Canning Ham?

[Leister Square]

Hi all,

I could have posted in "Preserving the Harvest" but thought this forum would understand better why I'd want to try canning ham! I have a fair amount of chicken and hamburger canned and want some variation. I'm thawing my clearance turkey from last year to can tomorrow, and wondered if ham is an option? Sure I could freeze it, but you guys understand why I'd want some canned up, too, Right?! Would I Just cook it and can in water at the same pressure/time as for other meats? Thanks in advance.

[bee]

I boned out a FULLY cooked water added ham and packed the jars solid with the cold meat. After processing there was plenty of water in the jar that "cooked" out of the ham..if you bake the ham first you would have to add water before canning. Mine turned out wonderful! I tried it because I was tired of buying those canned hams in the pound or pound and a half cans and having them look like chipped ham! I took all visable fat and gristle off(no skin either!).

[Prickle]

I have home canned ham in my pantry right now. Leftover from Easter. It's good, makes a good ham salad for sandwiches or to throw in scalloped potatoes.

It was cooked so I just added water. You can also add broth.

[7thswan]

I took ham and chunked potatoes, canned for Hash.

[Leister Square]

Great ideas. Now to find some on sale. BTW, the turkey I pulled out of the freezer was 37 cents a pound, almost 16 pounds for $5 and change! That beats chicken prices even when they're on sale, and turkey is as good as chicken in my opinion. Time to re-stock the shelves. I had used a bunch of the jars of chicken in my weight-loss quest--it worked, holding steady at 10 lb loss. Now I guess I'll have to exercise to get the weight to drop again! I would open a jar, pull out some for me to eat plain then make the kids chicken salad for their lunch box sandwiches. Everyone was happy...

[Charly]

I recently canned ham for the first time too. I bought an uncooked ham, removed all the fat and cubed it. Added a little water and processed. All the ham came out really brown in color. Haven't opened any to try it yet. Does all home-canned ham turn out like that? Should I be buying a specific type of ham to can?

Thanks for any help.

Also, recently tried canning bacon. Fried it up first, added about 1/2 jar of grease and processed. One jar didn't seal. Tried it. It was pretty done tasting. Think next time, I won't fry it quite so done before processing.

I too have been canning beef, pork and chicken for some time and love those results though.

[Oldcountryboy]

My mom (born 1921) always claimed they canned lots of pork when she was growing up. They didn't have refrigerators then. So they either canned it or smoked cured it. But from what I gather on her information is that they smoked cured the bacon and hams and then canned the rest of the pig. They would can the backstraps and shoulders, and they would make sausage out of the rest of the pig in which they would pan fry it and then can the patties in lard. This I have tried before with deer sausage. What you do is make patties that will fry down to about the size of a wide mouth canning jar opening. Stack the patties in the jar and pour hot melted lard inside, making sure there is no air bubbles, and then place the lid on and let cool. When the jar cools the lid will pop, sealing the lid on.

I canned several jars of sausage this way one winter and I finally ran out about mid summer.

[texican]

Canned ham is good. I got five cases of frozen one's a few months back... they can up nicely!

[Prickle]

My ham is brown too, I've read this is normal.

[Charly]

Prickle, does it taste ok? I haven't opened mine yet, but it is brown. Doesn't look very appetizing, but I don't mind that if it tastes good.

[Prickle]

Yep, it tastes fine. The texture is different than fresh ham, it's more crumbly but still tastes good.