooked the little guys. They do look like they are flaking a part a little.
Next, I’m taking care of some frozen ham I have. I don’t seem to use them fast enough since it’s starting to get hot and nobody feels like soup any more!
I need to reduce what’s in my freezer before the summer heat really gets going. That’s always when my freezers have quit working in the past (of course!)
Marm - when are you planning your first canning project? After your garden gives you things to can? :)