Franklin County

   August 2009
 

Can soup now for Fall warmth
 

A plentiful supply of vegetables can be turned into home prepared soups with very little fuss.

Processed soups are fairly expensive and high in sodium, so now may
be a good time to can or freeze a few jars of soup. For soup success, follow a few simple rules.

Freezing. When freezing soup, omit the potatoes; add diced potatoes when the soup is reheated for serving. Frozen potatoes crumble and become mushy. Potato cubes in canned soup is fine.

Use less liquid when preparing soup to freeze.

Cool the soup quickly in a prepared ice bath by filling a sink with 4 to 5 inches of cold water, add several trays of ice cubes, placing the soup pot, (not glass containers), in the ice bath and stirring the soup frequently until cool. Add more ice to the ice bath as needed.  After cooling, package soup in freezer containers leaving 1-inch headspace. Seal and label the containers.

Freeze broth or cream soups in ice cube trays before packaging to provide flexible serving sizes. Reheat the soup without thawing. To prevent scorching, reheat cream soups over boiling water and stir to keep them smooth.

For best quality, the suggested soup storage time is 4 to 6 months.

Canned soups. Beef and chicken broth, vegetable, seafood, dried bean or pea soup is convenient and easy to use. For safety, all soups must be processed in a pressure canner.

Rehydrate dried beans or peas fully before using them to make soups. To rehydrate, add 3 cups of water to each cup of dried beans or peas, boil 2 minutes, remove from heat, soak one hour, heat to boiling, then drain.

Select and prepare vegetables according to canning directions. Cover meats with water and cook until tender; cool meat and remove bones.

Do not add any thickeners or flour to canned soups, and leave out noodles, pasta, rice, cream and milk. Add these ingredients when the canned soup is opened and heated to serve.

Combine the vegetables and meat, if desired, and cover with meat broth, tomatoes, or water and boil 5 minutes. Fill the jars half full with solids, then finish filling with liquid, until there is
1-inch of headspace.

Adjust lids and process following the recommendations according to the method of canning used.

When canning meat or poultry stock, without added vegetables or meat, (other than the small bits that cooked off the bones), the processing time is less than the time required for the soup mixture.

Process meat or poultry both in a dial gauge pressure canner at 11 pounds of pressure, or 10 pounds of pressure in a weighted gauge canner. Process pints for 20 minutes and quarts for 25 minutes.

For all other soups, in a dial gauge pressure canner, at 0-2,000 feet in altitude, process pints for 60 minutes, quarts for 75 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure.  Process for 100 minutes if soups contain seafoods.

In a weighted gauge canner at 1-1,000 feet in altitude, process pints for 60 minutes and quarts for 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

In a weighted gauge canner above 1,000 feet in altitude, process pints for 60 minutes and quarts for 75 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure.

Source: "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, revised 2006.

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