Adventures in Canning

I've been canning jams, applesauce and apple pie filling for years.  I feel very confident canning with my hot water bath canner.  :)  I have always been interested in canning other foods too, like vegetables and such, but would get scared when I would read up on it and see "pressure canning required".  I've always had visions of the canner exploding or something.  I remember canning green beans with my mom once and everything went well.  But when it came to doing it on my own, I was terrified.

A couple weeks ago, I got the strange idea to can chicken noodle soup.  Homemade is SO much better for you, especially when you feel crummy.  But it can be tiresome to make repeatedly, especially when you're the one sick and/or you don't have all the stuff on hand.  I scoured the internets for recipes and recommendations from the USDA until I found one I liked best.  Crystal has some other great canning recipes that I'm interested in trying in the future.  And she's rather quick to respond to questions.

So, I finally decided to face my fears and ask a friend if I could borrow their pressure canner...then I discovered mom did have one...buried in the depths of the stairs closet.  I was hoping to get this done earlier, but stuff can up and didn't have a large chunk of free time until today.  That and I didn't have all the jars I wanted either, until my grandmother mentioned yesterday she had a ton for me and a couple stockpots too.  Jackpot!!

Unlike Crystal, I still don't have a 14-quart stock pot, so I didn't feel comfortable letting the chicken simmer overnight.  However, after 2 hours today it still feel apart as I took it out to cool.  I chopped up 2 lbs of carrots and a whole thing of celery, along with 4 small/medium onions.  I hot-packed the jars about two-thirds full and filled them with hot boiling stock.

 Then came the moment of truth.  It took a bit for me to figure out how to regulator worked with my stove, but everything processed as it should.

Yummy!!

I managed to get 19 pints of soup!  Now all that is left is to assemble the "herb packets" that I will tape to each jar and add the label.  I found some removable labels that are meant for use on glass jars, woot!!  I'll let the jars cool overnight and probably put the packets together tomorrow.  And, yes, I am now more comfortable working with a pressure canner.  Now all I need is to get my garden to produce and canning can become a little more commonplace.  :D