July 16, 2025 • 31 mins
Anna and Jenny talk about how to can all the things you may need for Taco Tuesdays including corn, beans, tomatoes, ground beef or chicken or wild game(!), tomatillos, and more. Here’s the link to preserving info all about tomatillos: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/food/preservation/preserving-tomatillos
Crushed Tomatoes Recipe https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pnw-300-canning-tomatoes-tomato-products#styles
Canning Beans Recipes https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/em-9435-preserving-dry-beans
Pressure Canning Meat Recipes https://extension.usu.edu/preserve-the-harvest/research/canning-meats-poultry-seafood
Make Your Own Flour Tortillas https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7122/authentic-mexican-tortillas/
Help support the show here: buymeacoffee.com/perfectlypreservedpodcast
Buy The Pressure Canning Cookbook here: https://amzn.to/3Cn3qJn
Get the Pineapple Habanero jam recipe from Anna here: https://smarthomecanning.com/products/recipe-for-pineapple-habanero-pepper-jelly
Anna’s Video courses- learn with Anna!
These notes have affiliate links which don’t change the price of the products we recommend, but help us keep creating the podcast. Please shop through our links!
Canning Supplies We Recommend
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to the PerfectlyPreserved Podcast.
I'm your host Jenny Gomes.
And I'm Anna Cash.
Here we come together to bringyou a podcast all about
preserving food safely, easily,and dare I say, perfectly.
At home.
We are master food preserversmoms wives, and we love talking
about canning.
ready to can like a masterpreserver.
(00:21):
Let's get into today's episode.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (00:25):
Welcome back to another episode of the
Perfectly Preserved Podcast.
I'm here with my co-host, Anna,and I am Jenny.
We are Master Food Preserversand we're so excited to welcome
you to another episode of Seasonthree.
before we get started, helps usso much.
It helps other Canners find ourshow.
If left us a review, please takea second pause the show and
(00:45):
leave us five stars and a littlequick.
You can even do voice of textwritten review if that's easier.
unfortunately it's like reallyimportant for shows to have
reviews.
It helps our show get seen byother listeners, and it helps
the world have better canning.
Okay?
You're gonna be helping theworld have better.
Are canners out there if youshare the show.
So thank you so much for doingthat.
(01:06):
Anna and I spend most of ourtime on Instagram.
I am at the domestic Wildflowerand Anna is at Smart Home
Canning.
If you are interested inpressure canning, ask for the
pressure Canning Cookbookanywhere.
Books are sold written by yourstruly.
Anna and I both have courses anddigital resources available on
our websites.
Go to smart home canning.com orthe domestic wildflower.com to
(01:29):
learn more.
Today's topic, we are divinginto something that felt very
California.
Where I live at the very top ofthe state, but California
nonetheless, for all of its upsand downs and pros and cons.
We have a really great, tacoTuesday thing going.
(01:49):
It is very common for moms Iknow to make tacos on Tuesdays
for their families.
A very common theme atrestaurants, it's very common,
like Taco Tuesday is a thing,and when I said it, it seemed
like it was a little bit lesscommon in Anna's neck of the
woods.
But I do love the idea oftalking about what you can
(02:11):
preserve.
To make a meal prep day likeTaco Tuesday easier and faster.
Before we started this episode,Anne and I talked about okay,
what are the things that aperson could preserve to help
make Taco Tuesday easier?
And it's true, if you just madetacos every Tuesday, that might
get boring, but it would beeasy.
(02:33):
It would be easy to not have tothink, what are we making for
supper?
if you're at the stage of lifewhere you just need to know,
this is what I'm making forsupper every Tuesday.
Welcome to Taco Tuesdays.
Welcome to California.
the first item that we wanted totalk about on our list, Anna,
pressure canning corn.
(02:53):
What could you say aboutpressure canning a couple jars
of corn for your pantry shelf.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (02:59):
Sure.
Corn is a pretty easy thing tocan when it's in the height of
summer and corn.
I wanna say it's like a dozenfor two or three bucks or
something.
That is the perfect time to getcorn.
Cut it off the cob.
Can it with a little bit ofwater and salt, maybe throw a
(03:20):
little jalapeno in there if youwant it a little spicy.
I like things a little spicy,not crazy, but a little bit.
And you pressure can, it, cornis a low acid vegetable and so
you really wanna make sure thatyou're using your pressure
canner to hit those, thetemperatures that are needed to
kill the c botulinum That's whatI would say about corn.
(03:41):
I actually.
I canned corn one year and Ifound actually that I like
blanching it and then flashfreezing it and putting it in my
freezer rather than canning it.
