zxcvbob wrote:
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


We are on the edge of needing to heat the house (fall) and the garden is
finishing with a frost coming so wether we need the heat in the house or
not the vegetables need to come out of the garden and get canned. We
dont have a cellar completed yet so other than storing in the fridge for
a bit they will have to be canned wether it is 30 degrees outside or 90.
In any cases possible we hold our canning (in the fall) for cool/cold
rainy/cloudy days. However, we have a weatherstation in the house and
even on a full day of canning it only equates to a few degrees but I
agree with you, its heat and it is waste heat so it is surely better to
do it on a day when you need the heat rather than opening windows
because the house is too hot. We canned for about 12 hours yesterday in
the cloudy drizzle for this very reason.

While the canner is cooking we _are_ doing other things. Preparing the
next load. When we setup to can for a day there is very little wasted
time where we sit waiting for the canner. We have it setup so as soon as
the canner finishes, we pack, reload while the canner is still good and
warm, and do another load. This process continues until we collapse or
run out of food to can.

Two canning books we have that are a little bit old state the longest
ingredient method and the one reply here on the group said it as well.
The books being older was why we thought we would bounce it off everyone
here. I will mail Dr. Nummer to see what comes back and keep you posted.

Mark