Pressure canning suggestions?

http://www.canning-food-recipes.com/canning.htm

Well, I'm looking into both canning and dehydrating. I have enough seeds to plant a pretty massive garden, and I'm just thinking about preserving garden vegetables for winter if I have to. I was hoping for product reccamendations for brands to use as well, and I'm up for suggestions for a good solar dehydrator too.

SusanT wrote: Well, I'm looking into both canning and dehydrating. I have enough seeds to plant a pretty massive garden, and I'm just thinking about preserving garden vegetables for winter if I have to. I was hoping for product reccamendations for brands to use as well, and I'm up for suggestions for a good solar dehydrator too.

A good solar dehydrator is a clean screen tied on to four stable chairs. That is really all you need. I have a dehydrator, use it for my tomatoes, herbs, fruits. All of these turn out great! I have done greenbeans but have not eaten them yet.

I have a great book that came with my Harvest Dehydrator and I will be looking at what dries well this week, so I can plant it this summer.

I have pressure canned but I find that I feel safer with commercially canned food. Got rid of my pressure canner.

I water bath my green tomato relish and my jellies. They are both safe to use this method.

Drying is great because it lasts longer and I vacuum pack everything and it saves space. I also freeze all my dry stuff, don't know if I need to I just do it.

Hope this helps.

Cabelos  has a really nice commercial 12 or 24 shelf dehydrator  that I'm saving for 300. for the 12, 400.for the 24..if I'm going to all the work of a garden and dehydrating I sure want to make sure the food is safe..it will be time saving to me to have one this size and electric....

Susan T the American Natives dried everything including meat and they just used the sun and a flat place like a skin for berries, fruit, oinions, herbs or a branch to lay the strips of meat on all to dry in the sun.

I will use the trays from my electric dryer to dry without power. I will just set them in the sun on my back patio. But if you feel more comfortable with a solar dryer you should get one.

I am going to purchase a solar cooker this fall because it will be easier than my fireplace insert for long cooking soups and stews.

You are lucky to have land it will make a difference for your family.

I will be interested in hearing how your solar dryer works. Keep us posted.

Starspirit, found this on the net. It is interesting and informative. I guess the Native Americans lived in places where it got really hot to dehydrate foods.

Hope this informtion helps everyone.

National Sustainable Agricultural Information Service
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/dehydrate.html

Solar drying
Solar drying is an industrial process in many countries where outdoor temperatures reach 115°F or higher. In East Asia, spice crops and other exported plant materials are routinely solar dried. Solar drying is different from "sun drying." Solar drying uses equipment to collect the sun's rays in a unit designed to ventilate moisture. The temperature in the unit is usually 20 to 30 degrees higher than in open sunlight.
In much of the continental U.S., weather conditions do not allow sun drying or solar drying. There are too few consecutive days of high temperatures (above 85°) and low humidity (below 60%) to assure that the food will not spoil before dehydration is complete. Low temperature or high humidity encourages microbial growth. If the temperature is too high at first, a hard shell may develop on the food, trapping moisture inside. This is called "case hardening." If temperatures are too high at the end of the drying period, food may scorch. Temperatures of 120°F to 140°F are best for drying fruits and vegetables. Temperatures may go up to 150°F at the beginning, but must be lowered as food begins to dry. For at least the last hour of the drying period, temperatures should not exceed 130°F.(3)
Reports from Bill Blake, University of California — Davis, about the situation in California, where solar drying of fruits and vegetables is commercially feasible, suggest possible legal issues for small-scale start-up operations.
I looked into the legalities of sun-drying a couple of months ago [1996], and discovered that small-scale farmers would have a difficult time complying with the laws. First, after talking with people at several county and state agencies as well as producers and an industry group, I couldn't get a straight-forward answer about what a producer would need to do to be in full legal compliance. Second, the answers I got from health commissioners and the like indicated that producers would need a concrete-floored drying yard (no dust) with a fence (no animals), methods for insect exclusion (no bugs, eggs, etc.), and a certified kitchen for cutting fruits and vegetables for drying.(4)
Blake could not determine how California producers can legally sun-dry in the open or why no one in the health department has "picked up on it yet." A possible explanation is that existing businesses are sometimes "grandfathered in" when new, tighter restrictions are published. Or perhaps health officials realize that the conditions in the San Joaquin Valley for drying grapes into raisins (ideal temperatures, low humidity, a constant breeze, and no need to cut the fruits) are uniquely hard to replicate with other crops in other climates.
A University of Georgia publication warns against drying vegetables (with the exception of vine-dried bean seeds) and meats outdoors. "The high sugar and acid content of fruits make them safe to dry out-of-doors when conditions are favorable." However, if rain falls while the crop is drying, a whole year's work can be lost. Cut fruits require access to a commercial kitchen. Since cool night air condenses and can add moisture back to the food, fruits dried out-of-doors must be covered or brought under shelter at night.(5)