I think the flavor is a littlebit better for my taste.
What about you, Jenny?
Do you can a lot of corn.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (04:01):
No, but I don't live in a place.
Where we grow a lot of corn.
So if you are a corn farmer'sdaughter, I bet you do know a
lot of people that can corn.
That's not a row crop or a cropthat's as common here.
people I know have corn in theirgardens and plenty of people do,
can it?
But I would say my mom would'vefrozen corn, not canned it.
(04:23):
But it certainly is a safe foodto pressure can, and it could be
a really useful thing to have onyour pantry shelf.
My kids, this is not taco or itis taco related, but it's just
corn related too.
My kids went to a wonderfuldaycare.
When they were teeny tiny.
And Eile would put canned cornon top of their tacos and on top
(04:46):
of their spaghetti.
And the rest of everything elsewas so mild.
'cause she just has like littledaycare people.
They don't want anything spicy.
So my husband and I alwaystalked about canned corn is like
what the kids ate at daycarebecause it was, she always did
it and the kids loved it,'causeit's mild, it's easy on the
tummy, it's kind of sweet, Kidsjust loved canned corn.
Whether you can it in a pressurecan or yourself or blanche it
(05:10):
and slice it and then put thosekernels into a bag and freeze
it, either would be reallyuseful additions to your summer
lineup of preservation.
In just thinking about all theways that you can prep for a day
like Taco Tuesday.
The next item on our list wasBeans Anna, how do you do your
(05:31):
beans?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (05:34):
Okay, so I do all kinds of beans.
I love having an available fibersource.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (05:41):
Mm-hmm.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (05:42):
I think fiber is a very underrated
thing in our diet.
It's really important for guthealth.
And so I do red beans, I dogarbanzo beans, white beans,
great northern beans.
I love all types of beans.
And I like to add some seasoningto the beans just because.
(06:03):
Life is too short to eat boringfood.
So I usually add like chilipowder and cumin, maybe some
garlic powder, onion powder, andthose things don't affect the pH
don't live with boring beans.
If you have something specificthat your family likes, don't be
afraid to add a little bit of JIguess.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (06:25):
So it's great that you talked about
boring beans because I also donot want our listeners to eat
boring beans.
When I was coming up with goodideas for my book, I did wanna
include a lot of bean focusedrecipes because you can pressure
canned beans very well.
The results are very tasty.
(06:45):
It's very time saving, and it issuch a frugal ingredient.
If you get dried beans, youcannot get a cheaper food.
They are so affordable and theycan turn out so good, like the
cost is so low and the outcomecan be so good.
They've really suffered a PRproblem.
They really need to be churchedup.
I think.
People think they're reallyboring and lame, but they can be
(07:06):
really superstar.
One unexpected place that Ifound for good ideas, for
flavors that we could puttogether for beans was on the
brands.
If you buy whatever brand ofbeans, look on their packaging.
They have websites with tons ofrecipes.
If you grew up in a family thatate two or three different kinds
of beans, there's dozens ofother bean recipes and profiles
(07:29):
and different ways to preparethose beans that you may not
have thought of, several brandwebsites were excellent in terms
of just, oh, that is something Idefinitely would eat, or, that
seems like a very good, easyrecipe.
So your step in this TacoTuesday lineup of beans
preparation, you would just bepressure canning the beans and
probably adding some seasoningslike Anna just explained, either
(07:52):
garlic powder, spices.
Those are easy add-ins and notcan be a place like if you just
look at those websites just toget your wheels turning as to
okay, so if I take the time tocam these beans.
What else will I use them for?
But I thought those were like, Icouldn't even believe how good
the websites were.
I was like, why did I not evenknow that this was a website?
They need to be on social mediaor something.
(08:13):
They were great.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (08:13):
And in your pressure Cannon Cookbook,
you have a really great navybean recipe.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (08:18):
You.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (08:18):
tell us why navy beans are called
that and why they're
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (08:21):
Oh, so, uh, navy beans are white.
They're not blue.
But they were a staple in themilitary and they are for good
reason because they're supernutritious.
I don't know if they are themost mild tasting, but they are
a very mild tasting bean.
And on their website, oh God,was it called Camilla?
I'll have to look it up.
(08:41):
But, they had a white beanchicken chili, and I was like,
oh, I need to get a, a way tomake that recipe canning safe,
right?
So I worked backwards from that.
Delicious.
And so affordable beans, man,I'm telling you, they're such a
cheap food.
And that was just like, I workedbackwards from their website and
it is a really good recipe.
(09:02):
you could certainly look intothat.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (09:04):
It's delicious.
