storing homemade soup in jars how long ?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

or....just another thought....what if there was a national old style club... with local branches like the w.i. which held weekly/monthly meetings with cooking demos etc...and they had stalls at farmers markets agricultural shows etc....and each member brought stuff to sell, as a club venture ...
sorry i am going a bit ott now.....its must be my age....just turned 40.... and i allways said i would have a small holding by now, but thats all i got is a pile of debt....so just trying to think of ways to get out of it ..and start saving for my dream home......

brokenwings

a national old style club!! wouldnt that be fab??? im sooo having to sit on my hands so i dont jump up and volunteer lol

Lillibet_2

brokenwings wrote:

cooltrikerchick
ive been looking up a lot online since we started discussing this
it might even be diffferent depending on WHAT you intend to sell
i wanted to sell baked goods
first i was told i would have to have my kitchen inspected at the very least
then it went on from there

yet from what i can see the WI dont have to meet any of these requirements when they set up stalls.

im going to try and find out for sure as it really is something id like to do.

will you try and keep me posted if you find anything out and ill do likewise?
tia

The WI (and their counter part, country markets) have to meet every one of the requirements & lots more, including kitchen inspections, seperate hand washing basins in personal kitchens if they bake food etc etc, and the basic food hygine certificate has to be renewed by every person who bakes ever 3 years. Trust me, my Mum is the chairman of & a very big seller at a branch. (she sells preserves, cakes, savoury goods & cordials)
These requirements don't very county by copunty, they are country wide leglisation.

They hold a group public liability insurance but that's only good as long as their members meet all the standards all of the time, if someone got ill from eating something & it was proved that the member had failed to meet the requirements the time they baked that item then they could be held personally liable.

HTH;)

brokenwings

thanks lilibet
i stand corrected

ChocClare

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote:

sorry i am going a bit ott now.....its must be my age....just turned 40.... and i allways said i would have a small holding by now, but thats all i got is a pile of debt....so just trying to think of ways to get out of it ..and start saving for my dream home......

Don't lose that dream, cooltrikerchick! If you want some inspiration, check out http://www.pathtofreedom.com/about/urbanhomestead.shtml. This is a chap who had always dreamed of saving up for a farm in the country, but had to make do with a standard-sized house in the city instead - so dug up his lawn and did it there! Admittedly, they're in Pasadena, which possibly has just SLIGHTLY nicer weather than here...!

On the subject of canning soup, you can use Kellner jars (with rubber ring and wire) rather than Leifheit jars (with sealing ring and lid) - the only difference is it's easier to make sure you've got a vacuum seal with the latter as you can lift it up by the lid before you screw on the metal ring to make sure it's sealed properly. However, I would be EXTREMELY careful about bottling soups or vegetables, even in a proper pressure CANNER (which you just can't get in England anyway - I've looked!) as opposed to a pressure COOKER. This is because the vast majority of vegetables don't contain enough acid to kill the bugs and you are therefore very liable to botulism - the food doesn't taste or smell "off" so you eat it and enjoy it - and then die - joking apart, it is lethal, and all my canning/preserving books have warnings in eight foot high neon letters about it. The only soup which would be comparatively risk-free is tomato, as the acid in the tomatoes would help. You might be better off doing bottled fruits or fruits in brandy (if you can afford the brandy!) or vinegars or sauces/ketchups - all would keep well and not have any risks. I have a fantastic book published by our own dear government on home bottling and preserving of fruits and vegetables - the canner's bible! Tell me what ingredients you've got and I'll be happy to post you some recipes!!

annie-c

ChocClare wrote:

I have a fantastic book published by our own dear government on home bottling and preserving of fruits and vegetables - the canner's bible! Tell me what ingredients you've got and I'll be happy to post you some recipes!!

Sorry to jump in on your 'conversation' with cooltrikerchick - but I am searching madly for good preserves recipes - where did you get your book, please? I want to make spicy tomato/onion/pepper/chilli type chutneys and later some soft fruit jams.....

Thanks :T

Annie

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi.. chocclare... thats for the link and the words of incouragement...where we live at the mo there is only 4 houses 2 semi's... next door neighbours are a pain in the butt... their kids just scream... all day, and i mean scream..... plus there is 150 houses being built infront and by the side of use.....in the next year or so, and technically they can build right up to my boundery wall, on the waste ground by the side of my house that's where my chicken and ducks are......i have jusdt taken over an over grown allotment, about 10 miles away, but at the end of the day i hate neighbours....i fell as though they are watching every move i make... next door are curtain twitchers......and its very annoying.......
also thanks for the info....i think i will leave the soup idea now ....as you say there is such a high risk.....my main pickling chtney things were the srplus eggs ...pickled onions...beetroot....i have loads of rhuburb.....which i have done some chutney with dont know what that like yet as it was my first go.....and i will have loads of leeks and some potatos......radish lettuce etc....
maybe it might be worth me trying to sell my surplus instead and have a lower price rather than try and maximize the return on them....

thanks for all the info......:T

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi.. chocclare again.....just had a quick look at that website... its good.. i've just book marked it so i can read it in my hour of need (gloom) to help me forcus.....maybe i should tell myself this is my apprentice stage ready for the big one (small holding ) but i think its still out of reach, as the prices have gone so high .. and the gap in the diff in the price in my house to a cheap small holding has widened a huge amount.......but you never know maybe selling my radishes and beetroot will make my fortune (not )......

ChocClare

annie-c wrote:

Sorry to jump in on your 'conversation' with cooltrikerchick - but I am searching madly for good preserves recipes - where did you get your book, please? I want to make spicy tomato/onion/pepper/chilli type chutneys and later some soft fruit jams.....

Thanks :T

Annie

Hi Annie

The book I was talking about (recommended on about a million preserving sites!) is called Home Preservation of Fruit and Vegetables and it's published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (is this called Defra now???). Anyway, it's a dry old tome - paperback, foolscap size and looks like it's been produced on the ministry's own photocopier - but excellent. I got it on Amazon because I was interested in the technique of bottling rather than particular recipes. There are plenty of nice-sounding recipes, but, to be honest, I think it was probably written before the average Brit had heard of either peppers or chillis!! If it's just recipes you're after, then googling "recipes for preserves and chutneys" brings up lots of tasty-looking recipes - for example this site http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Preserves/Jams,%20Pickles,%20Preserves.htm. Have fun!

annie-c

ChocClare wrote:

Hi Annie

The book I was talking about (recommended on about a million preserving sites!) is called Home Preservation of Fruit and Vegetables and it's published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries

Thanks choclare - I think I need to buy the book now out of sheer curiosity! I particularly loved this Amazon review:

My Grandfather, Father, and I and now my niece all depend on this, slightly laughable, book to make Marmalade, Jam, Chutney etc. I can see no reason why it should be any business of the government to produce a book like this, but they have and its indispensible.