what sold me on pressure-canning at home

Editor\'s note: This is the first of the do-last occasional seriesit-
Prepare food.
I \'ve been an electric fan for decades, and for many years in the early years it meant no more than a batch of raspberry jam or a few cans of mango chutney, maybe some dill pickles
About six years ago, I started storing my pantry in a different, more practical way.
Some of these changes are due to the commitment to eat healthier, to buy locally grown food and to reduce litter (
Plastic, tin cans and foam packaging).
But I can\'t deny that a big part of my growing interest in DIY is because I like a good kitchen project.
Are you ready for the kitchen game?
Over the next few months I will show you how to make or process more groceries that you have been buying.
Some items will be simple and you will shoot your forehead and wonder why you haven\'t done it before.
Others may take the time to challenge you.
Everyone will put the most delicious homemade food on your table and make you feel fulfilled.
Please understand: if you don\'t embrace a fully DIY kitchen life, there won\'t even be a whisper with your fingers swinging;
But if you want to make better food choices, if you want to eat locally for a year --
If you want to know what\'s in everything on the plate, there\'s no better place to go than to put the tank under pressure.
Let\'s start with the elephant. k. a.
Pressure electric fan: bulky and heavy with washers, dial plates, clips and stuff called petcock.
It\'s a daunting expensive kitchen device, but it can change your preservation habits from a hobby to a sustainable approach. (See sidebar. )
The pressure electric fan may look like the first stop on the DIY crazytown road, but once I checked the groceries I took home and thought about what I could do myself, I found out that I used them at least twice a month.
We\'re talking about the staff in the pantry: chicken, ready-made-to-
Eat soup, canned corn, and canned black beans, waist beans, and pinto beans.
Once I eat tomatoes, salads and BBQ sauce, there is no investment in the pressure tankbrainer.
I\'m going to learn some science here. stick with me.
Acid, which refers to the pH value, not the taste, is the main reason for using the pressure tank.
Your favorite food may be low sour (high pH)
: Onions, garlic, peppers, corn, beans and many tomato products such as salt.
Foods containing these ingredients need special care to be kept safely.
They must be taken to 241 degrees in order to kill the foodborne toxins (
Such as meat poisoning). Water-
Put the jar into the bath tank in boiling water to bring the contents of the jar to 212 degrees, for high
Sour foods, such as most jams, or foods made of acetic acid, include most pickles.
Without the help of a pressure electric fan, it is impossible to bring the contents of the jar to the necessary 241 degrees.
With a pressure fan, you can put the shelf-stable stocks (bone broth)and low-acid/high-pH vegetables (
Pepper, corn, beet)
On the shelf without pickling.
When the pressure is high, tuna and salmon are very delicious food.
Tank and marinate with oil.
Your own pressure.
Canned peppers and soup are made in a microwave.
Ready staple food, you can be happy to send your college students.
For all tomato gardeners and canned tomato manufacturers, I found this to be the biggest selling point.
Canned tomatoes with pressure are faster.
15 minutes instead of 45 minutes.
For those of us who invest 50 quarts or more each year (ahem)
This, I swear, brings you back to the whole day of your life.
I put this behemoth in the basement and dragged it out several times a month.
Maximum pressure
Can recipes can be extended for two days if it\'s easier for your busy schedule.
In the case of dried beans, I soaked dried beans in the morning.
When I was eating, I prepared while chopping and cooked for 30 minutes.
When the dinner was cooked, I packed the jar and prepared the electric fan.
The electric fan was ready when we sat down for dinner.
I left everything to cool it all night;
The next morning I took out the jars and cleaned, labeled and stored them.
At this point, this is an activity that blends seamlessly with my kitchen life.
I like to cook beans in a pressure tank best.
The essence of Burns seems to have been enhanced, and its texture is very soft and the taste is very fresh and meticulous.
In the past month alone, I have made misteron, black bean burrito, cassolette, hummus and libulita.
I like their broth best.
Steve Sando, founder of online transfer heir dry bean retailer Rancho Gordo\'s ebullience, agrees: \"For a bean man, Bean meat soup is as important as beans.
When you use a commercial coffee bean, you have to wash it off.
According to the bean Research Institute, drainage and flushing of commercial canned beans can remove up to 41% of sodium content.
Of course, cooked, no. salt-
Now, the added beans and the newly packaged ones are becoming more extensive.
But none of them is a delicious broth of cream.
When you can eat your own beans at home, you can enjoy the broth, control or eliminate the salt.
No bean recipes, whether you cook a pot on the stove now or prepare for the can, you can escape the debate:
Soak or notsoak.
For canned goods, the National Home Food Preservation Center recommends
Soak and cook beans in front of the pressure tank.
However, the question of whether to soak dried beans before cooking dried beans is still a tricky question for bean lovers.
Some rogue family cannons (
I\'m looking at you, sir. Sando)
A new approach is being used: half
Fill the jar with dried beans and cover it with boiling water to 1/2-
Inch of head space and then directly into the pressure tank.
In my own unscientific test, I found that using this method for pressure filling can produce inconsistent results;
The freshness of dried beans is a factor.
Within a few months, the canned old beans looked dry and loose in the jar, absorbing all the delicious bean broth. I pressure-
Black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, Canini beans, and black-
Eye peas, borlotti beans, and Moro beans from my personal favorite Rancho Gordo are great options for refrigerators.
Garbanzos can exercise in hummus or chana masala.
Tarbais is cassulette-ready.
Because all these beans take the same amount of time under pressure.
Can, it is possible to handle several varieties at a time-
In my opinion, efficiency is very high.
Most pressure cannery have 7 quarts of cans or 19 pints of cans, or 31/2 of dried beans.
A can of beans is just right for the normal dinner rotation, but keep sharing this get-
Spend the weekend with my two favorite
Any Super Sports fuss recipewatching day.
Garbure is a classic recipe from the southwest corner of France and is the best of all winter vegetables on the market.
It\'s boiling in ham.
Seasoned broth until the cabbage melts into thick soup.
Heat it on a garlicky thick toast and finally add a duck.
Offer melted cheese, crunchy sausages and cornflakes that ooze delicate beans to your passionate fans at home.
Still not convinced?
I started making all kinds of canned beans at home.
I cooked a big pot of beans over the years
Usually a pound of dried beans at a time.
My husband and I will try to dig for a few days, but we can\'t eat both of them until they get sour or just make us bored and tearful.
I tried freezing them in small quantities, but when I wanted to cook dinner there right away, I met frozen beans that were of no use at all.
Now I reach out to get a can of beans, homemade, delicious, just enough for the two of us to eat.
Barrow is the author of Madame.
Practical Food room for single wheel trolley: recipes and techniques of the year
Round preservation ,\"(W. W. Norton, 2014).
She writes a blog on www. mrswheelbarrow. com.
She will be on site for a free range chat on Wednesday. washingtonpost. com.