# Canning Chili?



## CNCfamily (Sep 13, 2010)

My sister and i have decided we're going to try canning chili. We figure there's not anything in chili that we dont already can, so why not? (Except we're doing it meatless, because we're not sure about canning meat) Has anyone every tried it? We both have killer chili recipes, so i think we're just going to try to can that. Suggestions?


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

Please know that there is a very real safety issue with your plan. Whether or not your personal recipe would be safe for canning all depends on the recipe, the ingredients, and the amounts of each. 

Generally, canning your own made up recipes, especially those made with low-acid ingredients such as this, is not considered safe to do. You have no way of knowing the density, the pH, or the processing time required to insure food safe for long term shelf storage. 

Plus any personal recipe that is fully cooked before canning and then processed in the pressure canner as required, even if you knew the time required, would be heavily over-cooked and may not be up to your expectations.

There is an approved and tested recipe for chili that you can use: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_05/chili_con_carne.html

It includes meat but you can leave it out if you wish with no safety concerns. And there is another tested and approved recipe in the Ball Blue Book and yet another in the Ball Complete Book. I'd strongly suggest you consider using one of them instead.


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## CNCfamily (Sep 13, 2010)

The more i research it, the more i realize it's not the best option. So we're going to freeze it instead!


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

Excellent decision.


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## catinhat (Aug 26, 2010)

Freezing it is a pretty good option, and saves you the worry of having the wrong density, an ingredient (like flour, used as a thickener in some recipes) that makes your recipe unsafe, etc.

My little tip: If you have and use a crock pot, freeze your chili in containers that would fit inside your crock pot with the lid on. That way, if you ever forget to thaw one ahead, you can put it in the crock pot in the morning, turn the crock pot on high and it'll be hot and ready at supper.


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## Head Roller (Sep 24, 2010)

catinhat said:


> My little tip: If you have and use a crock pot, freeze your chili in containers that would fit inside your crock pot with the lid on. That way, if you ever forget to thaw one ahead, you can put it in the crock pot in the morning, turn the crock pot on high and it'll be hot and ready at supper.


THat is brilliant!! Thanks.


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## Sparkey (Oct 23, 2004)

Wife & I cooked up a large batch of chili this week & we also freeze it...as we do with several types of soup. We ladel the soup/chili into 'cereal size' Correlle bowls, set them on cookie sheets, then set them in the freezer overnight. Next day run a little hot water on bottom of bowls to release the chili, then put the frozen chili chunks in a 1 or 2 gal. ziplock & back in the freezer. When we want a bowl of soup/chili/stew, etc. we just slip a frozen chunk in the bowl & 'nuke it' for a few minutes.

Charlie


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## strawhouse (Aug 7, 2010)

I had the same idea a few weeks ago. Judylou set me straight. My meatless chili is now in my freezer. 
I really like that crockpot tip! Nice!


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

I can chili with meat twice a year. In 15 years I have never had a bad jar that sealed. I keep samples of previous years. I had some two days ago that was canned 10/08 and it was just as good as when I canned it. Mine is pretty thick, my wife doesn't like thin chili. I just use tomato paste and crushed whole tomatoes instead of sauce or juice. I use pints and quarts. I do more pints. It's more convenient to take to work or to the farm.

You should really try canning some. Its the only way to become confident in canning what you make. Can it put it on a shelf and try some every couple months. Your nose is your best indicator if anything is bad. open and smell, heat and smell.


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

> You are speaking mainly of canning using water bath method? It was my understanding that anything low-acid can be canned safely using a pressure canner and appropriate time? Or am I completely mistaken?
> Reply With Quote


No you aren't completely mistaken.  But you aren't entirely correct either. There are safety guidelines and restrictions on pressure canning just as there are on BWB canning. Not as many true, but safety issues never the less. 

Some choose to recognize them and work within those guidelines. Others choose to ignore those safety guidelines. That is their choice as it is their risk to take. As long as they understand that statements like _Your nose is your best indicator if anything is bad. open and smell, heat and smell._ don't apply to botulism and that botulism doesn't break the seal on the jar either. I call it the "No-one-has-died...not yet" school of thought.

You mention proper time and that is vital but if one makes up their own recipes how do they know the proper time? They just guess or they use the time given for another recipe for the same food even though those 2 recipes may have very little in common. That is even more risky.

But the primary risks associated with pressure canning focus on the issues of short-term stability of pH and the density of the food in the jar. 

Overly dense foods retard heat penetration and results in what are called "cold islands" of food within the jar where the bacteria are not killed. Making up your own recipes doesn't allow for you to know the density. Not unless you do specific gravity testing on it and then use thermal induction formulas to calculate how many degrees of heat for what period of time is required to effectively penetrate and kill any bacteria existing within that specific gravity. Consequently you have no way of knowing how much processing time would be required for adequate heat penetration. All you can do is guess. 

The processing times for the approved and tested canning are based on the recipe as it is written and extensively tested. Modify it, make it thicker, or make up your own recipe and you invalidate the given processing time. 

The issue with pH is that acid pH doesn't remain stable over time, it rises. So if you create a low acid recipe its pH will rise while on the shelf. And if it is too dense, is insufficiently heated/processed and so still contains live c. botulinum spores, as that pH rises the spores grow and produce the toxin that can kill us.

