It is too hot to be outside gardening, so instead I decided to start cooking down all the vegetable scraps I had frozen over the past few months. I pulled out the big roaster and emptied all the scraps in which practically filled it.
I had corncobs, celery, carrots, onions, broccoli stems, cauliflower stems, and some garlic skins. You can see that I had a lot accumulated, and it was taking up a lot of room in the freezer.
I covered the veggies with water to the top of the roaster and let it simmer for 24 hours. I decided to let it go overnight as it was too late to process that day. After removing all the scraps, I strained the stock into a larger pan.
Once that was done, I filled a large kettle halfway with the stock, then added more water since it was so concentrated. While the stock came to a boil, I washed and heated up the Mason Jars and set up to pressure can.
I love the color of vegetable stock, and it already tastes so delicious and will be perfect for soups this winter.
After boiling for 10 minutes or so, I filled the quart Mason Jars to 1-inch headspace.
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I use vinegar to wipe the rims of my jars before adding the lids and rings to make sure I get a good seal. Into the canner they went and cooked for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 13 lbs. of pressure, which is where my canner seems to settle even though it only needs 10 lbs. for my altitude.
I got 8 quarts of vegetable broth to put onto the pantry shelf. I know once I start harvesting produce from the gardens and preserving, I will have plenty more to process in the future.
I also have enough left to put together some soups on another day. I just need to go get some chicken before I can process those up. I'm certainly in the canning mood, so who knows what will happen next, lol.
