I have canned for many, many years and I have never used an electric kettle. For some reason, Vince bought one earlier this year. I think he was using a French Press for his coffee and that’s why he bought it but he didn’t continue to use it so I told him I would like to try it with my canning.
I don’t know how I made it without this thing. It has several settings – five or six maybe. One is boil, one is for green tea, one is for another kind of tea. I don’t remember them all. It’s quick! It doesn’t heat the stove/kitchen up like boiling water on the stove does. I would never have dreamed I would have used this so much.
Yesterday I canned ground beef. Our beef comes from a farmer and is butchered at a local shop. The ground beef is in approximately 1 pound tubes. They aren’t all the same. I’ll come across one that’s maybe 3/4 pounds every now and then and one that’s 1.25 pounds every now and then. I don’t weigh them but I can tell some are larger or smaller than the others. I will take out 15 tubes, which probably averages out to about 15 pounds. After cooking it so the meat breaks apart easily, and draining it, the contents of those 15 tubes will usually fill 18 pint jars and that’s a full load for my big canner.
There’s 18 pints! Before I started yesterday, I asked Vince “Are you sure you’re ok with more canned ground beef?” He will sometimes tell me he likes something and then later tell me he didn’t really like it that much. I’ve already canned a lot of the ground beef but, I figured if he doesn’t like it, there’s no need to can more. He said “I like it better canned!” My plan is to keep enough in the freezer for hamburgers, meatballs and meatloaf.
I use the canned for lasagna, tacos, soups, shepherd’s pie, Taco salad, enchiladas, sloppy Joes . . I use it a lot!
Saturday I picked the last of the black eyed peas. I shelled some of them Saturday and shelled the rest yesterday, then canned them. I got 5 pints and that’s the last I’ll have of those to can. I will probably get enough to have another couple of meals . . but it’s been so hot and dry here, they’re about done.
There’s all the ground beef and peas . . 18 jars from the big canner and 5 from the smaller canner.
No canning today. We’re supposed to pick up our Azure order. Tomorrow I have a Zoom meeting in the morning and that kinda interrupts my day so my next big kitchen project will be to get the last of the elderberries out of the freezer and get those juiced and canned. I think I’ll make at least one batch of jelly from some of the juice.
I think all that means is that I’ll have some good stitching time this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.