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I agree with you both, and will take your advice. It WOULD be a shame to lose the jars and their contents!

WendyJ, still mulling this over. What about when you cold-pack meat cubes? They start from being cold to going into the cold pressure canner, then getting boiled, and they don't break. Is there a difference, or am I missing something?

Thanks, both! Britesea, I remember how I loved that idea when you answered me last time (yep, same person!), but then forgot about it. I've written it down now and will try it this week!

Can I cold pack broth when I'm ready to pressure can it? Sometimes I don't have enough for a full canner, so I freeze it. I'm hoping I can just thaw it, put it in cold, clean jars, and pressure can it.

That soft kraut could be used in a sausage and sauerkraut soup - really good! Or any soup!!

I make kraut regularly and made my biggest batch ever, with 6 large heads of cabbage and 6 beets and some garlic. I got 10 quart-sized jars out of it, half were plain sauerkraut and half were beet and cabbage kraut with garlic (my favorite). It took me 5 hours (!) to slice the cabbage by...

Thanks! With smaller jars, I usually just keep them in a hot pot of water after boiling, but with these quart jars, there's just no room on the stovetop. I thought the oven idea was a great solution, but not if I'm going to lose so many precious jars. I think I can manage the boiling water in...

Hmmm, interesting. Sounds like a good method - looks like I'll have to switch to that. SO discouraging to hear those jars crack - I lost 3 quart jars! Thanks!!

I've been having a problem lately with my jars sometimes cracking when I fill them. I've been doing broth - I bring my broth to boiling, take a jar out of the 250* oven where they sit to stay hot while waiting to be filled, and when I pour in the hot broth, they sizzle and crack. Logic would...

So, moolie, if I do decide to soak, how do you calculate how many lbs. of dry beans to soak for how many finished pints?

Britesea, can I do this for any bean, even garbanzo beans?

WAY easier to calculate that way - thanks!

Does anyone have an accurate chart that tells you how many pounds of dry beans you need for how many pints of canned beans? I'm just canning pinto beans, and supposedly 4.5 lbs. of dry beans should yield 12 pints when full. But I'm getting 22! I'm supposed to fill the jars 2/3 full of soaked...

Oh, wow, that makes more sense. I assumed wrong (and you know what happens when you assume!) and didn't even look at the instructions. Duh! Thanks, moolie!

Ginger peach jam - 6 half pints, 2 4-oz., canned, and then about 1 pint in the fridge (recipe said it made about 6 cups total, but I think I had a little more than the required 4 lbs. of peaches. Question: I've never used Pomona pectin before. This recipe called for 1 T. pectin and 1 T...

Ha ha - the food processor is for the GRATING only! I just use the grater disc and it's very quick. Then I dump the grated soap into a pot of 4 C. simmering water and whisk until it's all melted. Then whisk in the 1 C. washing soda and 1 C. borax, and once that's all blended, dump into a 5...

I use Zote; it IS a little on the soft side, but I just grate it in my food processor, takes about 2 seconds. And when melting in the water, I just keep mixing with my whisk, takes about 10 - 15 minutes to get it all incorporated.

In my opinion, the NT recipes for ferments don't give enough time for the food/drink to ferment down to the tangy taste. She has you ferment sauerkraut for something like 7 days, but my ferments always take 2 - 3 weeks to get rid of the terribly salty taste and develop that tang. If it still...

Uh oh, mine have been in the freezer for a LONG time - I guess I'd better take them out and examine them!

Yes, I freeze my extras.