I made it and my family waslike, oh, you need to make this
more often.
It's so good.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (09:10):
Oh, well thank you.
I am glad that you felt thatway, but hopefully we sold you
on the beans.
Tomatoes is another obvious,taco Tuesday ingredient.
Anna is a big proponent ofcanning, diced tomatoes, which I
think perfect for thisapplication.
Tell us a tiny bit about yourcanned tomatoes.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (09:30):
Yeah, so when I do diced tomatoes, I
know I talk about like spicingthings up, but my tomatoes I
leave pretty plain.
I'll just do, the requiredcitric acid for acidification
and my tomatoes and then I addsalt.
And then I will use thosetomatoes for either fresh pico
de gao.
Other than the tomatoes, there'sa restaurant here, I don't know
(09:52):
if they're still around, but inSalt Lake it was called Chevys
and it was, my husband and i'sfavorite Mexican place to go to.
And they had this salsa that wasjust killer.
And, the other, I would say likemaybe five years ago I looked
up, a copycat recipe andActually used canned diced
tomatoes.
And so I'm able to make thatfresh ish salsa and, i'll have
(10:15):
to look through and see if I canfind that recipe and then I'll
share it with our listeners inthe show notes.
But that's what I use dicedtomatoes for.
I will also add it to my meatproducts when I'm sauteing it
with, whatever spices I'm using.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025 (10:28):
about.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (10:28):
Do you use tomatoes for that?
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1536 (10:30):
I do think that the diced tomatoes
is probably the way to go or thewhole, even the whole tomatoes.
How holes or halves that I thinkwould be the most useful for a
taco extravaganza?
I usually can like a plaintomato sauce'cause we eat
probably more pasta than we do.
But that said, I think your, thediced tomatoes are a good way to
(10:51):
go.
And then that leads us to saytoo salsa.
So it's a very common, Peoplereach out to us and say, what's
the best canning recipe forsalsa?
And the thing that I think youneed to know is that if you can
salsa it is not going the sametexture as a fresh or pico de
gao or salsa fresca type oftexture.
(11:12):
I know, like my husbandpersonally, he wants the fresh,
He, there's no canned salsa thathas the same texture as fresh.
not gonna achieve that.
But by using canned tomatoes, Ifeel like the rest of the
ingredients can be, can still bevery crisp, that cilantro could
be crisp, and fairy freshtasting.
And then you're still being ableto assemble all that when
(11:33):
tomatoes are probably out ofseason, potentially.
Can the tomatoes in either dicedor whole, or however you wanna
can them, but then you couldstill make that fresh chasing
salsa.
That's not to say there's stillvery good salsa recipes.
Anna has a good salsa recipe shelikes that's canned.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (11:48):
I was gonna say, it's funny, the yin
and yang of us, because Husband.
Doesn't love a pico.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (11:53):
Oh,
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (11:54):
onion flavor, Likes a canned salsa
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (11:57):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (11:58):
Cooked and softened and stuff.
But it is funny that.
Just how different people areand
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (12:03):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (12:03):
So if you're like, I want a fresh one.
Do a fresh one if you want.
Canned salsa.
I do have a little mini course.
It's a$10 mini course all abouttomatoes and I give you my world
famous Salsa recipe.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-20 (12:18):
Perfect.
So I think the next thing thatwe wanted to dive into was meat.
So there's many ways that youcould go about canning meat that
would be seasoned perfectly forTaco Tuesday.
And I think we'll start with thefirst, which I think we would
both pass on, which is groundbeef.
So you can safely, pressure, canground beef in a pressure
(12:41):
canner.
There are many trusted, everycooperative extension website
has a good recipe for it.
I think they usually recommendthat you brown at first and pre
browning your meat is called Hpack.
And we would definitely say for,I can't think of an exception
other than fish.
You would probably be happierwith the results if you browned
(13:04):
your meat first.
But ground beef canned, I justwas like, I don't know why I
would do this.
This is not that much better.
And.
Cooking up some hamburgersisn't, doesn't take that long.
So Anna and I both talked beforewe pressed record, and we just
didn't love pressure.
Canned ground beef.
What do you think, Anna?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (13:26):
Yeah, it's just for me, the flavor
isn't very good.
The texture is weird.
for me, I would skip it, but
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (13:34):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (13:34):
you if you wanna give it a try.
And you love it and your familyloves it, do it.
But, for me, I wasn't a fan, butI did love beef chunks.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (13:45):
Yes.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (13:45):
So beef chunks you can use for
stews or, some kind of beef,Taco seasoning beef or whatever,
carne asada.
