Canning chicken
I noticed in the recent issue of BHM an article about canning chicken, both raw and cooked. In the raw method, the author suggested filling the jar with chicken then adding broth to 1/2 inch headspace, but she also said this wasn’t needed as the chicken will make its own broth. My question is, if the chicken will add liquid during the canning process, and if I do add broth to within 1/2 inch, won’t my jar fill up and possibly overflow into the pressure canner?
Michael
Reading, Pennsylvania
Good question. However, when raw packed chicken without broth is packed and processed it really doesn’t make too much liquid. But I always prefer to leave 1 inch of headspace when I can all meats, just to make sure it doesn’t expand too much and contact the lid which can lead to discoloration. — Jackie
Peppers for chile powder
I also love to see the seed catalogs coming in the mail, it makes me think that spring is coming around the corner. I was looking at the peppers and was wondering what kind is used to make the chili powder that you buy at the store.
Staci
Murfreesboro, Arkansas
There are several different peppers that are ground to make chili powder, but the kind most often used for the store-bought chili powder, which is ground chiles plus other spices, is your basic New Mexico chile. And this one can be bought in either mild or hot, so you can grow chiles to suit your taste. When we lived in New Mexico, I grew plenty, let them ripen to red, then roasted and ground the dry roasted peppers to make an extremely tasty chile powder. With our new hoop houses, I have hopes to be able to do this again as I sure miss my chile powder which I use in a lot of different recipes besides chili! — Jackie
