Canning Peas and Carrots

I love to can things. I admit it. It's my drug of choice. I do not think I can let two weeks go by without canning something, or thinking about canning something. Most of the time it doesn't even matter what I'm preserving. I make whole batches of things for other people, just so I have an excuse to can.

I have an extensive collection of canned food. Seriously. From canned vegetables, jams, soups, sauces, fish, and stews. You name it, at one point I probably attempted to can it.

This weekend with all the peas starting to come ripe in the garden and some carrots from a friend's greenhouse, I had the perfect excuse to come up with a procedure to can peas and carrots together! (Insert evil laugh here)

Pressure Canning Peas and Carrots



First off, make sure your ingredients are as fresh as they can possibly be! A full 4 litre basket of peas and 1 lb of carrots will give you 3 500mL jars.

Ingredients and Equipment
Pressure Canner
Large Stock Pot
Ladle
Mason/Bernardin Jars (With screw bands and new inserts)
Jar lifter
White vinegar
Peas
Carrots

Directions

1. Fill your large stock pot with water, boil the mason jars, screw bands, and your ladle in the pot for 15 minutes to sterilize everything.

2. Place your new inserts in a bowl of very hot (but not boiling) water for 10 minutes.

3. While your jars are sterilizing, peel your carrots and slice them into 1 inch thick pieces, shuck the peas and wash all the vegetables thoroughly.

4. Using your jar lifter, place the now sterilzed jars on something heat proof (I use my wooden cutting board) so you don't wreck your countertops. Fill each jar, leaving 1 inch of headspace with your pea and carrot mixture. I use a raw pack method for this (meaning I don't cook the vegetables at all first), as both peas and carrots are very tender and will cook thoroughly during the canning process.

5. Ladle in enough of the boiled water you sterilized your jars in, into the jars of peas and carrots to bring it up to a 1 inch headspace of water. Do not overfill, that can cause failure to seal.

6. Wipe the rims of the jars with a papertowel dampened with white vinegar to kill any possible bacteria. Place on the inserts and screw bands, only fingertip tightening.

7. Place in your pressure canner, and follow your manufacturer's directions. I processed my 500mL jars for 40 minutes at 11 psi. Make sure you process at a proper weight for your area, sea level does matter!

8. Let canner return to normal pressure naturally, leave sit for another 5 minutes. Remove lid, and place jars on a heat proof surface and do not move for 24 hours.



If you look closely at the picture, you can see that the peas and carrots are still boiling. This is after an hour of being out of the pressure canner. These things stay hot for a long time. Keep out of reach of little ones!