"Green Newb" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Kitty" > wrote in message
> ...
> On Sep 10, 9:36 pm, "Green Newb" > wrote:
>> Okay I'm getting the picture nicely, thank you. I thought the guy writing
>> about Chun was being sarcastic,so its a real product? lol. Oops.
>>
>> I could do the meat as you say, that sounds a good way of doing things. I
>> can make my own sauces. If its not presentable in the jar, well I just
>> won't
>> eat it and will waste it, so its really important to me about
>> presentation
>> and texture.
>> > --
>> > -Marilyn
>
>
> If presentation matters to you, then try this. make enough of your
> recipe up for one meal, only cook all your veggies as long as
> recommended for the longest one. Then see what they look like and
> feel like in your mouth. the texture will be pretty mushy on some of
> them, but might feel fine for others. but it will give you a little
> bit of an idea what everything will feel like when you eat it, and you
> might see the colors and textures are to bland. and when you can them
> they get knocked around a bit more and will not look as crisp
> either.
>
> Another thing I didn't think of before is this. recooking a sauce for
> as long as required for canning may change the flavor, weakening some
> spices, intensifying others.
>
> FWIW, Kitty
>
> Kitty, Barb, Marilyn, Serene, this has given me a lot to think about. I
> have reached the state of mind of separating the meat and veg, specially
> when I compared the cooking times of vegies compared to meat. Also my own
> sauce from scratch will be the way to go. No double double anything lol.
> Thanks for your patience in helping me.
>
> I thought Carrots raw packed would take the longest time, instead I was
> shocked to read that greens take 70 minutes. WOW. Thats not good. Thats
> really bad hmm...I haven't made this dish yet and am so glad I asked!.
> Serene, my freezer broke a month ago and I lost all my soup stocks, meats,
> etc. That happened after ordering my canner, Then our power went down not
> long after that!. Food might be safer in the cupboard for the time being
> .
>
> Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the positive input.


That's what we're here, to help you make the right decisions when it comes
to canning. I can only speak for myself, but I've had my share of
"experiments" gone bad and I hate wasting food. Today, my husband and I got
tough on the food storage shelves and went through looking for stuff that
was way past its prime. I couldn't believe that I had jam that had to be at
least 12 years old. I also couldn't beleive that I had had actually put
stuff away without labeling it as to the contents and date it was processed.
Not a good idea and anything that wasn't labeled properly went into the
compost (except for a few items that contained meat and those went down the
garbage disposal). And sadly, I found out that three quart jars of peaches
I canned last month had not reallysealed, even though they appeared to have
at the time. The lids popped right off and you could see the top of the
fruit was spoiled so out to the compost it went. The upside of this is that
I now have lots of empty jars so I don't need to go buy more for this season
(my cloud has a silver lining after all).

Yep, one of the reasons I like canning is that if the power does go out, I'm
not going to have the food on the shelves spoiling.

-Marilyn