How To Pressure Can With An All American Pressure Canner, Model 921

This post is a continuation of 2 previous posts that I have written related to using a pressure canner to preserve food.

My first post was about the pressure canner itself and why you need to use a pressure canner to preserve low acid foods.

If you've missed that one, you can view it from the link here: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@rebeccaryan/taking-a-model-921-pressure-canner-for-a-spin

My second post was "a big batch recipe" that produces 12 litres of food which then can be successfully preserved using a pressure canner.

If you missed it, you can find the link here: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@rebeccaryan/big-batch-cooking-a-recipe-that-makes-12-litres-of-morocan-spiced-vegetables-and-beans-in-a-tomato-sauce

This post is about the actual pressure canning process

Certain foods are considered to be low acid. This includes vegetables, fish, seafood, poultry and all other animal meat. These foods require exposure to higher than average temperatures in order to kill any bacteria spores that are contained within it or on it. If you can prevent the growth of toxic bacteria from within the foods' container (in this case, I'm using glass jars with lids and rings, but you could also use tin cans) and you seal the food in the container at the same time, you will also prevent any additional external bacteria (found within the air) from contaminating the food. 

Here are the generally recommended weights and times needed to kill bacteria and preserve low acid foods, up to 1,000 feet above sea level:

• Vegetables, 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes. 
• Seafood, 10 pounds of pressure for 110 minutes.
• Poutry, 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes.
• Meat, 10 pounds pressure, 90 minutes. 

If you live at an altitude more than 1,000 feet above sea level, then you would use a 15 pound weight and the processing times would be different.

Pressure is used to maintain temperature consistently over a specific time period. This ensures that any bacteria that did exist is dead and no longer a threat. 

If you don't keep bacteria from growing in the food

Simply put, the food will spoil and the ensuing bacteria infection can kill you. Your only hope would be to receive medical attention fast enough. Even then, surviving botulism poisoning can be dicey.

Life will be over. Everything all for naught.

Taking "human life" out of the equation and looking at it from a superficial perspective, all the efforts that were made in the food chain and food preservation chain are lost. Every step. Right from potentially saving seeds to growing the produce, harvesting it, cleaning it, preparing it and finally to jarring it. All lost, because the food is poisonous and must be discarded.

If you can keep bacteria from growing in the food

You can preserve it for long-term storage indefinitely (as long as the container remains sealed and the food doesn't smell bad or look moldy). 

This is a huge benefit for those who grow their own food and often have large quantities of produce ready to harvest at the same time.

How does one family consume 200 Roma tomatoes that are all ripe at the same time and all came from the seemly innocent, 8 little tomato plants that they planted in their back-yard garden (for example)?

Making a tomato based soup or a vegetable-laden sauce and then pressure canning that mixture would be a viable solution.

Size matters when it comes to most things in life, including your heat source

Let's talk about the heat source being "sized properly" for a moment. This is really important. Many pressure canners are much bigger and heavier than most kitchen pots and their parts are made of thick metal and aluminum. A simple stove top element just can't produce a large enough or hot enough heat source to bring the pot up to temperature properly. The heat source is used to regulate the correct internal pressure and therefore the specific constant temperature that is necessary to kill bacteria. In addition, the elements on a stove can be damaged by the high heat radiating off of the over-hang of the pot. Ceramic glass-top, stove-tops have been known to shatter because they themselves have become too hot. The over-hang, of an over-sized heated pot will heat the glass beyond the highest temperature that the glass is rated for.

For these reasons, independent heat sources are recommended. I used a propane burner and stand sized for the job.

 

Next to a pressure canner with an appropriately sized heat source, there are some other more basic tools required to get the job done

The recipe that I shared will fill 24 pint-size (500 ml) glass sealer jars. So you will require enough clean glass jars, seals and rings to accommodate the food that you are preserving. You will also need a funnel with a wider opening at its top and only a slightly smaller opening at its bottom, a ladle or large spoon and a small plastic spoon.

As you can see in the progression of the photos, the funnel is meant to help you fill the jars more easily. Then, once the jars are filled up to the neck, the back of a plastic spoon is inserted into the food and run around the circumference of the jar opening. This lets any air inside the jar rise to the top. Then a sealer lid is put in its place and the ring is (only finger-strength) very lightly tightened down.

(The metal rings need to be able to expand with the heat and constrict when they cool. If they are on too tightly they could break the jar during the expanding and contracting process.)

Then the pressure canner is fitted with one wrack in the bottom (so that the jars are not sitting directly on the  bottom of the pot) and filled with 3 litres (or 3/4 of a gallon) of water. The first 9 jars are added. Then a second wrack is added which will hold 9 more, for a total of 18 jars.

With the lid secure and the heat source on, the process of building pressure and temperature inside the pot starts. I let my model run until I started to see a little bit of steam escaping from the weight arm vent stack. According to my model's manual you wait about 7 minutes after the steam starts to come out. Then, you very carefully put the correct weight on and wait for the weight to gentle rock back and forth no more than 3 times a minute. At this point, your pressure gauge should be confirming that you have achieved the correct internal pressure.  If the gauge is showing a deviation from this, you will either need to turn up or down your heat source. This does take a little bit of adjusting time so once you are comfortable that you have achieved the correct consistent temperature, you can start keeping track of your cooking time.

When your batch is finished

There is a process for safely opening a pressure canner and I highly suggest that you follow your pressure canner model's own instructions for this part. This can be an extremely dangerous piece of equipment (if you don't know how to use it properly) and until it's cooled sufficiently, is under high pressure and filled with steam. It could seriously burn you so, please take great care.

Once the canner is cool enough to open, carefully remove the jars to further cool. Coming out of the canner my jars were still over 200 degrees F and I used oven-mitts to lift them out of the canner and move them around.

 

Once cooled your jar can be stored in a cool dark area, like a cold room or on shelves in a basement. To be enjoyed at a later date and shared with others.

I welcome your comments and invite you to follow me on my journey...sometimes it's under high pressure. ;)

~ Rebecca Ryan