First try a canning tuna

[brshooter]

The first batch is on. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Only 95 more minutes to go in the canner. Pressure is running about 12 pounds. Trying to ease it off a pound. Don't have the best control with the crab cooker burner. An extra pound of pressure won't hurt anything will it?

[corrirod]

Won't hurt it a bit.

I've got a ton to do myself tomorrow!

Congrats and good eatin!

[Woody]

A little extra pressure won't hurt. Try to keep it the general area of 10-12, for 100min and you're good to go. Don't let it drop below 10 psi though.

When the time is up, remove the little rattler thing and let all of the pressure bleed out. Carefully remove all of the jars and set them on a towel on the kitchen counter. When we were making jelly once, we set the jars directly on the counter and the thermal shock cracked some of the jars. Hot sticky jelly leaked every where.

As the jars cool you will hear each one "ping" as they seal. It's actually kind of cool. That lets you know it worked. My wife counts them as they ping. If you have a life and you don't want to count pings, press down on each of the lids after they have cooled completely. If they sealed there should be no give in the lid. If they didn't seal, they will have some spring to them, like when they were first put on the jar. If you have any that don't seal, just put them in the fridge and use them in the next day or two.

[brshooter]

Thanks,
Trying to control the pressure with the crab cooker is a real challenge. I think I have it dial in now. I am doing this outside to avoid stinking up the house. Had the cooker turned down as low as I could run it and still keep it burning. Had a gust of wind put it out and the pressure dropped to 8 pounds for just a minite before I caught it. Have a wind shield up now. Will that brief drop in pressure cause any problems?

[Mello-Yello]

I'm right there w/you brshooter. I'd never canned anything in my life. Three days later and I'm a pro....sorta.

My first batch I had 4 of 16 pints not seal. I've done an additional 32 pints and 48 half pints and haven't had a problem. Then again, I haven't eaten any of it either, since I'm munching on those 4 jars that didn't seal. It seems I read somewhere that if your jar didn't seal, to refrigerate it and consume it within a couple weeks rather than days. How in the heck am I suppose to keep 4 jars of tuna around for a couple weeks????

Keta, I followed your advice on smoking....Excellent! Way too easy!

I've still got about 60 empty pints and 40 some half-pints. Next round I'll start experimenting a little more.

Good Luck and good eating brshooter!

M-Y

[TWB]

No, a small drop in pressure will not be a problem. Just let it go the full time. Remember that the fish is boiling in its own juice. You will see that happening when you remove the jars from the canner.
The problem comes when the jars don't seal. If you set an unsealed jar on the shelf the air gets in and all those bad things start to grow inside. [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img]
Take Woody's advice, any that don't seal become tomorrows sandwiches.
Jerry

[WildHawg]

Whoa!!!! Stop the bus!!!!! Backup the Truck!!!!!!!!!
My wife and I can everything using the Ball Blue book as a guide. Buy it. It's the Bible of canning.
First--if pressure drops below 10 pounds, the book and extension folks both tell you to start your time over. Don't take a chance, do it by the book--it's you and your families lives that depend on it.

Second--always let the pressure release on its own, ie. don't remove the weighted pressure doohickey until the pressure is at 0. This takes 20 or so minutes, but helps insure no cracked jars, and some say a better seal. Jars are still bubbling when they come out, and go on for quite awhile.

Canning is an awesome way to store food for your family when done right. It is particularly important with meats and low acid items to be extremely cautious.
Good luck,
Charlie.

[Sea Jypzee]

I'm glad Wildhawg caught this, but for clarification one more time I'll just quote him!

Second--always let the pressure release on its own, ie. don't remove the weighted pressure doohickey until the pressure is at 0. This takes 20 or so minutes, but helps insure no cracked jars, and some say a better seal. Jars are still bubbling when they come out, and go on for quite awhile.

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[Popeye]

Also...Ball recommends 90 min. for tuna, and if they don't seal, open them up, clean the lip of the jar, place a NEW lid on them and re-can.
Julie and I have been canning for some 35 yrs. or so. :grin:

ps. our simple recipe is: Pack hot jars to about 1/2" headspace, 1 tbls olive oil, 1 tsp salt to a pint jar, adjust lid, 90 min. at 10#

[ 08-13-2003, 08:54 AM: Message edited by: Popeye ]

[Mello-Yello]

I encountered an intersting situation. On my first batch, with about 15 minutes left (target of 100 minutes at 10psi), my pressure started dropping out. I had to really crank the heat to get it back. My assumption was, all my water had evaporated. My canner instructions say to add 2 qts. Upon opening the canner, there was a small amount in the bottom, but it soon evaporated. So, next batch I added an extra couple of cups. Seemed to work ok.

