Stringless pole beans

Every time I have grown pole green beans they have a lot of strings in the pod. I sure would like to have suggestions on a kind that is stringless.

Gail Erman
Palisade, Colorado

There are many stringless green pole beans. My favorite is Cherokee Trail of Tears (available through Baker Creek, among others). It starts out purple striped, but any purple goes away when you cook or can them. Other stringless varieties include Blue Lake Stringless, Fortex, and Kentucky Wonder. Be sure to give your pole beans plenty of water while they are filling out the pods and then pick them before the seeds get fat to have absolutely tender, stringless beans. — Jackie

Pressure cookers not made for canning

I have a 4-quart electric pressure cooker. I also have a large Mirro pressure canner to do large batch canning in. The electric pressure cooker has hi & low options. I wanted to use it for small batch canning. I did 4 pints kidney beans at low pressure for 75 mins & they sealed. Should I have used the hi pressure option instead? I just thought hi would turn the beans to mush.

Chris Stierwalt
Paragon, Indiana

Pressure cookers are really not made for canning. They are made for cooking meals. Better to use the canner for even small batches. If it’s too large to be handy, maybe you could pick up a smaller one, even a used one at a yard sale? — Jackie

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Meals in a jar

Is there a meals in a jar cookbook? New here and haven’t heard. Also, is there a “how to” book on planting heirloom veggies for planting in the South?

Cathy Thompson
Cherokee, Iowa

There are many meals-in-a-jar recipes to can in my book Growing and Canning Your Own Food. Most only require dumping out into a pan and heating for 15 minutes. This book covers planting and growing vegetables, fruits, and even raising meat animals! It also covers how to process and preserve all of these. I hope it will help you. A lot of folks say they can’t do without it. — Jackie

Storing homemade pasta

I am looking to make and dry my own pasta like spaghetti. I found lots of recipes for pasta but none of them store without going bad.

Alissa Holmes
Morganfield, Kentucky

Dry your homemade pasta VERY well and it should store as well as commercial pasta. Some homemade pasta is very thick and people don’t get it dry enough before trying to store it. Be sure it is dry, then store it in an airtight container. If you notice the slightest bit of condensation on the under side of the lid, immediately remove and dry several days longer. — Jackie

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Canning pea soup and cleaning chicken eggs

I have 2 questions:
#1. I just canned some green pea soup. I followed the directions on-line for canning dried beans. My beans ended up in the bottom of the quarts in a solid glob. Are they safe to eat? I know you talk about noodles/rice and dense food. They all sealed and I have been able to shake some of the solid mass.

#2. I read online that if your fresh eggs have chicken feces on them you should discard them. That it has already contaminated the egg and no amount of washing will clean it. Jackie just about all my eggs are like that. Is it safe to keep eating them?

Ramona Berry
Newberry, South Carolina

I wouldn’t be afraid to eat your pea soup. The peas remain in solution with the liquid during processing, but when they cool, they settle into a glob; they have sufficiently heated during processing first.

You can read about anything online! Wash your eggs and don’t worry. The only way the poop could possibly contaminate the egg would be if it were cracked. What do you think commercial egg factories do with eggs with chicken poop on them? To keep your own eggs cleaner, use shavings in the nest boxes and also on your coop floor so the hens feet don’t pick up poop when they hop into the boxes to lay. Clean feet make for cleaner eggs! — Jackie

Hamburger rocks

Have you ever made hamburger rocks? (Dehydrated hamburger) If so, how safe is it to store and use? I’ve never dehydrated meat before but am thinking of trying it.

Glo Diliberto
Insinger, SK Canada

I haven’t made hamburger rocks. But I have dehydrated a lot of other meat. Choose hamburger that is very low fat so the fat doesn’t get rancid and you’ll be fine. Give it a try and see how you like the results. — Jackie

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I spoke three days on subjects such as backyard fruit growing, canning meat, meals in a jar, and herbs in small spaces. People were very interested and after each workshop, there were plenty of questions. In fact, I answered questions for nearly an hour after most classes! It was fun and we shared a lot of information. When I wasn’t speaking, I got to attend some other workshops and I learned a lot, too! Good food and good people made for a great time.

