Monday, April 13, 2009

Canning Potatoes

I've always wanted to try canning something other than peaches, pears and jellies, but have shyed away from it because of the fear of broken jars, wasted money, and ruined food. But the opportunity arose to try canning potatoes, so I decided I'd give it a try (thanks to Momzoo for the inspiration). I asked a few of my older girls to help buy some potatoes, and help can them (the Chicken Little theory), and guess what? No broken jars (at least, not today; tomorrow may be a different story) ! Thanks, Alisa, for helping on the first day of canning!

Here's what I did:
First you scrub the potatoes really good and rinse them twice. Cut into chunks and save in salted water (so they don't turn brown) till you're finished chunking.
Then add them to boiling water for two minutes. Fill the jars loosely with potato chunks, add 1 tsp. salt, and pour the water they were boiled in, into the jars to within 1/2 inch of the top. Twist on the caps, and place in the pressure canner (that has boiling water in it).





Follow the manufacturers instructions for your canner regarding water levels and proper procedures for canning.

My canner calls for 3 quarts of water, holds 5 jars, and the potatoes process for 40 minutes.

This is before being processed (above). And this is after being processed (below). They look alike, but they're not.....really!

Ten pounds of potatoes yielded about 10 quart jars. We went through about 40 pounds of potatoes today with another 50 to go. It's really not that hard! I might try something else in the future after making it this far with my canner!