can I can it

[AnnaRaven]

Okay, I have things I would like to can. Mostly pasta sauces. I tend to make up a new pasta sauce every other night and often in large batches. I'd love to can the leftovers in pints (or even half pints) rather than having them in the freezer taking up space. (I can't even tell you how much space in my freezer is taken up by pasta sauce!)

So - can I pressure can it instead of freezing it? For example, tonight's dinner was pasta with a sauce made from pancetta, swiss chard and ****ake mushrooms. Since there's pancetta in it, I'm assuming I need to can it 75 minutes 10 pounds pressure. Right? Is there something I'm missing? Is there some secret mysterious reason I can't just can it? It's not going to ruin the consistency. If I can it at the meat level, that should be sufficient to deal with any beasties, right?

What things do I need to be concerned about when "adapting" a recipe for canning? Because frankly, of all the books I've looked at, there's about TWO recipes we would eat. I would like to can actual food, not just ingredients.

 

[CrimsonRose]

I don't see why not! I can just about everything... it's worth a try... worst thing to happen it would get mooshie from being over cooked... As for safety... I've never had anything go bad as long as the lid seals...

 

[patandchickens]

I don't see why not, I mean as long as you do it safely the worst that can happen is you decide "enh, that's not so great, I don't think I'll do it again". And after all, pretty much *any* failed-or-ruined sauce can be turned into soup so it would not be a total loss even in that case

I would suggest basing your processing time on the *thickness* of the sauce though... thicker things need longer times... if it were me, I'd just browse around and find a vaguely comparable 'official' recipe and go with that time.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[donrae]

I've just gone like you're thinking--can for the longest time of the ingredients. I've done sauces, chili, stew this way and done fine. No secret, arcane reason not to

 

[AnnaRaven]

I don't see why not, I mean as long as you do it safely the worst that can happen is you decide "enh, that's not so great, I don't think I'll do it again". And after all, pretty much *any* failed-or-ruined sauce can be turned into soup so it would not be a total loss even in that case

I would suggest basing your processing time on the *thickness* of the sauce though... thicker things need longer times... if it were me, I'd just browse around and find a vaguely comparable 'official' recipe and go with that time.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

Oooh. Thickness as a criterion is interesting. So, most of my "sauces" would approximately equivalent to a "meat sauce" for spaghetti. Is that what I should use then from the BBB to determine canning time?

I'm not worried about texture failures - my only concern on this is with something like botulism. I do use garlic in my sauces and my understanding is that botulism loves garlic. So I want to make sure I've dealt with it appropriately to ensure safety. So many of the sites and books are such doomsayers and full of "omg follow the recipe exactly or you're all going to DIE" level warnings that I've been a bit scared to can my own stuff!

So as long as I do find a relatively equivalent recipe for thickness, and make sure any meat is done at meat stew/chili length and pressure; that's how other canners do it, right? That I could do. Following some American's recipe for "spaghetti sauce" precisely? Nope. No way. First, I never follow recipes precisely. Second, I wouldn't bother cooking it because we wouldn't eat it. But comparing my own sauces to something for thickness/density and whether there's meat in the sauce, I can do that.

Thank you all for the reassurance that I needed.

 

[ORChick]

Anna, thanks for the question, as I have wondered about this too. You and I are both newbies to this canning thing, and also both dealing with *non-American* DHs; I imagine that the Italians don't have much of a history of pressure canning, any more than the Germans do, so it is good to learn how to adapt.
Have you posted any of your Italian sauces (or other recipes)?

 

[AnnaRaven]

Anna, thanks for the question, as I have wondered about this too. You and I are both newbies to this canning thing, and also both dealing with *non-American* DHs; I imagine that the Italians don't have much of a history of pressure canning, any more than the Germans do, so it is good to learn how to adapt.
Have you posted any of your Italian sauces (or other recipes)?

I've occasionally posted things. Some here and some at BYC. I'll post more as I cook them. I tend to be more of an "instinctive" cook rather than a recipe-maker. So a little of this, a handful of that, and ooh this smells good. Yesterday, for example, I made a sauce with chard, pancetta and ****ake mushrooms. I used some of my frozen mirepoix and homemade canned chicken stock in it.

Tonight, we had ragu bolognese on rigatoni. THAT, I (mostly) follow a recipe for. Because it's traditional. (Then, I go ahead and modify it after all because even the recipe misses things...)

Anyways I'm looking forward to making and canning some sauces tomorrow. I'll be doing a sausage and mushroom pasta sauce. Have to figure out how I'm doing it as I go... But I expect I'll can it at whatever the recipes suggest for a "spaghetti sauce".

 

[mrs.puff]

Just a tip-- Maybe watch out for the oils in your sauce. You might want to avoid adding too much olive oil or whatever you use, and add more after you open the jars to eat. When you can anything, usually a bit seeps out the top when the jars are in the canner, and something that is especially greasy can cause un-sealed jars.

And you might want to avoid canning some types of mushrooms. I've canned some, and they shrink up teeny tiny, and turn out rubbery. I suppose they should be ok since you are already cooking them in the sauce before you can them.

 

[ORChick]

Anna, thanks for the question, as I have wondered about this too. You and I are both newbies to this canning thing, and also both dealing with *non-American* DHs; I imagine that the Italians don't have much of a history of pressure canning, any more than the Germans do, so it is good to learn how to adapt.
Have you posted any of your Italian sauces (or other recipes)?

I've occasionally posted things. Some here and some at BYC. I'll post more as I cook them. I tend to be more of an "instinctive" cook rather than a recipe-maker. So a little of this, a handful of that, and ooh this smells good. Yesterday, for example, I made a sauce with chard, pancetta and ****ake mushrooms. I used some of my frozen mirepoix and homemade canned chicken stock in it.

Tonight, we had ragu bolognese on rigatoni. THAT, I (mostly) follow a recipe for. Because it's traditional. (Then, I go ahead and modify it after all because even the recipe misses things...)

Anyways I'm looking forward to making and canning some sauces tomorrow. I'll be doing a sausage and mushroom pasta sauce. Have to figure out how I'm doing it as I go... But I expect I'll can it at whatever the recipes suggest for a "spaghetti sauce".

I understand - thats pretty much how I cook too. If its something new to me I like to follow a recipe the first time, but its never the same after that, I always make alterations