Went to an estate sale yesterday and found an old All American pressure canner. They have no rubber gasket to wear out; just a straight metal to metal seal. Folks have been telling me for a few years that I should invest in one so when I saw it I knew it was going to come home with me. This one is a 15-1/2qt that sells for around $200. Picked it up for $20.
Great find, canning supplies often go for cheap here too because not many people do it anymore. I am a Realtor and most of the agents know that I can. I have received many calls from other agents asking me to get canning jars. Two years ago I brought home around 1,000 jars from estates for free. So I have a good jar selection and I gave a lot away to family and some friends that we taught to can.
Do you happen to have an extra green glass lid? I broke one and figured I'd have to hunt the yard sales and flea markets for one this summer.
No doubt. I got 80% of my nearly 2000 jars from estate sales. Entire box lots with 2-3 dozen jars in each box- $0.50 a box. Anymore, when DW and I go to sales where there are boxes of jars, she gives me the Evil Eye.
Question? Is it better to resurrect an old thread or start up a new one? (lol newbie newbie newbie) I love canning! Would love to keep the thread Alive!!! ~Lissa!
There is not much to can right now, at least for me and where we are at in our yearly food procurement cycle. All my venison and small game is canned, and it will be awhile before garden canning season starts out with the strawberries in June. I will be starting in on some canned northern pike come April. I have few good sized fished frozen round for smoking in April and may can some of that as well.
I do jams and pickles! Last count, I had somewhere north of 100 quarts of garlic dills alone in my cellar.....ate some the other night from 2014....still had snap. Sometimes Ill also drop in a jalapeno to make them spicy. I dont hot can (I dont use a water bath), USDA be dammed. Use very hot brine, make sure you sterilize your jars in the oven before canning (make sure you cool them for a bit!), and boil the lids and rings! I make around 100 quarts per year, and I might get one or two losses due to seal failure. Jams? Strawberry and peach are my faves! I am in a weight loss routine now, so, trying zero sugar and carbs......cant eat the jam! SO far Ive lost 30 lbs, need to lose 7 more...gets me down to 200. Im 6'3", and the BMI chart still says that 200 is overweight....optimal is 160-185?! Gimme a break! Youd have to have a marathon runner body for that....but I digress...sorry!
My canning/jarring sequence for the year is tied to my fishing, gardening and hunting. The exact amounts vary on the relative abundance of each year, but the cycle is as follows: March - 24 or so pints of fish June/July - 30-40 pints of rhubarb, strawberry, black raspberry, red raspberry, yellow raspberry jam (in various combinations or by themselves) 20-24 quarts of pickled red beets (also pull at least 200 onions and 200-250 garlic bulbs per season for eating, canning recipes, and save some of the biggest garlic bulbs for planting in October) July/August - 24-30 quarts of garlic/dill cucumber pickles (ferments and water bath) 24 or so pints of pickled dill green and yellow wax beens August/September - 60 plus quarts of tomato sauce 12-24 pints of green tomato relish 24 or so pints of salsa 12 -24 quarts of sauerkraut 12 or so pints of "cowboy candy" (jalepeno peppers) December - 24 or so pints of venison stew 12 pints or so of rabbit and squirrel stew (all shot out of my garden areas) 12 quarts of pickled northern pike ...and repeat. This cycle gives me plenty of good food to feed my family for the year and leaves plenty for gifting as well. I have at least 60 lbs of sweet Italian venison sausage, as well as chops and roasts in the chest freezer. I just did inventory of my pantry this morning and found that I am sitting at 33 quarts of tomato sauce, 14 pints of jams, 20 or so garlic bulbs, 2 pints dill beans, 5 quarts of cucumber pickles, 1 quart sauerkraut, 4 quarts beet pickles, 11 pints salsa, 3 pints green tomato relish (from 2017 as I made more than usual that year so skipped 2018), 11 pints of game meat stews, 14 pints of fish, and 2 quart of pickled northern. I am usually up to two years ahead on the jams, anything tomato, fish and game meats because they are typically abundant year to year. Some canning recipes come and go from year to year, and I have recipes written on all kind of paper, but now have pretty much settled on some favorite and reliable staples. I always cross reference all recipes, regardless of the source with the Ball Blue Book to check safe ratios of ingredients and processing times.
Chazsbetterhalf are you canning? moresnow, we already have eaten our winter quota of pickled northern for the year and will be ready for a break until December when the remainder is finished! Anyways, we are in a western suburb of Mpls. We moved here from Hovland MN in 1998, but still have some of our original homestead land, and on which we built our cabin.
Sooooo? Up by Grand Marais and Grand Portage? If so, I used to ride sleds up there a few times a year. Always stayed at the Norwester. Guessing those owners are long gone. Does a Bob Lake ring a bell by chance? Sweet part of the world. Plenty of Pike to be had I am guessing. Had to be culture shock moving to your current location And to add to the thread. We can pasta sauce, pizza sauce, chili starter, salsa, dill and sweet pickles.
Yes. I love the area of NE Minnesota. It took me over a year to adapt to living in the Mpls area, but we landed in a great spot near a lot of lakes. We have a large lot with enough room for 22 raised garden beds. Plenty of good lakes too in both places. Plus we have our 2nd home/cabin up there now and land, with access to a many thousands of acres for our hunting. Nor'wester Lodge is on Poplar Lake. I am not sure if any of the Brandt family still runs it or not. I have never stayed there, but my wife and I like grabbing a bite at the Trail Center or Hungry Jack Lodge in the area. No, Bob Lake does not ring a bell, and I know all the lakes in Cook county (at least I thought I did). There is a Bob Lake in Sawyer near Carlton. Where is the Bob lake you are referring to? Yes there are plenty of good pike. I didn't really fish much for them when we lived up there, but certainly caught a lot of them. I was always going after walleye, lake trout, brook trout, steelhead, and splake. I started spearing pike when we moved down to our current location since we live near dozens of very good lakes for this activity.
Hungry Jack has always been one of our favorites for grabbing grub. The owners son used to ride with us. I forget his name now. Great kid. He may run the joint now from what I've heard. Bob Lake was off to the east of the trail that connected the state trails to the Res. operated trails heading to Grand Portage. Hard to explain it but I could ride there today I believe. We had a rather large multi sled crash near the lake. Some locals helped us. We ended up going back to visit them for several years. They had a cabin on Bob Lake. The lake was small. Great people. I like your choice of fish to chase. I do a lot of fishing. Be lost without it! Sounds like you have a piece of paradise up north. Very nice.
The owner of Hungry Jack Lodge was Jerry Parsons. His son is running it now. His name is Forest, hard worker, great young man. I knew Jerry and unfortunately he has passed on. I wonder if the lake you are referring to may be named Tom Lake. It is one of the only lakes on the east end with cabins on it besides McFarland and Greenwood Lakes. Tom Lake is along the trails you speak of and is close to the reservation line. This is our old backyard.
