pressure cooker — kris·tin·ol·o·gy

Canning Beef – Family Style

I’ve helped Grandma Sipes can several different foods now. When we left here last time I said we would have to can meat next time, since we hadn’t done that yet. Sure enough, we were able to fit that into this trip. It was a family affair… we each took turns cutting beef and stuffing the cans, Grandma added salt and arranged the cans in the pressure cooker, Grandpa sharpened the knife periodically as it got dull, and Jesse was behind the camera documenting the process. Grandpa sharpening Me cutting 2 Jerry cutting Grandma adding salt Grandma filling pressure cooker Me adding cans Grandma sealing pressure cooker

Fast forward about two hours…

Cooked beef Grandma emptying cooker Grandma emptying cooker 2 Finished cans

The beef sure smelled good when it came out of the cooker! We had enough to make 18 cans, plus extra to put in the freezer. Grandpa and Grandma should get plenty of meals out of all that meat. Yay for more canning!

Green Bean Canning Lesson

Today I had the chance to help Grandma can some green beans. I realize this may sound like a chore to some people, but it’s exciting when I’ve never done it before. Danny and Linda brought us over a whole bucket full to work on.

Frist we snapped off the end and snapped them into smaller pieces. I definitely snacked on a few raw ones in the process.

We’ve had a couple different varieties of beans this week, but I think theirs were the best. I’m not sure how to explain the taste… maybe sweeter or just green bean-ier. They sure were good. I’ll have to find out what kind they are and see if we can get them at home. Or maybe they’re just extra good because they’re so fresh.

First, Grandma washed the beans

I drained and filled the cans

A little salt was added to each can

Each can was filled with water

The lids soaked in boiling water while the cans were being filled

Each can got a hot lid

Each can was tightened and secured

I had assumed that we would use the same method of canning we had used for tomatoes, but I was wrong and we did it a little differently. The huge pressure cooker came up from the basement for the most important step. That was interesting. I’ve never used one of those before either.