# oven canning? countryside article



## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Article in countryside about oven cannin dry stuff. Not real clear, 
put item in jar, put in oven at 200 for an hour, wipe and put lids on, ....then what? Allow the heat to expand then contract and seal th lids or put back in oven for a period of time?


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

I have a friend who cans this way. I don't know the entire process, I'll ask her next time I see her. She does her green beans like this too, I was kinda shocked to find that out though, but her mom taught her that way and she has taught her daughter that way too.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

I have hear of this. Many persons in Seldovia, Alaska can fish this way. I would be uncomfortable doing this myself. I heard that this has been done for generation there. A local person was going to try this for a batch last summer. I am going to give her a call in a few days. OH MY Son is home from Com. Fishing he is my helper.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

I loved this article. This is for dry goods not foods that need to be processed like sauces and meats. it is to kill the bugs and their eggs in the dry goods. You take them out hot, wipe the rims with a damp towel, put the lids and bands on and that is it, then you just let it sit there until it cools down and forms a vacum seal. The combination of killing the bugs and their eggs, and the vacum seal are what make the food last longer. Like the article said, this is for beans, flour, oats, rice, and the like. I might leave my lids in hot water before hand to soften them up to give me a better chance of a seal.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

City Bound said:


> I loved this article. This is for dry goods not foods that need to be processed like sauces and meats. it is to kill the bugs and their eggs in the dry goods. You take them out hot, wipe the rims with a damp towel, put the lids and bands on and that is it, then you just let it sit there until it cools down and forms a vacum seal. The combination of killing the bugs and their eggs, and the vacum seal are what make the food last longer. Like the article said, this is for beans, flour, oats, rice, and the like. I might leave my lids in hot water before hand to soften them up to give me a better chance of a seal.


That is brilliant! I would have worried about moisture though. I guess if you leave the products in the oven for a while you don't have to worry about any more moisture seeping out?

But this is just such a wonderful idea. I'm going to try it.


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2011)

Is this like using the foodsaver that has the attachment to suck all the air out using canning jars to seal the tops?


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## Bulldog 6 (Jul 13, 2011)

The original article of this was in Countryside Magazine. Just did some. 200 degrees for hour with the lids off, take out one at a time and put on lid/ring. Let cool, they seal find. Just did oatmeal, pasta. Cornmeal and grits in oven now. Keep jars really full though.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Since you are canning dry stuff, with air in it anyway, would there be need for more than a quarter of an inch of headspace?

This sounds like a great way to store grains, flour, cornmeal, oatmeal and such like in relatively small amts for long term storage.

Ed


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## kudzuvine (Aug 11, 2011)

I emailed Countryside to get in touch with author. I had questions too. Will be tryng this. I've also baked cakes in jars and sealed - these are wonderful. Great for last minute need for a dessert.


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## donnam (Sep 27, 2005)

I did this today with an assortment of dried beans and some dried zucchini and squash slices. I did 200* for an hour and then put on the lids with the bands tight. As they cooled, the lids sealed. It's simple and easy. I will be storing more dried foods this way.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

how much headspace did you allow?


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

mekasmom said:


> That is brilliant! I would have worried about moisture though. I guess if you leave the products in the oven for a while you don't have to worry about any more moisture seeping out?
> 
> But this is just such a wonderful idea. I'm going to try it.


I really do not know. There is not much moisture in dry goods so there would be very little condensation, if any at all. 

The auther claims that dry goods stored this way can last from 5 to 30 years.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

The small size of the jars is perfect because a qt or two is what people might use with one meal or within a month, so you are not opening a sack of flower or other food stuff for just a hand full of material and then leaving the rest exposed to the air. You take what you need and the other portions of the lot are safe and protected, for years.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

I pored hot soup into qt jars and put the lids and bands on and when the soup cooled the lids vacum sealed. I stored the soup in the freezer like that for a year.


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## donnam (Sep 27, 2005)

With the oven canning, I allowed around 1/2 - 1" of headspace just to keep from making a mess when the jars are opened. The dried food doesn't expand so you don't need alot of headspace. I am dehydrating some more foods now and will seal them using this method. It's great.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

thanks, donnam


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

City Bound said:


> I really do not know. There is not much moisture in dry goods so there would be very little condensation, if any at all.
> 
> The auther claims that dry goods stored this way can last from 5 to 30 years.


