Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
be destroyed by heat, especially vitamin C, are destroyed in
the process. On the other hand, both the protein and mineral
value is unaffected, so as long as you have plenty of
vegetables in your diet, canned meat isn't a problem.
While the USDA says that putting raw meat into jars and then
processing it is safe, it is my opinion that the flavor suffers.
So I recommend that all meats first be soaked for an hour in a
brine made with 1 Tbsp salt to a gallon of water and then at
least lightly browned in a little vegetable oil until rare and
then packing into the jars. Once the meat is packed into the
jars, the jars should be filled with boiling water, meat broth,
or tomato juice to leave the amount of headspace described in
Table 19
. Most people prefer 1/2 tsp of salt added per pint,
but this is optional. Put on the lids finger-tight, and process
for the appropriate length of time. You can season meats
before canning them, but avoid sage because the prolonged
high temperatures can cause bitterness. Also, any meat broth
you use shouldn't contain flour, corn starch, or any other
thickening agent because under pressure canning conditions,
thickening agents congeal and make it impossible to get all of
the air properly evacuated from the cans, and the risk of
spoilage is increased.
Soups, Stews, and Other Mixtures
When canning anything that is a mixture of more than one
ingredient, the time and head-space requirements from
Table
19
that are the longest and largest for any of the ingredients
apply. So if, for example, a mixture of carrots and peas were
being canned, the processing time and headspace
requirements for peas would be used since those are the