Now I’m all primed for our first on-homestead seminar here, in May! (There still are a few spots so e-mail if you’d like more information.)

Today I’m kind of whipped from all the hurrying at the airports, sitting and sitting…and sitting waiting for connections. But I’m sure I’ll have more energy tomorrow. It was sure good to get home to my family and my own beddie! — Jackie

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Brooding chicks off-grid

Years ago I raised lots of day-old chicks using a heat lamp to brood them. I want to get back to poultry now that I am retired but my homestead is off grid. Any Ideas other than running the generator many hours and charging batteries to provide heat during the night. Solar is in the future but not in time for a May start on chicks. Would a low btu propane heater work.

Howard Brewi
Valdez, Alaska

We used a propane heater to brood our chicks in the house (in our sunroom/greenhouse). At first, we needed it on all day and night, but as the temperatures warmed up, we found that the chicks were comfortable with the heater off, as long as the house was reasonably warm (wood heat and sunshine through our big windows). We did keep a small CFL burning over the stock tank we used to prevent picking and also to prevent piling up after the heater was not used at night. I’m posting a photo of our setup to help give you more ideas. It CAN be done! — Jackie

Pickled okra

Asking for my sister…She has pickled okra that the seals are turning loose on. They have been stored in her pantry with no extreme temp changes and nothing stacked on top. They were canned this past summer, however, in the last two weeks the lids have started pinging and turning loose. Any ideas as to the possible cause and would the vinegar keep it safe to eat or should the contents be thrown out?

Becky in Alabama

I don’t know why your sister’s pickled okra jars are having seals that are failing, as I don’t know how she processed it, etc. But if the jars are having pinging lids that are releasing, something is wrong! No, I wouldn’t eat the okra. It’s the old saying “when in doubt, throw it out.” It hurts when it’s your home canned food, but take it as a learning experience and try to figure out what went wrong and follow tried recipes to can it next time. Don’t let one failure throw you! It happens to all beginners at one point or another. — Jackie

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Preserving juice

What would be the best way to preserve juice in wine/sparkling cider bottles? I’ve been a winemaker for several years, and would like to be able to make non-alcoholic juices to share with my non-drinking friends. I’m assuming it would have to be processed in a water bath. Would pop bottle crown caps hold up, or would I need to use metal screw caps?

In making wine, it is common to use sulfite as a preservative. Could this alone be enough to preserve juice, if kept in the refrigerator?

Larry Curfman
Oakville, Washington

A long time ago, I used to bottle both fruit juice and ketchup in used beer bottles I’d picked up along the road. After washing and sterilizing them, I filled them with boiling juice/ketchup, then capped them with a press-on bottle capper (hand machine). This worked fine, but I didn’t water bath them and don’t know how you’d do that with press-on lids. Any readers with more information for us? — Jackie

Growing tomatoes

I know I read this in BHM but can’t find it. What kind of tomatoes do you grow that ripen pretty much at once for canning. I have all your books and garden every year, but never get enough tomatoes at once to can.

Lorraine Dingman
Fulton, New York

Some of the varieties that we grow that tend to ripen heavily, more or less at one time are: Oregon Spring, Punta Banda (Native Seeds/SEARCH), and Silvery Fir Tree. You might consider using a hoop house for your tomatoes. We had your problem with peppers, so last year Will built a cheap, easy hoop house out of PVC pipes and plastic. We harvested bushels of huge peppers! No heat, no special treatment! Wonderful. I’d also suggest starting your tomatoes out in Wallo’ Water plant protectors. This not only lets you plant earlier, but it also develops a very strong, vigorous root system and the plants consistently bear heavily and ripen much sooner so you can get to canning. — Jackie

Preserving by confiting

Long time since I have written but I read your blogs like clockwork every week. I am writing to tell you that I recently discovered making my own bacon (smoked and non-smoked and other charcuterie like terrines/pates and confit) – I have a quick question – have you been confiting at all – (preserving in fat) and if so have you tried preserving in pork fat? (If you wrote about it before sorry as I guess I missed it). By the way hope weather has been treating you better this year as it has up here in Ontario Canada – we’ve had a glorious (non cold) December and picture perfect Christmas when it finally showed on Christmas Eve/Day

farmgirlwanabe from Ottawa Ontario

No I haven’t been confiting. My husband, Will, fights high cholesterol, and I’m getting pretty high, so I really watch the fat in my cooking and preserving. I do know about it, and have for years. My grandmother used to preserve pork chops (lightly cooked) in lard, and they kept that way all winter and into the spring months. They had no refrigeration.

