Winter canning is probably my favorite canning because it is in the off season.
It means I have more time.
It means I have a cold house that needs heating up (totally the opposite case during peak canning season, amiright?).
It means I am choosing a canning project not based on the prevention of overripe green beans in my garden or rotting tomatoes sitting in a corner of my kitchen, but rather on my terms. What I want to do. What I feel like doing. What I’m craving.
And, best yet, it means I get to feed my canning addiction year-round.
If you’re like me and mason jars are right up in there in your favorite things department alongside your husband, your kids, and your cat, then I feel you.
But what is there to be canning in the off season? When the garden lies dormant and not a green plant is to be found?
Here are my top seven canning projects to tackle during the winter months.
Stew tends to be one of the earliest off-season canning projects for me because it coincides with both bear and deer hunting season. I have actually never made beef stew because we don’t raise cows. Instead our red meat sources are bear, deer, and lamb. But whatever red meat you prefer, this recipe works for them all. Additionally, the vegetables in beef stew can all come from the garden- and if we get bear meat in September, many of these ingredients are still actively growing in the garden (carrots, onions, celery, etc.) and I just have to run outside to gather my ingredients. This is one of those recipes where I don’t have to buy a single thing from the grocery store to produce it. It doesn’t get much better than that.
The greatest thing about canning your own stew (as well as a few of the other upcoming winter canning suggestions) is that it is heat-and-eat. Meaning, the finished product is completely cooked. All you have to do is dump it in a bowl, heat it up, and eat it. Talk about fast food. The only difference is this fast food tastes like something you took all day to cook.
Canning your own beans takes inexpensive dried beans and turns them into their more expensive canned counterpart. Not only that, but you can do so in large quantities and without the fear of BPA exposure as can be found in store bought canned goods. This is a project that I like to tackle early in the winter season as well, as that is when I used canned beans the most. Winter weather means chili season has come to town.
Speaking of chili season, home canned chili is another perfect cold weather product that you can make in the dark days of winter. For me, chili making follows tomato caning season as the recipe calls for canned whole or crushed tomatoes. This is another great heat-and-eat option for a quick lunch that will warm you right up.
For starters, there is a difference between stock and broth: Stock is a product that is the result of taking animal bones, vegetables and other aromatics, covering them with water, and simmering them over the course of a long period of time (anywhere from 6 to 24 hours or longer). Broth is most often made from meat (sometimes with the addition of bones) and vegetables that have been cooked in water for a shorter time and is often seasoned.
Whatever your preference, both are excellent winter canning projects to tackle. I always keep a healthy supply of stock on hand to be used for making soups, stews, gravy, cream soups, and so much more- I often replace water with stock in many of my recipes. The health benefits of stock are numerous.
This is another hunting season favorite: canned meat. Canning meat is not only easy, but the resulting product is simply awesome. Canned bear meat or venison is hard to beat. It seriously takes 5 minutes to turn canned meat into what tastes like an elaborate meal.
It’s also a great way to make room in your freezer. You can can any meat you want: chicken, pork, beef, rabbit, venison, bear etc. The process for canning chicken, rabbit, and other white meats are the same. Red meats are also canned the same, therefore you can follow my venison canning post to can your beef, bear, lamb, or other red meat of choice. (Pork falls into the red meat category).
If you’re a berry picker like I am, you probably have loads of berries in your freezer. While I love making that very first batch of strawberry jam in early summer, or wild raspberry jam later on, I do the majority of my actual jam making in the off season. Berries (as well as fruits) are super easy to freeze, and lend beautifully to homemade jams and jellies. Waiting until the winter to make these sweet spreads also means you have more variety to pick from for mixed berry/fruit recipes.
Most of my sauces are created from peak fall harvest produce: tomatoes, pumpkins/squash, and apples. These all seem to come on at the same time in mass quantities. The most simple way to deal with them is to get them in the freezer and make your sauce in the winter when you can do so at a comfortable pace. While I must admit, I have a huge aversion to frozen tomatoes. They freak me out. So I often will get my tomatoes sauced and canned- and from there use my tomato sauce to make other tomato products like spaghetti or pizza sauce. But apples and pumpkin or squash can be frozen and then later mashed/pureed and turned into applesauce, apple or pumpkin butter, etc.
And there you have it, my favorite canning projects to tackle in the off season. I’d love it if you would share with me your own personal favorites.
Until next time, keep feeding that canning addiction, my friends.
And homestead on.
What great ideas Erin! You do amaze me!
Thank you! 🙂