Ok, so I looked at the National Center for Home Food Preservation's page, and under their section on canning soups, it looks like ***as long as there is no dairy, thickener, or oil*** one can basically pressure can most soups -- including those with some meat, with beans, and with vegetables, for 60 minutes for pints, 75 minutes for quarts. Am I reading this correctly? What about the relative thickeness of the soup -- except I can't think this is such a big issue since if it is safe to pressure can bean soups this way, I'd think that thick veggie soups aren't much different. Anyway, could someone read the link below and let me know if you interpret it the same way I do? Because if so, I've got lots and lots of soup recipes I would love to can -- I'll just cut out any oil used in sauteeing the veggies and go from there!

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_04/soups.html

Emily

I never add oil, dairy, eggs or thickeners and things like noodles turn into mush anyway, I open a jar of chicken with vegetables, bring it to a boil and add a handful of noodles. Homemade soup in a jiffy.

If I'm canning my own soup, I find the ingredient that takes the most time and use that requirement, plus there are canning recipes for chili, salmon, lots of stuff. I "mix and match" and although I know that's not technically "approved", I think if anything I over process because I use the longest time given for any ingredient.

Pints are perfect, BTW, for a quick lunch in the middle of winter. Yum.

Annie

Thanks a million!
Emily

I puree Katie's tomato garlic soup all the time and you are able to can tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, things with that texture. Just don't puree the thick mixtures, keep it in chunks.

Annie

I just was looking at the BBB and it said to puree the beans when making ham and bean soup. I would rather leave the beans whole would that work out?? I made some veggetable soup and it sure is tasty and easy to open a pint of veggies, add a quart of crushed tomatoes and leftover meat ( chicken, beef, turkey, pork) and then I have a ready made easy supper.

Stacie

I also wondered about canning the butternut squash soup recipe that floated around the forum awhile back. I made it, and it was wonderful but didn't can it because I thought it might be too thick. It really isn't as good thinned down and I would like to do a canner load of it. I'd be willing to thin it down a bit, but not to a broth consistency. I like it about the same consistency as tomato sauce. Experts...what is your opinion? Think it would process okay if it was the same consistency as tomato sauce?

When I eat the soup I do mash some up some of the beans, so I guess I could just as easily puree them before, but I kind of like some whole beans still in the soup.

Annie

Caution: Do not add noodles or other pasta, rice, flour, cream, milk or other thickening agents to home canned soups. If dried beans or peas are used, they must be fully rehydrated first.

Procedure: Select, wash, and prepare vegetables, meat and seafoods as described for the specific foods. Cover meat with water and cook until tender. Cool meat and remove bones. Cook vegetables. For each cup of dried beans or peas, add 3 cups of water, boil 2 minutes, remove from heat, soak 1 hour, and heat to boil; drain.

Combine solid ingredients with meat broth, tomatoes, or water to cover. Boil 5 minutes.
Caution: Do not thicken. Salt to taste, if desired. Fill jars halfway with solid mixture. Add remaining liquid, leaving 1-inch headspace.

Adjust lids and process following the recommendations.

Recommended process time for Soups in a dial-gauge pressure canner.
Hot Pints 60* min 11 lb.
Quarts 75* 11 lb. pressure
* Caution: Process 100 minutes if soup contains seafoods.

Recommended process time for Soups in a weighted-gauge pressure canner
Hot Pints 60* min 10 lb.
Quarts 75*
* Caution: Process 100 minutes if soup contains seafoods.

Definitely, you need a pressure cooker to safely process things like bean soup. I know some people are inordinately "attached" to the "old way" of doing things, with the justification that "no one has died yet" so I suppose someone might tell you that. I can't imagine trying it though.

Even my Dad, who is one of the "old school" die hard canners cans beans in a pressure cooker and has for as long as I can remember.

Annie

Thanks a million!
Emily "

Then annie says this: "Oh no, Em, you can puree something like zucchini. Something much thicker, like butternut squash or dried beans I wouldn't puree because they might be so dense that the heat couldn't penetrate.

I puree Katie's tomato garlic soup all the time and you are able to can tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, things with that texture. Just don't puree the thick mixtures, keep it in chunks.

Annie "

The experts say this: "Combine solid ingredients with meat broth, tomatoes, or water to cover. Boil 5 minutes.
Caution: Do not thicken. Salt to taste, if desired. Fill jars halfway with solid mixture. Add remaining liquid, leaving 1-inch headspace."

