Canning
For Cruising
By Kaye Assenmacher
Kinsale, VA
1975 MK-II Yawl
SHEARWATER
Visits since 4/3/2011
We've
made two 7 month 'deployments' to the Abacos aboard our 1975 MK-II Yawl SHEARWATER (Winter
2006-2007; and again in 2009-2010). One
of the things we discovered is that after a long day of transversing
down the ICW in the fall from Kinsale to West Palm Beach, FL (our 'jumping' off
point to the Abacos) in the fall, the crew is ready for a hot dinner, but
neither crew member is really interested in preparing and cooking the meal when
'sailor's mid-night' is fast approaching (when it gets dark really early in the
Fall). Besides this, it's normally quite
cool till one gets to north
SO, before we left on our most recent trip 'South', I decided to do some
'canning' of fast prepared foods to use after these long, cold days. I have a large pressure cooker at home, which
we've occasionally used (bought at a local flea market for very few $$). I buy boneless/skinless chicken breasts, and
cubed stew beef (when it's on sale, hopefully), and can the food in pint fruit
jars. The following photos 'tell the
story'....
The Raw Material (Skinless/Boneless Chicken
Breasts)
Tightly Pack Chicken Breasts Into Sterilized
Pint Canning Jars
Place 1 Chicken Bouillon
Cube On Top As Shown
Do NOT Add Any Water
Wipe The Rim Of Each Jar With Paper Towel
Place New Jar Lids On Each Jar
Screw Jar Rings Onto Jars And Tighten Snugly
Pour About 2" Of Cold Water Into Empty Pressure
Cooker
Then
Place Filled Jars Onto Rack and Place Into Pressure Cooker
Install and Tighten
Place
Begins to Flow Through Regulator Vent - Then Place
Regulator on the Vent
Continue Heating Until 11 PSI Is Indicated On the
Pressure Gauge
Maintain 11 PSI for 70 Minutes
(By Regulating The Stove Burner - I.E., Turn Burner Up Or Down)
After 70 Minutes, Turn Burner Off And Allow The
Pressure To Reduce To Zero
Before Removing The Pressure Regulator
And Opening The Pressure Cooker
The 'Finished Product'
The
same procedure is used to process the cubed stew beef, except I substitute 1
tablespoon of Lipton Dry Herb And Garlic Soup Mix for
the bouillon cube.
Check for proper sealing by observing that each jar lid is
'concave', which means there is a vacuum in the jar. Properly sealed pressure processed food will
keep for a year or longer. Leave the
metal jar rings in place until the food is to be used.
We
store the jars by inserting each pint jar into an old sock (clean please!) to
prevent breakage, and place the 'socked' jars in a plastic milk crate which is
placed in the quarter berth. We use the quarter berth - minus cushions - as
storage for a number of items, namely food items, some spare parts, paper
goods, etc.
Take
out a jar to add to vegetable soup, make chicken tacos, etc. Use the beef to make stew, BBQ sandwiches,
beef soup, etc. Really great when you
run out of fresh meat from the frig and aren't near a
grocery. It's sort of fun to do this
project.....ENJOY!!!
Click here for additional
information regarding canning of meats.
The beef used for the project cost approx. $21.00 USD - 7lb @ $2.99/lb. This amount of chicken and beef made 8 pints each, with a bit left over for chicken fajitas and beef stew.)