On my last batch, I had the same thing happen, and almost identically, with about 15 minutes left.

Now I realize the importance of cooking this stuff all the way through, but wouldn't it be 'relatively' safe to assume that with only 15 minutes left on a 100 minute cycle, I'm 'probably' ok? This would put me at 85 minutes at 10psi.

I really, really, really don't want to do this all over again.

With the exception of my first batch (I think I might have crammed a little too much tuna in some of the jars), all my jars sealed fine, and there was no breakage. The few times my psi dropped, it never got below 8psi or before I caught it.

[Pilar]

Mello Yello and other potential botulism poisoning victims ....

1) Buy the "Ball Blue Book", a bible of canning just about anything. For such a small book (magazine size) it is packed with valuable info and recipes.

2) Using a 22 Qt canner .. fill till the water level is 1/2 up the top row of jars. Running out of water is the worst thing that can happen because the pressure drops out of control.

3) Twice canned tuna tastes like ... well, even your cat won't like it.

4) Never, Never, NEVER, never make any sudden changes in pressure while canning.

5) Use two canners and start with a cold one when you load it. Putting filled jars into preheated water may crack them due to the thermal and material properties of glass.

The fish Must be at or above 250 degrees fahrenheit for 100 minutes to ensure the destruction of Botulinum spores that are assumed present in the raw product. This corresponds to 10 psig steam pressure that you get from most canners. And this advice is from the USDA and their guidelines for canning low acid foods. These spores are anaerobic, which means they can become a bacteria colony in the sealed environment of the canning jar without oxygen. Botulism is poisoning from the byproducts of that colony of bacteria.

It is extremely important to ensure the cooking temperature (IE: Steam pressure) and time to be safe. A higher pressure is OK and the time duration the same if the pressure is higher.

Rapid changes in pressure can and will blow the sealing compound out of the lid and cause the contents of the jar to spew into the inside of the canner. When you get to the time, just turn off the flame and move the canner to a cooling area. When the thing cools off the pressure will drop until the locking mechanism is released and you can pop the lid off. Absolutely do not remove the pressure regulator or otherwise speed the gradual pressure drop. Rack the jars close together and allow them to cool slowly.

The boiling you see in the jar occurs because the pressure in the jar drops as it cools .. water boils at a lower temp at a reduced pressure. The jar may be 150 degrees now but at a near perfect vacuum water boils.

Cleaning the sealing surfaces of the jar and using fresh, preheated lids (boil for 5 minutes before use) will give you a seal about 99.9% of the time. So far this year we have put up about 14 cases and have not lost one jar due to improper cooking or blown seal.

BTW, if you screw up a load by improper cooking, refrigerate it and eat it like any other fresh food. If you eat it immediatly and do not store it unrefrigerated you are good for at least a week. Canning it a second time makes cat food.

[ 08-13-2003, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[DriftR]

Funny, when I bring home fresh albacore like the ones I got on Sunday. I got home Monday. Told the wife "WE" needed to can this fresh batch. Oops, she says, Sorry, I'm working the swing at the hospital today. So, like in the years past I know the drill. Last time I used 90 minutes at 10psi. This year a 100 minutes at 10psi. Actually had some for lunch on Tuesday canned on Monday. Thought the taste was a little bland still good. It was a little darker than the ones before? We always follow directions for safety sake. Also, have the gauge checked every year. Now we don't add anything to it when it goes in the 1/2 pint jars except a few we add 1/8 or less teaspoon of salt. I think I will try it again with the 90 minute time limit like oldtimes. We clean the jars, pour boiling water in them, dump out the water, add the albacore, wipe the rim add the lid(preheated in boiling water)and ring and set those puppies in the cooker. Then we add two quarts of boiling water. Slap on the lid. Exhaust some steam and cap that baby for 100 minutes and watch it like a baby. I did it in the house and used fans and opened the windows to get rid of that canning smell.

[OceanBlue]

Mel Tuni told me you guys had a huge mess going in the kitchen with fish everywhere. Told me I needed to go up and check on you guys. Here I find Mel's nephew calmly adding jars to the canner, checking his watch and hollering at Mel that we're about to start the clock. I go inside and Mel has 2 very civilized bowls of chunked tuna that he's arranging on the smoker racks. I helped him finish the arrangement, we put the racks in the smokers and voila! There wasn't even any evidence of fish in the house! I think yer pullin' my leg when you say you canned 144 jars! No way.