So I'm wondering if this is still OK to do, i.e. I could fill the jar half full of zucchinni puree and the rest with chunks of whatever and can it? Or was this thread written before the new rules about NOT canning zucchini in any form came out?
Thanks,
VG

Why is canning summer squash or zucchini not recommended?

Soups - generally must be 1/2 liquid and half small cubed product. Puree prior to serving. And freezing is the preferred method of preserving soups and summer squash both.

Dave

So, as with all debated issues in home canning, one always has the choice of doing it however you like based on your own assumptions, be they right or wrong, or doing it as is recommended based on the scientific testing that has been done.

Your risk. Your choice. ;)

Dave

I think squash puree is actually less dense than water...water is really heavy. I think the problem is that squash puree is way more viscous, which inhibits convection. Convection is like little circulating currents in a fluid that allow heat to move faster than it can by conduction alone. Water is great at convection. If you have to choose between being stuck in the middle of winter in a vat of zucchini puree or a swimming pool of water, choose the zucchini. The heat that transfers out of your body won't be able to get away as easily, preventing new cold fluid from getting near you and making you colder.

The half-liquid requirement is to ensure there is a less viscous fluid available to circulate hot fluid and ensure the temperature throughout the jar gets up to the temperature of the surrounding water-steam mixture. Unless you're using a specific tested recipe such as those in the Ball Book, stick to the half-liquid requirement. Scientifically speaking.

Melissa

Dave

Zabby

Still so much learning to do.
Lynda

Please note the jars must be half solids and half liquid, no thickeners allowed (so if you have already thickened it it can't be canned), no noodles or pasta, meat in small cubes, etc.

Good luck.

Dave

Use low-salt content ham as the salty ones will intensify when canned and gets way too salty.

Dave

I also made a tomato soup pretty much the same way, but I think I can use the tomato sauce as a guide for canning that.
Also, sorry to keep going on, a friend suggested adding ascorbic acid (a crushed vitamin C tablet) to add acidity to the broccoli soup...any comments?
Thank you in advance,
Teri

do I make the soup and scoop the veggies first, put them on the bottom 1/2, fill with liquid and process it. And I can puree it when I open it to eat at a later time?

That is the only way to go.

Here are the instructions to follow since you will be using chicken broth as the base (note the processing times).

As to the broccoli - you are right that it isn't recommended for canning, only freezing, and that is because of the color and texture problems associated with canning - it can really get ugly. ;) So as long as that doesn't bother you, go for it.

Same applies to tomato soup - no puree and no thickeners.

Dave

If I had my heart set on canning that particular soup, I'd cook the soup, fill the jars half with the vegetables and half with the broth, and can it for the time provided for mixed vegetables or vegetable soup. That's an hour and a half for the soup, which I think could render the necessity of pureeing broccoli negligible, it would probably just cook right up into mush. Maybe not, but even that is "iffy" because I can't find any times given for canning broccoli or onions.

I know some vegetables get "strong" when canned. One is my favorite, rutabaga. Apparently the taste got so strong that the Ball Blue Book stopped giving instructions for canning it. It wasn't a safety issue, it was a "quality" issue. So many people asked that now instructions are back in the 100th Anniversary Ball Blue Book. I don't mind the stronger flavor either, so I probably wouldn't mind the flavor of canned broccoli either.

I don't think the acidity would help at all, you still have to pressure can the stuff. Additional acid might help something like tomatoes, which could be borderline on acidic levels, but your ingredients aren't even on the border, they are definitely low acid vegetables and chicken broth.

So, can anyone guarantee the safety of your homemade and homecanned soup? Nope. Would I can it and eat it? Maybe, but I'd heat it at home, let it boil the required 10 minutes, puree it and then take it to work and then reheat it.

Still no guarantees, but every person has to decide the risk level they're willing to take, from "no risk at all" to eating homecanned goods purchased from a yard sale or the local Amish farm. You don't have any clue how those were processed, so that's a risk I'm unwilling to take.

Are you sure you can't find enough room in the freezer for that soup? I've found that not everything in the world I love can be canned, LOL.

Good luck and happy canning.

