# Canning It. Sausage?



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

I know I could/should ask this on the Preserving the Harvest board.....but I don't really want the "party line" you shouldn't do that, it's not in the Ball book.

I just noticed our store have loads of It Sausage links (the big ones - Brat size)with a sell by day of Sept 1. They are currently marked down a bit, but I'm thinking tomorrow morning they will be marked down a bit more, lol. Anyone ever can these scrumptious fatty things?? Hints??


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

I've canned sausage links! I just browned them about halfway, put them in a pint jar standing on their ends (a quart jar if they're the big ones) and poured some bacon fat over them (I was canning bacon at the same time). Then pressure canned them at 15 lbs. pressure for 75 minutes. When we use them, I just warm the jar for a minute in the microwave (lid off) or in some hot water until the sausage/bacon and grease will slide out into the pan. Fry for a couple of minutes and eat!

Why isn't it considered safe to can sausage? I thought any type of meat was safe to can as long as it's processed for the correct time and pressure.


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## CountryWmn (Aug 7, 2011)

I was asking a friend of mine the same question the other day. I found this link on canning brats and I really cannot see a problem with it as long as does not contain sage. I haven't canned mine yet, but have several packages I want to do.

http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2011/05/canning-bratwurst.html


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## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

thanks for the info- I usually score alot at the local store when marked down- I have been freezing it!


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Mom_of_Four said:


> Why isn't it considered safe to can sausage? I thought any type of meat was safe to can as long as it's processed for the correct time and pressure.


Meat is safe, once all the fat is trimmed away. It's the fat in the sausage that makes it "unsafe".

Thanks for that blog link CW...that's what I thought I'd do, great to see someone else has done it.


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

Check over on the HT preserving site - lots of women there can sausage!!!!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I'll be canning some soon-soon as these tomatoes,peaches,corn....


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## julieq (Oct 12, 2008)

I'm in the midst of canning most all the meat in our freezer. I browned the ground breakfast sausage, added salt and lemon juice to each pint jar and covered it with distilled water. Did Italian sausage in quarts, cut up and salt/lemon juice added to each jar. Did not precook that. Pressure canned both for 90 minutes. 

I have a boat load of old canning books as I collect them. So if I can't find a recipe in a new Ball Blue Book then I look in the old ones. On a side note, my family has been canning for eons and none have died of food poisoning.


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## fratermus (May 11, 2009)

Ohio dreamer said:


> I know I could/should ask this on the Preserving the Harvest board.....but I don't really want the "party line" you shouldn't do that, it's not in the Ball book.


The official guidelines give procedures for canning sausage.


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## fratermus (May 11, 2009)

Ohio dreamer said:


> Meat is safe, once all the fat is trimmed away. It's the fat in the sausage that makes it "unsafe".


This is incorrect information.

Fat, _per se_, does not make food unsafe; it *can* interfere with the seal. You will see cases where the official guidelines actually call for the _addition_ of fat to the preserved food.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

fratermus said:


> This is incorrect information.
> 
> Fat, _per se_, does not make food unsafe; it *can* interfere with the seal. You will see cases where the official guidelines actually call for the _addition_ of fat to the preserved food.


Interesting, everything I've read said that the fat "holds" the bacteria as well as re-tards the heating process which may allow the bacteria to keep a foot hold. Never have I seen a recipe (from the government backed source that is) that says to add fat in order to can something. Now I'm intrigued and will go looking for one that does.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

That brings up a question I've had on my mind for a long time. If fat does make it harder to kill the bacteria/botulism spores, why not just add on more processing time? Same with canning things like pumpkin puree...if chunks are okay, but puree is too dense for the heat to penetrate all the way through for long enough at the usual time, why can't we add more processing time to that type of thing, too?


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## Canning Girl (Jan 13, 2010)

The answer to the question is that you would be guessing. How would you know if 2 hours was enough? Or if you only needed 100 minutes? Or if no amount of time was enough? Since we don't have the testing equipment at home that the NCFHP has, it's impossible to know. That doesn't mean that I haven't made an educated guess, on occasion, when I was stepping outside the bounds, but I always knew I was taking a risk, and I was very careful when I opened it. I also threw out a bunch of pumpkin puree my mom did a few years ago before I told her to can it in chunks. It seemed like a huge waste, but pumpkin wasn't worth the chance.


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## CountryWmn (Aug 7, 2011)

Ohio, what did you decide to do with the sausage? I was just counting the pkgs in my freezer and think I am going to start on canning them this weekend.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Canning Girl said:


> The answer to the question is that you would be guessing. How would you know if 2 hours was enough? Or if you only needed 100 minutes? Or if no amount of time was enough? Since we don't have the testing equipment at home that the NCFHP has, it's impossible to know. That doesn't mean that I haven't made an educated guess, on occasion, when I was stepping outside the bounds, but I always knew I was taking a risk, and I was very careful when I opened it. I also threw out a bunch of pumpkin puree my mom did a few years ago before I told her to can it in chunks. It seemed like a huge waste, but pumpkin wasn't worth the chance.


Well, since they have the equipment, why don't they do the testing to tell us what amount of extra time would make it safe, or test out the safe method of canning milk at home, etc. So many things they just say "Not safe to do", but it seems they could test and find the safe method!


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

CountryWmn said:


> Ohio, what did you decide to do with the sausage? I was just counting the pkgs in my freezer and think I am going to start on canning them this weekend.


What I did...I put the links on a sheet pan and tossed them in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes (gave them a bit of brown on the edges). Then I stuffed 5 into each wide mouth quart jar (it was a tight fit!). I put the simmered lids on and processed them for 90 minutes (no liquid added to the jars...just air in there). Fat pools at the bottom when they are done. 

To eat, I'll pop them in the microwave for a few seconds to "loosen" them up then pan fry them when we are ready to eat them (Unless SHTF and the microwave is dead....then I put the jars in a few inches of hot water to loosen the fat and then pan fry or grill them, lol)

OH, and to MGM's question on why don't they just test it then.....$$$$. No one is willing to fork over the thousands of dollars they "charge" to test things - they call it grants, but it boils down to they won't do it if they don't lots of money to do it.


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## CountryWmn (Aug 7, 2011)

Thanks Ohio, that is what I will do as well.


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## mtnmom5 (Dec 21, 2009)

I have canned all kinds of meat but I never canned any of the It sausage, and what a great idea. I love having some easy to heat meat for breakfast and that would be it! I will be watching for sausage sales now.


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## illinoisguy (Sep 4, 2011)

I am sure there will be much fat from this. Again, with so much fat, does this cause a problem.


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## mtnmom5 (Dec 21, 2009)

I think there will just be more fat on top of your meat in the jar but it is easy to scrape out when you open the jar to use it. I have canned pork which has a lot of fat, and that is what we did with that.


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## tlrnnp67 (Nov 5, 2006)

I canned up several jars of Italian sausage/bell peppers/onions/stewed tomato mixture. It turned out pretty good - I usually serve it over rice.


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## Ode (Sep 20, 2006)

I can them in a tomato and basil sauce, usually not whole though. I cook it in very large crumbles so I can drain off as much of the fat as possible before adding it to my sauce for canning.


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