[WildHawg]

I did 96 half pints and 16 pints BY MYSELF after Ug and I whacked 'em last week :shocked: .
Wife had to work, and we were gonna be gone over the weekend so ...
Suffuce it to say, it's alot easier with 2 people!!!
Every year I bring home piles of salmon for the wifey to can during our weeklong "salmon harvesting trip" at our home place. I catch, fillet, cut, and/or smoke the fish, and she cans.
My job is NOT easy, but I have a new found respect for all she does while I am toiling at the oars

[uboatcdr]

I was told you have to cook the fish in the oven before you can it, is this true?. Thants what we
did last year, but Im not sure it is necessary.
:whazzup:

[Popeye]

Veeeery interesting......After reading your post John, I did some checking on the recommended process times, including Ball Online (which actually isn't Ball anymore, got bought out). Everything says 100 min. So I called Julie at home, about the 90 min that we've used for the last 35 yrs. Voila! the Ball book that we have is 35 YEARS OLD! SOOOO....curious minds need to know! Why? We've never gotten sick. Do scientists know more about food poisoning now Is it the ever more increasing safety factors that we build into things nowadays Another curious thing, our book says 100 min. for salmon Any ideas [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]


Oh BTW it says you can re-can in that old book...never tried it though...Cat food heah?

Edit: Disclaimer..I am not trying to persuade ANYONE to "can" contrary to modern technology!

[ 08-13-2003, 12:26 PM: Message edited by: Popeye ]

[OceanBlue]

Popeye - did the book say anything about canning the book? :grin:

[Popeye]

NO....but I already have a new one ordered :grin:

[Pilar]

Popeye, I dunno. We don't add any oil either but that is a matter of taste. The fish is plenty oily off our coast. Maybe throw in 1/2 a jalapeno, smoked salt or a clove of garlic. Also I add 1/2 the recommended salt after some christmas present recipients commented on the 'salty' canned tuna. You can barely taste it with 1/2 the salt.

I think maybe the recent tendency to sue over anything may have something to do with this new guideline. USDA is being overly cautious and so recent advice is even more conservative than ever before.

Uboatcdr, the cook or oven bake first recipe also works but I don't use it. Just too much trouble. Raw pack is as easy as fill jars, salt, seal and cook.

Recanning ... I have never actually done that on purpose. I have overcooked it though. That is the reason I recommend removing the canner from the burner. One night I turned off the gas on a canner and crashed. A few hours later I woke to the sound of the canner pssss ... psss .. pppssstt .. psss. [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img] And woke startled to find the thing still perking. The gas valve was just cracked open enough to keep the fire on. Total process time was like 240 minutes. That stuff was awful, smelly, mushy and tasteless. Jen's cats won't even eat it. It would probably never rot in the jar but you could not eat it on a bet.

[ 08-13-2003, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Miss B Haven]

brshooter - I did all 8 fish and got 144 cans yesterday :shocked: . 3 smokers, 2 canners and 2 guys from noon till 11:30. Gave almost half to my nephew for bringing the gear/knowledge and helping out all day.
Felt like a commercial commercial cannery around my house yesterday! :grin:

[Jimmy Carl Black]

Pints or half-pints?

Does it matter?

[Mello-Yello]

12 oz. Hamms or a 24 oz. Hamms. It all depends on how much you plan on having after you open it.

I'm no expert, but here's how I see it. A half-pint is pretty close to one can of store-bought tuna. If yer gonna make a couple sammich's, half-pint is perfect. If you just want a snack, half-pint is perfect. Half-pints seem to be perfect for most occasions, however, filling half-pints is a little slower.

I can stuff 16 pints in my pressure cooker, or 32 large mouth half-pints each load.

The cost for 12 pints is pretty much identical to 12- half pints, so your getting more storage capacity for the $ by going pints. My advice, do both, but do more of the half-pints.

M-Y

[duckcall]

I have canned tuna for over twenty years. I clean/filet the tuna outside on a covered card table early in the morning before the yellow jackets are up. Clean up is easy with garden hose handy. Get anything that is dark from the filets. Nothing in the kitchen but the readied meat. We put jars upside down in metal baking pan with and inch or so water in 'till jars are hot and sanitized. Have two quarts of water in canner preheating on burner. Fill hot 1/2 pints (only)leaving 1/2" headspace and stack in canner. We put nothing but tuna in jars. Adjust lids (also hot in pan of water)and process at 10#'s for 90 minutes. Nothing under 10#'s. It takes constant attention. Let pressure return to zero AND the pressure indicator down(little rubber thing in miidle of lid) and then we let it set 5 minutes or so and then remove the rocker and set jars on towel on drainboard to cool and seal. Be careful when you open the canner lid that you open it away from you to prevent getting scalded by the steam. You can get 24 1/2 pints in. We use two canners to hurry up the process. Enjoy!

[Jimmy Carl Black]

I'll take the 24 oz. of Hamms me thinks.

mmmmmmmm....talls