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Thursday, January 7, 2021

Preserving Ham: Part 2

In yesterday's post I shared that I had canned ham chunks from shanks we had purchased on sale before Christmas.  There's more ...

As I was cutting up the chunks there were small random pieces that I trimmed off (more fat than lean) and set aside for another use.


I added them to washed and cleaned jars ...


Then added 1 cup dry pinto beans to each jar along with a teaspoon of salt and enough water to fill the jars to their shoulders ...


... and processed them for 90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure.  
(Check a reputable canning book for correct pressure for your area.)

One jar didn't seal, no problem, we had it with our main meal today!
The ham trimmings seasoned the beans rather nicely!


I put the rest of the ham shanks into the oven and cooked them according to instructions.
I was able to add these 3 packages of sliced ham to the freezer part of my pantry from them.  We'll use these for sliders, meat for a main course and for chopping to use in omelets or in casseroles.


That left the bones, so into the oven they went to roast for a bit. Once they were roasted I put them into a pot of water along with carrots, onions, garlic and a bit of vinegar.  I let it simmer all evening.  This morning I strained out the broth and filled these 5 jars.

  I still had room in the canner so I reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a package of carrots.  I did up enough to add these 3 pints to the canner, which filled it up.  (I had about another pint of carrots left so I prepared them for roasting and we had them with our main meal today along with the jar of pinto beans that didn't seal mentioned above.)  

Both the broth and pint size jars of carrots processed for 25 minutes at 10 lbs pressure so I processed them together in the same canner at the same time.

I still had the carrot peelings to deal with and I had three options (1) dry and grind them into a powder for use in soups, stews, etc (2) feed them to my compost bin or (3) feed them to our chickens.  I chose to feed them to my compost.

Those ham shanks started a cycle that ended up with 7 quarts of canned ham, 6 quarts of seasoned pinto beans, 3 packages of ham slices, 5 quarts of rich broth and 3 pints of carrots being added to my pantry.  I'll take it!

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

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9 comments:

  1. Nice work! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences. I purchased a Mirro canner last year and have yet to use it (I WILL use it this year, that's my one major goal).

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    1. Lori, the first time can be a bit scary but once you get through it you will see how un-intimidating it really is. Before long your confidence will have increased to an all new level.

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  2. That is amazing and fantastic, Patsi!!! Wonderful!!!!

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  3. So many great ideas for a ham,talk about getting every last bit of meat.I would make pea soup with bone and when the bone was clean the dog will get it. Now that's what I call waste not,know not

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    1. tealady, the bone would be a good treat for a dog, for sure! Waste not, want not!

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  4. Thank you for the very inspirational way to use a ham! I've been keeping an eye out the last couple weeks in case hams are marked down but might have missed them already.

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    1. Jenny, our big sales were right before Christmas. Keep watching though, January is usually a pretty good month for mark downs.

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  5. Your preserving of your ham got me to thinking that I really like ham. And my ham from New Years is almost gone! I am trying to build up my pantry and so at the grocery today, they had spiral sliced honey or brown sugar hams on sale for 1.29 lb. I kept watching for $1 lb or less but have not seen any lower so I bought one of each for my freezer! Instead of $39 or $37 I paid about $12 each because they were $3.99 lb (who would pay that crazy price)! They are around 10 pounds each and now I will have ham whenever I want some more! Yay! I also restocked my black eyed peas because I used my last bag on New Year’s Day. Also my hunter pals harvested a fat doe for me and I have ground venison, roasts, back straps and cubed deer steak filling up part of my freezer for a mere $75 for processing. Glad to see you are back. I hope you enjoyed your break!

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