Annie

In this particular recipe the oil and the cream are also exceptions to the usual rule. But in this case the pre-roasting for an hour, the acidity of the tomatoes, and the long processing times compensates.

Broccoli on the other hand as well as the onions and celery are all very low acid vegetables (almost twice as alkaline as tomatoes) and would not be pre-roasted - this not to mention the chicken broth. You would have to add so much acid to it to compensate that it would likely be uneatable.

It is your risk to choose to take of course but as Annie said there is no way to guarantee its safety except by doing it as instructed in the guidelines - 1/2 and 1/2 and not pureed.

Sorry.

Dave

There are lots of recommended recipes and videos out there that don't meet the USDA/NCHFP guidelines for safe home food preservation so use them with care. When in doubt you can compare them with the NCHFP Guidelines or post here.

Dave

But here is another question. I just got a new Presto Pressure Canner. The book from my old canner (30 yrs old) said nothing about adding 2 Tbsp of lemon juice or 1/4 tsp of citric acid to each quart before canning. The new book also says to add salt. I liked my tomato juice just the way I always made it...I just canned it like my old canner book said...no lemon juice, no salt...just plain tomato juice. (Don't think I would care for the taste of juice made this way.) Can I still do it my old way?

Also, the new book gives a different processing time and pressure. I always did my quarts at 5 @ pressure for 5 minutes per the old book. The new book is says I need 11 # pressure for 15 minutes. This is a big change..much longer processing time... and I am wondering why. The juice I canned for many years was always perfect and kept several years.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

You can choose to ignore them of course and make your juice as you did in the past but none of us here will say it is safe to do so and you need to understand the increased risks involved.

If you will search 'canning tomatoes' here you'll find many discussions on this issue with all the why and wherefore details. And if you'd like to learn all about the current guidelines on all forms of home food preservation then NCHFP (linked in almost all posts here) is the place to start. They are the definitive source for home canning guidelines.

As to your canner manual, as a general rule we don't consider them to be reliable resources in many cases as they aren't always kept current. There are several far more reliable sources for canning instructions and recipes. NCHFP, the Ball Blue Book, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, So Easy to Preserve, etc. all discussed here in depth too.

Dave

Dave

I would love to can my own soup, so with that said and the above posts saying no to dairy, flour, etc., how is it that you can buy canned potato soup (or any other soup) that has dairy in it??

As Linda Lou said in another recent post asking the same question - they have all kinds of fancy, automated, computer controlled, multi-million dollar equipment and huge factories while we have some jars and an inexpensive pressure canner.

This not to mention irradiation equipment, inspected commercial kitchens the size of most houses, preservatives, and testing labs.

There really is no comparison.

Dave

~ Amy

2) Now the next question, which someone else had asked and the question was answered regarding puree, but with zucchini soup, can the same thing be done? Cook it a bit to get it hot and then divide the zucchini into jars and fill with the broth, again pureeing the soup later, when ready to eat?

3) I also saw where someone suggested after opening a canned soup to boil it for 10 minutes prior to serving, is that still necessary following all these precautions we are taking?

4) In addition it has taken me weeks to find the Ball Blue Book of Preserving and now I hear of a 100th Anniversary Ball Blue Book. Any idea when it is due out and where it will be available? (Let me guess it is out and of course any store will have it…)

Thanks again,
Teri

Any soup pressure canned for 90 minutes would be mush and nothing I would want to eat as long as I have teeth. ;)

Dave

This soup has smoked ham hocks, sausage, mirepoix, cabbage, golden potatoes and kidney beans. I also mash about a third of the cooked veggies, especially the kidney beans to make it 'stick to the back of a spoon'. The meat from the ham hocks are pulled after cooking and returned to the soup.

Would you advise I pressure cook the ham hock maybe with an onion separately for a flavorful broth first? Cook the remaining ingredients with this broth, then fill half of the jars with solids and top with broth leaving an inch free-space and can for 90 minutes? I should absolutely avoid mashing the veggies for food safety correct? These will be holiday gifts and I can add my recommendation to mash the bits some before eating.

The sausage is cubed and like the kidney beans an integral part of the soup. From what I've read sausage is a don't. Is it because of the fat content?

Thanks, I'm such a newbie to canning. I am trying to understand how the lengthy but needed canning times correspond to the shorter times of my pressure cooking recipe. For instance if I pressure cook this soup say for an hour it would prolly scorch beans on the bottom and there would be no veggies visible. Lastly does the superb results of using a pressure cooker such as deep flavor and tenderness also apply to canning?