Those, I would also do hot pack,like Jenny was talking about.
And what I do is I cut my beefinto one inch chunks and then I
(14:07):
broil it for, oh, maybe threeminutes and really get the top
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (14:13):
Mm-hmm.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (14:14):
what you're trying to do really is.
Keep the shape of the meat.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (14:20):
Yes.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (14:20):
do a raw pack, if you just put in
chunks of raw meat into a jarand pressure can it, you can do
that.
But what happens is it kind ofinto a big blob at the bottom of
the jar if you do a hot pack allof those pieces stay pretty
uniform.
They stay apart from each other,and we eat with our eyes first.
(14:42):
And for me, I just prefer a hotpack.
The way it looks in the jar, itlooks appetizing, it looks
delicious.
That's just me personally.
What about you, Jenny?
Do you do a hot pack?
Do you do a raw pack?
What do you
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (14:53):
For red meat, I would only hot pack.
when I signed my deal to writemy cookbook, that was sincerely,
my number one concern was how inthe world am I gonna make this
food look good?
Because pressure can meat.
It's not the prettiest it.
Can it just kind of like
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (15:10):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025 (15:11):
slumps to the bottom of the jar and it
just really can look ugly in ahurry.
But if you pre-Brown your meat,it keeps the shape, it gives a
very good flavor by doing thechunks of beef, I'll say you can
do very good taco meat with buckmeat or venison.
I've done that a bunch of times.
I do that all the time.
I'd say that is very good.
(15:33):
And it's like very shredded,right?
Like any kind of it's notcarnitas because you can that,
but it's very similar to thatcarnitas texture.
and you can easily season any ofthe meats that we're talking
about.
however you would like to seasonyour tacos with your chilies,
your cumin, all of your spicesthat you might prefer.
All day long.
I would choose a tough cut ofbeef that you don't necessarily
(15:54):
want to like cook in some otherway.
Brown it, and then pressure canit?
Amen.
that takes a zero to a hero inno time.
It's such a good choice.
And then chicken.
How do you pressure?
Can your chicken, Hannah?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (16:05):
I do, my chicken the same way.
So I will cut it into one inchchunks.
I will broil it for about two tothree minutes, maybe up to, I
think five minutes But, you justwanna see those, juices start to
come out and then it shrinks alittle Get more in the jar if
you do a hot pack, whereas.
When you do raw pack, like Jennysaid, it kind of shrinks.
(16:29):
It kind of goes down into achunk.
When I do the, this might soundgross to our listeners, but the
first time I did chicken, I dida raw pack, when I pulled it out
of the pressure canner.
It looked like brains.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (16:44):
Hundred percent
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (16:45):
like my kids are gonna, I'm gonna say
go down there and get somechicken and they're gonna be
like, mom can brains like, thisis so disgusting They are not
gonna want to eat it.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (16:55):
so as a person that has seen
cooked.
Venison brains.
I'm gonna tell you, that's notan exaggeration.
It's fine if you eat brain, eatit all day long, but it's not
pretty
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (17:07):
sure.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (17:08):
like gray scrambled eggs.
If you're wondering.
And that's what raw fact meatlooks like.
I'm not kidding.
Grotesque in appearance.
In appearance only.
It's not pretty.
I'm not a food shamer.
I'm not trying to shame anyonewho eats.
Whatever they eat.
I think food's amazing.
I'm such a pro.
Eat whatever you wanna eatperson, but it's not pretty.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (17:30):
Sure.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (17:31):
you care about that and if you're
also trying to like, approximatewhat your family might be used
to eating, if you're, bringingeveryone on board with this
preservation jam you've gotgoing on, making it look
approximate or close to what youmight get elsewhere is
important.
So again, we're pro Browning,
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (17:52):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (17:52):
pro Hot Pack.
The exception of that is fishand you don't necessarily, or I
would say it's far less commonfor you to hot pack your fish.
But do you have anything else toadd about meat, Anna?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (18:05):
I think when we talk about meat,
it's important to really go oversafe food handling practices.
So it's important that your meatis chilled.
Don't let it sit out on thecounter.
For hours and hours while you'reprepping your jars and
everything, make sure that youhave cleaned off your work
surfaces with either a bleachwater solution or some kind of
(18:27):
cleaning solution.
And then just keep your meatchilled until you're ready to
use it, then process it.
Quickly I don't know if this isa good tip or not Jenny, but
somebody told me he was a hunterand he said that his mom always
canned their wild game inchunks.
She would put like a cut ofonion on the top, like
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (18:50):
Like a ring.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (18:51):
an onion.
Yeah, like a half inch ring.