Pressure canning of foods is exceptionally safe. However, BWB processing of high acid foods is in some ways even safer than pressure canning low-acid foods because IF one doesn't do the pressure canning correctly for the correct amount of times or if one uses untested, made-up recipes you don't have the acidity of the food to fall back on for safety.

Hope this helps clarify.


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## derm (Aug 6, 2009)

I can chili using the Ball book recommendations of 1.5 hours in a pressure canner. Page 63, newest version.


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## strawhouse (Aug 7, 2010)

When I posted the same question a few weeks back, judylou wrote something that made alot of sense.
Meatless chili really isn't the same as chili. It's really mixed vegetables. So a meat chili recipe time applied to veggie chili doesn't work. She suggested a mixed veggie recipe with a few substitutions. (Can`t find the link right now.)
(thanks again judylou!)


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## coalroadcabin (Jun 16, 2004)

strawhouse said:


> When I posted the same question a few weeks back, judylou wrote something that made alot of sense.
> Meatless chili really isn't the same as chili. It's really mixed vegetables. So a meat chili recipe time applied to veggie chili doesn't work. She suggested a mixed veggie recipe with a few substitutions. (Can`t find the link right now.)
> (thanks again judylou!)


here's the link.http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=366636
BTW, I responded with the 'approved' recommendations for tomato & mixed vegetables.

The same publication gives an 'approved' recipe for vegetable soup which is:

any of your favorite mix of vegetables (no ratio is given, just says your favorite mix) - prepare meat and veggies as for hot pack, if using dried beans they must be fully rehydrated. fill jars 1/2 full of solids and 1/2 full of boiling water or tomato broth or meat broth. Process 75 minutes for quarts (unless you use seafood then it is 110 minutes for quarts)

THE ABOVE IS NOT THE VERBATUM RECIPE, I AM AT WORK AND DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO MY COPY OF 'SO EASY TO PRESERVE' SO PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE BOOK IF YOU WANT TO USE THIS RECIPE!!

IMO, if someone was bent on canning their own chili, I would use the vegetable soup 'recipe' - fill the jars 1/2 full of fully rehydrated beans, beef, peppers etc. and use tomato broth as the liquid. I have no idea if the addition of any dried spices such as chili powder, dried cumin etc would impact the safety of this recipe. For safety's sake, I would wait until I was going to use the chili to add my spices. 

I would also do a small batch experiment because chances are the 'chili soup' would probably not taste exactly like what you normally make to be eaten fresh. 

Just my 2 cents, and worth every penny you paid for it.


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## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

Whenever I make chili, spaghetti sauce, soup, chowder and stews I always make a huge pot, keep enough out for a few meals and can the rest. I use the pressure & timing for whatever meat is in the pot. It's so nice to have an instant meal after a long day and I love to be able to put a bow around a jar of homemade chicken soup when a friend is sick.


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

GrammasCabin said:


> Whenever I make chili, spaghetti sauce, soup, chowder and stews I always make a huge pot, keep enough out for a few meals and can the rest. I use the pressure & timing for whatever meat is in the pot. It's so nice to have an instant meal after a long day and I love to be able to put a bow around a jar of homemade chicken soup when a friend is sick.


This is pretty much what I do. I usually make chili by the 5 gal batch. I do have a 25 and 125 gallon pots. my wife and I want to do a 25 gallon batch of Vegatable soup in late October. That should keep us busy for a day or so.
I did have her going a while back, I told her i wanted to do 100 gal of chili and put it in pints. She is still learning to can so... she was a bit taken aback. Finally had to tell her I was kidding.


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## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

You're mean! I have been putting up food since the first fiddleheads in spring to the garden, wild berries, seafood and now moose, seems there's no end in sight. I canned 48 quarts of moose/barley/garden veggie soup today and can't wait for a cold snowy day to take a loaf of sourdough out of the oven and warm up a quart. I'm actually looking forward to winter hybernation.


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## strawhouse (Aug 7, 2010)

coalroadcabin said:


> BTW, I responded with the 'approved' recommendations for tomato & mixed vegetables.


Thanks coalroadcabin, I forgot you had a good tip on my thread too. (I'll blame it on pregnancy brain!!)


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Just Cliff said:


> This is pretty much what I do. I usually make chili by the 5 gal batch. I do have a 25 and 125 gallon pots. my wife and I want to do a 25 gallon batch of Vegatable soup in late October. That should keep us busy for a day or so.
> I did have her going a while back, I told her i wanted to do 100 gal of chili and put it in pints. She is still learning to can so... she was a bit taken aback. Finally had to tell her I was kidding.


Me too. I can chili and spaghetti sauce, with meat, all the time. Never had any trouble with it.


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## oberhaslikid (May 13, 2002)

GrammasCabin said:


> Whenever I make chili, spaghetti sauce, soup, chowder and stews I always make a huge pot, keep enough out for a few meals and can the rest. I use the pressure & timing for whatever meat is in the pot. It's so nice to have an instant meal after a long day and I love to be able to put a bow around a jar of homemade chicken soup when a friend is sick.


I do the same thing every year.
here is someof the recipes I use you can chang how you like.
http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Canning/canning-soup-choices.html


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