Your soup, while it sounds wonderful, could not be canned as there would be both quality and safety issues. You would have to follow the 1/2 and 1/2 rule of solids to broth for one thing, there is no way to determine a safe processing time given it is all low-acid ingredients with no added acid, no way to determine the pH or the density of the soup, and the end texture would be very different than if it is made for fresh eating.

The best quality and safety approach would be to can the ingredients separately (except the cabbage) using their specific guidelines and then assemble it fresh and add the cabbage at prep time.

Browse through all the canning info available at the link below for more details and the specific issues of canning safety.

Hope this helps.

Dave

The old-timers would approach a recipe like yours by canning the mixture using the longest processing time for the ingredients in your list. But that strategy doesn't address the density issue. In this case, you particularly don't want to gift something questionable.

Sausage, by the way, can be processed. The assumptions that food would scorch on the bottom and that sausage cannot be canned demonstrate misunderstandings about pressure canning in general.

The soup sounds delicious. My recommendation would be to freeze the soup and gift as a frozen item or to cook it fresh with a recommendation to refrigerate or freeze. Another possible option would be to gift "soup certificates" which could be redeemed any time of the year. You could even offer a short menu of choices, being sure they are soups you could can or freeze and have on hand.

Carol

Christine

As Linda Lou said, the only things that may be canned in a BWB are acidified tomatoes, acidic fruits, jams, jellies, and pickles.

Dave

Quarts? No. It is dense and no processing times have been established for quarts. Puree? That all depends on the recipe. There are only a couple that have been tested and approved for pureeing. Likely the one you refer to is one of them. But that doesn't mean that you can safely puree other recipes prior to canning. It all depends on the ingredients.

Dave

Yes.

With a very dense product like the ham and bean soup you can theoretically kill any botulism toxins by bringing it to a boil and boiling for 20 minutes. (Dense product requires more boiling time.) A few minutes won't do the job.

The risk is that IF there's botulism in the soup, you also have the issue of possible spread of the botulism toxins on the kitchen surfaces and in the sink when you open the jars.

So that's the first issue. The second issue is using the canner manual, which is highly unreliable as they are seldom updated and often don't follow current USDA/NCHFP processing standards (either in terms of the canner operation and in terms of times for the product).

The third issue is that lots of what's off the web is unsafe/untested, so without knowing the trustworthiness of the sites you used, it's impossible to tell whether the tomatoes and chicken present risk or not. The fact that the chicken was RAW is not a problem as long as you followed recommended times and procedures.

The fourth issue is experimenting off the web. It's one thing to experiment with peaches or jams, but experimenting with low-acid pressure-canned product is inherently high-risk.

Don't be discouraged. I know this must be devastating, but at least you checked in before eating anything. If you give us more specific information, we can tell you more accurately what might be salvaged and what is best discarded.

Check the link below for the most thorough and safest site for instructions available on the web.

Carol

I also Canned Whole Tomatoes from the Garden

NCHFP - How to Can Tomatoes

RAW Chicken also Full

NCHFP - How to Can Chicken

You will have to compare how you did these foods to the proper procedures to determine if you wish to keep the foods.

Recommend buying a copy of the recommended canning guidelines - the Ball Blue Book or using only the NCHFP Guidelines linked above for your safety.

Sorry but it is a learning process. Please do NOT use your canning manual.

Dave

Since their best information comes from the NCHFP, you may as well go directly to the source and skip Pickyourown.org.

The NCHFP is the official repository for USDA information and has a ton of information. In fact, you can read the USDA canning manual on their site, or download it to your computer.

The NCHFP also offers a free online food preservation course. I think you would find it very helpful.

The other sites I never heard of, but I will tell you that surviving something (like canning butter and then consuming it with no ill effects) doesn't mean it's risk-free. It just means you got lucky so far. Next time maybe not.

I can't stress enough that you are taking big risks if you trust what you see online (including YouTube) without specific evidence of reliability and safety.

I have never heard of the USDA testing something for free. Resources are very limited and Extension agencies are scrambling for money. I can't imagine they'd have the resources to test every jar that came in.

But there is merit in checking your state's or region's Extension agency to see what services they do provide.

Carol