Mark & Shauna wrote:

zxcvbob wrote:

Are you afraid you will overcook the soup? An extra 10 or 15 minutes
in the pressure canner adds very little to the energy used or the
total time it takes to do a batch.

Bob


Wow, this seems to be a very elusive answer, heehee. No I am not
affraid at all of overcooking the soup. It could cook all day and be
fine. I am wondering for a multitude of reasons.
First, we live off grid and are very energy concious so wether it
takes a little or a lot more fuel to can for longer the bottom line is
its more. What is the point of burning even a modest amount more if it
is not neccesary? If it is neccesary I have no problem with it but its
foolish if its not.
Second, if we can for 75, 80, or 90 minutes based on some recipes
with ingredients we dont have we are wasting anywhere from 15 to 30
minutes per canner load(based on a 60 minute time for the ingredients we
DO have). This equates to anywhere from 1 to 3 canner loads that are
lost over the course of a days canning. If we can at 90 minutes thats 6
hours of canning time for four loads. Coupled with the preparing,
packing, and so on thats a good day for us. However if we can for 60
minutes instead this 4 loads now become only 4 hours for the same 4
batches plus preparing. This would mean we could probably turn out one
or two more batches in the same days work. Maybe everyone else doesnt
mind the extra 2 hours but I would rather turn that 2 hours into another
7 to 14 quarts out of the canner rather than some wasted fuel and time.
The very little time added to a batch is true for a single batch but in
a days canning 15-30 minutes of unnecessary canning time can equate to 2
or more additional loads.
If it is necessary thats fine but so far it isnt sounding like it is.

Mark


I think you will have to write to Dr. Nummer if you want an authoritative
answer.

I don't can things like soup until I am heating my house anyway. Heat from
the kitchen stove heats the house more efficiently than the furnace, so no
energy gets wasted. That may not entirely be true in your case.

While the canner is cooking, you can be doing other things (you just can't
go anywhere) so the time is not totally wasted either. But if you are
doing back-to-back canner loads, the extra processing time will slow you down.

Bob