Canning experts

[Farley]

Did some canned venison last night in pint jars while I smoked the rest of the venison to be canned tonite. I'm out of pint jars but have 1/2 pint jars. Do I process in the pressure cooker the same or can I cut the time down a little? I fit 3 pints in the cooker last night for 1.25 hours, I can fit 5 half pints in the same cooker.

If I do the half pints for the same amount of time as the pints, can the meat get overcooked? I cooked the meat to rare to medium doneness in the smoker (thicker pcs rare, thinner pcs medium, very thin pcs done)

[BobT]

I think the time will be the same. I'll check my canning manual and report back.

[BobT]

It appears that pints do take less time. At 10psi it recommends 90 minutes for quarts and 75 minutes for pints. The time begins when the canner is up to pressure. Didn't see anything in regard to 1/2 pint jars.

[gundy89]

Do you have to smoke the meat first? I just got a pressure cooker for christmas and canning venison is on my to do list.

[Farley]

no, you dont have to smoke it. The recipie I have calls for smoking but says you can use unsmoked meat, just cook it to rare first and put the chunks in while theyre warm.

I ended up going for 1 hour 10 minutes in the pressure cooker. 5 half pints packed 1 inch headspace. The recipie also calls for a canning brine that includes a little vinegar so that should also help bring the acidity up and take care of any bad stuff.

[BobT]

If you search this topic, I posted a recipe for raw packing venison in quart jars that you can try. It wasn't that long ago so you should be able to confine your search to just the last 2-3 months.