Pressure canner

I have an All American canner and we live at 1300 ft. I am new at canning. Should I use the 15 oz weight and adjust the fire at 11 lb? When I do this the canner never jiggles as the manual says it should? Just checking to make sure I’m o.k. with my thinking that it should be fine!

Barbara Triesch
Blanco, Texas

This is exactly what I do. The weight only jiggles when the pressure in the canner is at 15 pounds (on the 15 pound setting) or greater. — Jackie

Recalled chicken

This is a “what would Jackie do” question. I recently bought 8 whole chickens that were a good price and canned them. Now this brand of chicken is causing more than 200 people to get sick from salmonella. The chicken is not being recalled, and it is said that the people are getting sick from mishandling the chicken. I know you can not necessarily tell me what to do, but what would you do with the 22 jars of chicken and the 20 jars of chicken stock in the cupboard? I fully cooked the chicken before I canned it and then canned it according to the experts instructions. Would you be comfortable using this food?

Connie Moore
Clearlake, Washington

Canning chicken properly will kill salmonella bacteria. The most common cause of people getting salmonella from chicken is that the chicken had the bacteria (often from fecal contamination during processing) and the meat was either undercooked or the folks handling it at home didn’t wash their hands after handling the meat while preparing it, then ingested the bacteria. A temperature of 165 degrees will kill salmonella and when you pressure can your meat, it reaches a temperature of 240 degrees for 75 minutes (pints) or 90 minutes (quarts), much higher than required to kill the organism. Your chicken should be fine. — Jackie

1 COMMENT

  1. I would keep the canned chicken too.
    Many times people can avoid a lot of germs simply by washing off the chicken and thoroughly cooking it. And with a pressure canner, I personally would have no fear.

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