Pressure Canning 101

I have been asked several times recently “Can you teach me to can.” I don’t have a lot of time to can right now, much less teach anyone else. I look forward to being able to do that hand’s on at the end of summer when I make my pasta sauce. For now, here is a blog to get you going.

First, this is a guide. It’s a learning tool. Don’t rely on just one source. Do your research.

It looks and sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is. I think it’s pretty simple, but I have been doing it since 2020. I started during Covid. My husband bought me a used canner, I googlized the process, and my late mother gave me some tips via long distance. Now it comes as second nature. I have canned soups, stroganoff, jellies, jams, meats, veggies, pasta sauce, and bloody Mary mix. Most of the information I need can be found on the world wide web. Having meat is the most useful in our household. We buy in bulk when we find a good deal and can it. When the price goes up at the grocery store, we shop from our pantry. I hot pack all of my canned meat. You can cold-pack as well, but I like having it all the same, cooked. Makes it simple to use.  

There are other methods out there, this is how I do it. You also should read the directions on your canner. My first one didn’t come with directions. Again, use the internet. That one worked differently than this one as far as knowing when the pressure was up to what you need. My new one has a pressure indicator to tell me how many pounds of pressure it’s at and is definitely easier.

Today I canned shredded chicken.

1. Get your tools ready. I do this typically while I am waiting for my jars to boil. I get out a towel, place a wire rack on it, get my tongs, funnel, salt, and an extra cloth.  What you need will vary depending on what you are making. Chicken is easy. The only thing I need to add before pressurizing is salt and water.
2. Sanitize your jars!! This is muy important! If you do not do this, or not long enough, you can contaminate your jars and ruin the contents. I put my jars, lids, and rings into a stockpot and fill with water. Water should cover the jars. Then I throw in a splash or 2 of vinegar. The vinegar prevents your jars from clouding up with residue from the water. Bring this to a boil, then boil for 10 minutes. Remove from water using the canning tongs. I set mine on rack. Don’t discard this water. You can use it in step 7. Water conservation!!
3. Fill your jars with whatever it is you are canning. I cooked the chicken in the crockpot overnight so it was ready this morning. This is a long process; I wanted to get started early. Today it should only take half a day. If I am doing pasta sauce, well shit, that is an all-day process.
4. Most recipes will tell you how much head space to leave in the jar. I left about an inch. I don’t know if that is right or wrong according to the experts, but it has worked for me in the past.
5. Once the meat was in the jars, I added a teaspoon of salt to each jar. Again, ingredient and amount vary by recipe. If I am doing soup that is not very acidic, I add lemon juice.
6. Press everything down to remove air pockets. Make sure the rim of your jar is still clean. I use a funnel which prevents dripping on the rim. If you do, wipe it with a wet, warm wash rag. Then put the lids on, followed by rings and tighten them as much as you can. ****Do not reuse the lids. Once the seals have been used the suction will not work as well. Some people do, I do not. I don’t want to go through all of this and find out it didn’t work seal.
7. Put your jars into the canner. I pour hot water from my stock put into the canner. For 2 reasons. Why waste water? And because it’s already warm. That will save some time. This step varies depending on what you are canning. I over fill. I fill the water to about the top of the jars. If you don’t put enough in, you will steam it all out and your jars will burst open. Trust me, from experience I can tell you, you don’t want to deal with that.
8. Put your canner on the stove. Again, discrepancies exit with this too. Most people and information out there say not to use a glass stove. I do. Never had an issue. But until you are comfortable, I wouldn’t. I started on a coil stove. Then the hubby surprised me and brought home a newer glass top. I keep the old one in the garage and have used it out there. One day I got adventurous and canned on the glass top. No problems!
9. Using high heat, start cooking!  This is where you need to know how your canner works. The canner I use now, has a dial. Once the water starts boiling and builds pressure, the “pin” will pop up. This is when I add my weight to the top. Then I wait until my dial reads 10lbs. This is when I start my canner. I will process these quarts for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. My old canner and different sized weights and it was a whole nother method. But timing was the same for chicken, that doesn’t change. Change to medium heat. It can take a while to get up to where you need it. I think it took 30+ minutes today to get pressure to 10lbs.
10. Sometimes I have to take the weight off and let out steam to get it back down to 10 pounds. Check it often.
11. When you have completed processing time, turn stove off and remove from heat. You cannot open the canner until the pin goes back down. Do not attempt to any earlier or you will get burned badly. Yes, that is where the fear comes in. Follow the directions and you shouldn’t have any issues.
12. Once I can remove the lid, I use my canning tongs to remove the jars and place back on the cooling rack. After a few minutes you will hear them start “popping.” That is the sound of knowing you have just pressure canned something correctly! That sound is the sealing of the lid. Once the jars are done popping, the little bump in the middle should stay compressed down. If it does not, and you an compress and decompress like a button, the jar has not sealed. That happens. Your food is fine, it’s just not preserved. You can put it in the fridge to eat right away.
13. Once the jars are cool, I wipe them down and label the lid. I like to label the lid instead of the jar because then I know which lids have been used.

Those are the basic steps. Again, use the internet and find out exact pounds, times, and measurements for what you are going to can. From beginning to end, using chicken that was already cooked and warm, this took 4 hours.

Happy canning!