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Granny · January 20, 2008

Well, a couple of things.

I prefer to freeze soup rather than can it, especially if it is intended for lunch boxes. One reason is that I can put it up in individual serving sized containers. When it is time to pack the lunch, it is an easy matter to throw a single container at the microwave to thaw and reheat it for those who have to carry it hot, or just throw the entire container into the lunchbag (acts as the ice) for those who have a microwave available.

Oddly enough, while I can tomatoes and salsa, I freeze spaghetti sauce and likely would continue to do so even if I had a pressure canner available.

I was lucky enough to learn to can from my Grandma and one of the things that she took pains to teach me was the economics of canning. So, if you raise a couple of bushels of green beans more than your family can eat, then it makes good sense to put them up in some way for the winter. On the other hand, if you have to go buy those green beans by the bushel to can, you are losing money in a big way.

Since I have a large garden rather than a farm, having a pressure canner just has never made much sense to me. Most of what I do, have or ever would can can be safely done in a water bath.

RE Ball's, I have been very unhappy with the recipes that I have seen from them lately, starting with the fact that the Freezing & Canning Cookbook my daughter brought home has high fructose corn syrup in an awful lot of stuff included in the book. One of the reasons I can is specifically to avoid that crap!

You are correct that the vinegar is being added for a pH issue - "modern" tomatoes like you would buy at the grocery are low acid. If you buy yourself a pH meter, you only need to acidify your tomato stuff if the pH is greater than 4.50.

Re that particular Chicken Soup recipe, it seems a bit SMALL to me. That looks like the amount of chicken soup I would make for a meal for 4 people. It seems to me that canning such a small amount would be an awful lot of work for very little return.

Have you tried looking for other Chicken Soup for canning recipes online?

January 20, 2008	#2
Granny Tomatovillian™ Honoree Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 507	Well, a couple of things. I prefer to freeze soup rather than can it, especially if it is intended for lunch boxes. One reason is that I can put it up in individual serving sized containers. When it is time to pack the lunch, it is an easy matter to throw a single container at the microwave to thaw and reheat it for those who have to carry it hot, or just throw the entire container into the lunchbag (acts as the ice) for those who have a microwave available. Oddly enough, while I can tomatoes and salsa, I freeze spaghetti sauce and likely would continue to do so even if I had a pressure canner available. I was lucky enough to learn to can from my Grandma and one of the things that she took pains to teach me was the economics of canning. So, if you raise a couple of bushels of green beans more than your family can eat, then it makes good sense to put them up in some way for the winter. On the other hand, if you have to go buy those green beans by the bushel to can, you are losing money in a big way. Since I have a large garden rather than a farm, having a pressure canner just has never made much sense to me. Most of what I do, have or ever would can can be safely done in a water bath. RE Ball's, I have been very unhappy with the recipes that I have seen from them lately, starting with the fact that the Freezing & Canning Cookbook my daughter brought home has high fructose corn syrup in an awful lot of stuff included in the book. One of the reasons I can is specifically to avoid that crap! You are correct that the vinegar is being added for a pH issue - "modern" tomatoes like you would buy at the grocery are low acid. If you buy yourself a pH meter, you only need to acidify your tomato stuff if the pH is greater than 4.50. Re that particular Chicken Soup recipe, it seems a bit SMALL to me. That looks like the amount of chicken soup I would make for a meal for 4 people. It seems to me that canning such a small amount would be an awful lot of work for very little return. Have you tried looking for other Chicken Soup for canning recipes online?