I think it is a wonderful idea. But I have kept dried goods in jars without heating them for 5+ years and more too. I think they last that long anyway. But I love the idea. It would kill any bug eggs in them.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

I read a breif example of of this method in an old book that was giving instructions of making jerky. The auther said to but the jerky into jar lenghts and then stick them in a canning jar and then stick them in the oven and heat, then take out and a seal would be made and the jerky would last longer in storage.

if anyone is interested I could check the book again and give the auther's instructions.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

City bound, please do.


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## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

What a great idea! You can't know how ticked I was at myself when I found a gallon jar full of jerkey I'd meant to freeze, forgotten in the pantry, all green and fuzzy. Wonder how long it would stay good this way, and if it would work with dried beans.


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

I think it would work great with dried beans and rice. I've always just stuck a new bag of beans in the freezer for 3 days to kill any greebies, then transferred to air tight ziplocs. The oven method would just be one step. I like that!~


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## StephanieH (Mar 4, 2009)

What issue of Countryside was this? I was telling my friend this weekend about this post & we get countryside so I was going to find it for her. Thanks!


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

The latest issue.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

I am going to look up the method for jarring the jerky that I mentioned, but I need a little time. My aprtment is flooded from heavy rain and I am bailing out.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Ok, I checked the book and i can not find the intructions on how to oven can jerky. The book is 300 pages long and the mention of oven canning jerky and the brief instructions were casually tossed out by the auther in one of the chapters. I flipped through the book five times and I could not recall the spot the info was in. If I come across the info when I reread the book, I will make a thread to post it.

I tried to look it up on-line and I did not find much on it. All I found was one person who said they oven canned the jerky at 275 F and then placed the lids on on, the same way the article talks about doing it with dry goods. 

I am sorry I couldnt help. All I can say is try one jar of jerky this way to see if it works.


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## StephanieH (Mar 4, 2009)

Thank you, City Bound.


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## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

Thanks so much City Bound, I'm definitely going to experiment with jerkey, soon's moose season rolls around. I'll do one jar and see how long it stays good in a cool cupboard, let you know later.

So sorry to hear you're flooded and I hope you didn't lose too much. Dang, the weather everywhere is bizzare, it doesn't normally flood in New York City does it? What little summer we've had is over I'm afeared, dumping buckets - sideways - the last couple days here but I live on a rock so it all washes out to sea before it can flood our homes. My garden's drowning tho.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

We flood sometimes. We are right on the ocean. We had record rain fall that is why there was flooding. it was something like 9 inches of rain in one night. The storm was massive, thick, filled with thunder and lightning. Nothing was damaged, except my sleep.
I have to wait and see if there will be any damage to the drywall and molding.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

sorry I couldnt help, but one jar is worth the experiment. I have a hunch that it will last until the end of the winter if it is kept in the cool and the dark. The plains indians use to keep jerky wrapped in leather burried in the dirt under the floors of their teepees, so if something as simple as that worked for them, I think jars would work also.


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## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

City Bound said:


> sorry I couldnt help, but one jar is worth the experiment. I have a hunch that it will last until the end of the winter if it is kept in the cool and the dark. The plains indians use to keep jerky wrapped in leather burried in the dirt under the floors of their teepees, so if something as simple as that worked for them, I think jars would work also.


That definitely wouldn't work here, I'm in a rain forest. Everything rots. That reminds me of a receipe in my Alaska cookbook. This is for real, my elder native friends tell me their mothers & grandmothers actually did this. 

"Stink Heads (Tipmuck to the natives)": Take a fish that is going up the creek, preferably humpies. Cut the heads off and wrap them in wild celery leaves or leave them plain. Dig a shallow hole and bury the heads to keep the flies off. Let the heads ferment for about four or five days, dig them up and eat them as they are"

hope I didn't uset anybody's tummy


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Sounds gross gram, but I might try it.

Gram follow the oven canning instruction in countryside, but turn the temp up to 275. That would be the best chance i would think.


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