How To CAN VENISON - Preserving Deer Meat

Canning Venison

This is very easy to do.

Start with clean wide mouth qt.size ball jars

put the lids in hot water(to soften rubber)

cut the venison into chunks and place in jars (I use the hind quarter)

add a glove of garlic and a teaspoon of salt

take a butter knife and push down around the sides to get the bubbles out.

wipe top of jar with clean cloth (lid won't seal if any thing is on it)

put the lid on ,close with the ring. Not too tight,just snug

put ball jars in canner for 4 hours. Start time after it starts to boil

Do not put cold jars into hot canner. I always put the jars in then turn the stove on

CANNING VENISON OR BEEF STEW

I know this looks like a lot but once you get used to doing it, It goes real quick. Once I learned I loved it. Now I can everything I get my hands on. Its great. When the kids stop in I always have something in the cupboard I can pop open and heat up.

Many say; that you need to use a Pressure cooker to get it to the boiling point to kill the bacteria in the meat. Well my stew gets to the boiling point and it cooks for some time to soften up the meat. I'm pretty sure by then the bacteria is dead. Hot water bath is how they did it back in the day. I have done it that way for years. I'm ok, and so is everyone that has eaten my food. But what ever method you use is fine.

It is so easy. I always make a big kettle of venison (or beef) stew with the junk meat when my husband butchers his deer. While your stew is cooking run your Mason jars through the dish washer or wash out with hot water to make sure they are sterile. Fill your canner half way with water and put on stove. If it is too heavy for you to do it that way, fill the canner after you have put it on the stove. You want to turn the burner on. If you put the hot jars of stew in cold water they could bust. Not Pretty. It goes the same for putting cold mason jars in hot water. Trust me. I put the lids in hot water too. It helps the rubber seal better. If you are using a PRESSURE COOKER follow the directions that came with it.

Fill your jars with the stew to about an 1/2 inch below the mouth. Stick a butter knife down the sides to make sure no air bubbles. Wipe the top of the jars off real good or it will not have a good seal. Put the lid on and screw on the cap. Snug not tight. Put them in the canner and add more water to just cover the jars, cook for around 4 hours. I pull the rack up and let the mason jars cool a little before I take them out. Whao baby are they hot!

Then just set them on a dish towel covered with another. You can hear the jars seal. They pop. But check by pressing down in the middle of the lid. If it does NOT push down then it is sealed. If any didn't seal Do Not stick it back in the water. Either save it for dinner or dump it back in with the rest of the stew and use in the next batch to go in the canner.

There is also is also The Ball Blue Book. It is all in there. Jams, pickling, preserves.

This makes a nice Christmas gift. There are fancy caps you can get or tie a ribbon. Something home made is always welcomed. One more thing If its not a friend or relative from out of town you gift with one of your creations, ask them to try and return the jar. Some people don't know how expensive they are to replace