We’ve also had a strange winter; January temps varying from -30 to 45 above! Up until yesterday, you could do chores in tennies! But today, we’re getting clobbered and it really looks like winter out there! — Jackie

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Compost freezing

We are in Colorado near the mountains. We have many bags of excess compost/steer manure from when we purchased and had trees planted this summer. If we leave the bags outside (where it freezes), will that affect the compost – killing off any live organisms? The next planting projects won’t start until late Spring again where we can get the compost in the ground to do its magic.

Cristine
Colorado

Freezing will not affect the compost. It will be just as good as it was in the fall, before freezing. — Jackie

Tattler lids

I have a question about the Tattler lids. I have an unusually high number of lid failures. I am following the directions on the box to slightly loosen the lid before canning and then to tighten it after processing. I bought hundreds of these lids and would like to use them more.

Dana Stine
Singer, Louisiana

I love my Tattlers. And I haven’t found I had any more failures with them than I do with single use lids. Two thoughts: maybe you’re either loosening the lids too much (or not enough) before processing or not tightening the rings soon enough after processing? I’d suggest calling the Tattler people; they’re very nice and helpful. You get instant one-on-one conversation to resolve your problem. They want you to succeed just as much as I do! — Jackie

Dirty windows

I heat with wood. Now the windows are covered with a dirty film. I tried the fancy store cleaners; vinegar, ammonia, and finally lye soap. Now they are worse than ever. Come spring I will try again. Do you have any suggestions for cleaning or any fail proof recipes for cleaner.

Shirley Adkins
McArthur, Ohio

I wash my windows first with dish soap/hot water, then use vinegar and crumpled up newspapers as a “finish.” They come out clean and streak-free. — Jackie

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Rendering lard

I have searched your site and the internet, but cannot find an answer to my question. I have a side of pork belly I want to render for lard. It has quite a bit of meat interlaced through it (just like bacon, of course), so do I need to try to cut out the meat and only use the fat or do I cut the whole slab into 1-inch pieces and put it all in the pot? It is very difficult to try to cut the meat out, but I don’t want the lard to taste too porky for baking. I know how to do the process, but just don’t know if the meat in it is a problem.

Jo Riddle
Vienna, West Virginia

I think what I’d do is to grind the whole pork belly, put the meat in a roasting pan and set it in your oven at 250 degrees. This will melt the fat but not “cook” the meat so much that the lard tastes “porky.” — Jackie

Canning recipe for the fair

Just received both your books. I love to can; my grand is in first year 4H here in Texas. Next year she is going to enter some canning. In your opinion which of your canning recipes would you enter? No meat entries, she’ll just have to help Oma with those.

Pam Evetts
Gatesville, Texas

I’m so glad you liked the books! Wow…which recipes to can for the fair? My oh my, what a decision. I’d pick some that are pretty colored, such as salsa; one of the pretty colored jellies, jams, or preserves, such as raspberry or prickly pear preserves; dill spears (just a tip — don’t water bath them, just pack hot brine into hot jars and seal; the pickles will be SO crisp that way, they’ll be sure to win. Don’t tell folks I told you to do that!); mixed vegetables; watermelon rind pickles; or little pickled apples. There are a ton more, too, but these are a few that would be very attractive and easy to do. Let us know how your granddaughter does! — Jackie

Canning hominy

I know you have said you can home can anything that comes in a #10 can. I just recently received a #10 can of hominy, can I recan this and at what pound pressure and time?

Margaret (Peg) Koontz
Social Circle, Georgia

Yes, you can. I’ve done it many times! You’ll be dumping out the liquid, heating it to boiling, then packing the hominy into hot jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Pour the boiling liquid over the hominy, leaving 1 inch of headspace. You’ll process at 10 pounds pressure for 55 minutes (pints) or 85 minutes (quarts). If you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet consult your canning book for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude, if necessary. — Jackie

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