Hence the canning.
We harvested 5 gallons of carrots, something I would want in the bleak midwinter for making delicious soups and stews. So I've canned them and dehydrated them as elements for starters for soups and stews. This involves pressure canning which I know is not everyone's thing, and these recipes could be preserved by freezing if you prefer. I personally am running out of freezer space, egads.
The first thing I tried was the starter for a wild rice soup from Meals in Jars by Julie Languille. It's a good basic mirepoix, although I choose to can it with regular strength chicken stock instead of concentrated soup base as the OR calls for. That way, it's more versatile and can be used to start soup, pot pie or chicken and dumplings equally well (recipes to come...stay tuned).
Canned Mirepoix
Makes 8 quarts
1/2 cup olive oil
8 cups chopped onions
8 cups chopped celery
8 cups chopped carrots
8-12 cups chicken or veggie broth
Saute veggies in oil in batches (I used a large electric skillet to get the largest cooking area possible and reduce the amount of time needed to get through the process).
Clean and sanitize 8 quart jars. Divide sauteed veggies among the jars. Top up with broth, leaving 1" headspace (do not overfill jars!!). Pressure can 90 minutes at 15 lbs pressure (check your canner's instruction manual for evacuation time and cooling time).
Alternately, you could freeze the divided sauteed veggies in 1 quart freezer bags.
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I am surprised no one has commented on your processing time for this recipe. It only needs to be pressure canned for 40 minutes - and pints for 35. Not quite sure where the 90 minutes time came from - but it doesn't need that long. The recipe is good though - I did up a bunch of pints - such a good idea
ReplyDeleteAgreed. No extension office or canner Manual requires or comes close to asking for this. cut the meat broth and can that separate to prevent your veggies from turning to mush from over processing.
DeleteI actually submitted this recipe at the State Fair a couple of years ago with a shorter processing time, and the master canner commented that it wasn't long enough. So who knows. Were I to do this again, I actually would steam rather than saute the vegetables. That way you don't introduce oil into the equation.
ReplyDeleteHow long would you steam the veggies prior to putting them in the jars?
DeleteNCHFP has a 90 minute processing time for quarts of mixed veggies:
ReplyDeletehttp://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/mixed_vegetables.html
Because the longest processing time must be respected. The recipe at this cute includes beans. The recipe above does not. I would use the processing time for carrots.
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