She would put it on the top andthen she would pressure When
they went to open it, she wouldtoss that onion out because it
almost like collected some ofthat gamey flavor.
I have never done that, butmaybe you could do it this fall
and
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (19:08):
Report.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (19:09):
goes.
'cause he was very
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (19:10):
Sure.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (19:11):
He was like it.
It really took a lot of thatgamey flavor out.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (19:16):
So gamey flavor is something we
could talk about all day long.
Sometimes.
Wild game tastes, quote unquotegamey because the person cooking
it is uninitiated and maybedoesn't know how quite to
prepare it.
I can't say enough good thingsabout Steven Ella and his brand
meat eater in terms of learningabout how to properly prepare
(19:38):
meat so that it has the bestchance of tasting delicious,
whatever wild thing you aregoing to prepare and or pressure
can.
That said.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (19:46):
Cool.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (19:47):
Maybe the onion would do it.
I have no idea.
I've never done that.
But I do know that it takes atough cut of meat.
you pick your kind and it makesit tender.
And if you add things like aslice of jalapeno, a scoop of
tomato paste, that was mysister-in-law's deal, she would
do make fajitas, but it wouldjust be hunks of venison, which
(20:08):
is like a very concentratedtomato flavor without being too
watery.
Right.
And then I think like a teaspoonof taco seasoning and a clove of
garlic or something.
That's how she would pressurecanned her buck meat.
And it was very good.
Very like just a very goodflavor.
And I think if you are cookingwith good ingredients and
(20:29):
tenderizing the meat, it's notgoing to taste like beef, but
it's going to taste pretty good.
So I think
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (20:36):
Yeah,
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (20:36):
just stop thinking about gaminess
necessarily.
Think about what am I gonna cookwith this?
That is a really great,delicious flavor that will bring
out the best.
But the onion, I wouldn't saythat would be a mistake.
That might help.
And of course, gaminess also hasto do with what has the animal
been eating and the age of theanimal.
So if you happen to know, likethis bear was eating on deceased
(20:59):
things, okay, that would tastedifferent than a bear that was
eating blackberries all summer.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (21:04):
Sure.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1536 (21:05):
a very, very old buck.
You know, if someone, you know,gets like a monster deer, well
he's gonna be really old.
That will taste different thansomething smaller and younger.
So
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (21:15):
yes.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025 (21:16):
that's my 2 cents on the topic.
But it's a good thing to bethinking about because more and
more people are eating,
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (21:21):
it.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (21:22):
more and more people are eating
different meats and, there'spressure, canning times, and
information on many differentgame types.
So if you are gonna pressure cansomething a game animal, I
included several times in mybook, but if you don't have my
book or you're just lookingonline, your local cooperative
extension for wherever thatanimal came from.
(21:45):
if you are doing a moose searchup, Alaska's Cooperative
extension, they will have timesfor all things moose.
That will guide you in the rightdirection for the correct times
and give specific informationfor being aware of how long to
cook, how to cook, how toprepare to protect against,
potential parasites and creepycrawlies in that meat.
(22:07):
Most of the time the meat thatyou get will be very healthy and
safe, but bear in particular,you gotta be careful that just
means you have to cook itthoroughly.
But anyway, that's outside myscope of expertise, but I can
definitely encourage you to doyour research, the most overused
phrase on the internet today.
But do a little googly goo onyour, cooperative extension so
(22:28):
that you get the goodinformation on that particular
game type.
If you're pressure canning itand two thumbs up, if you make
it a taco flavoring, that'sgonna be delicious probably.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (22:39):
No, I love that and I appreciate your,
expertise on the matter.
I know you say I'm not anexpert, but like you are saying
things that I've never heard of,so I absolutely appreciate it
and I know our listeners will aswell.
Because we do live in a societyin the United States where we
are pretty sheltered from ourhunter gather roots, and there
(23:00):
are so many varieties of thingsthat you can eat
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (23:03):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (23:04):
that.
Can be just as healthy, just asdelicious, but they're very
unique and Just don't how to eatit or Figure it out.
So I applaud you guys for doingthat.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (23:16):
Like even if you're just thinking
about eating something from alocal farmer, that's different
than what you would've normallychosen like rabbit or goat.
Those are two domestic animalsthat are growing in popularity
in terms of what homesteadersare able to produce for sale,
for customers, and those aremeats that can safely be
pressure canned.
So if you were thinking like,okay, am I gonna buy like a
(23:37):
whole goat?
What am I gonna do with thewhole thing?
How do I preserve that?
that's a thing that more andmore people are considering and
it's just, it's a new thingbecause your mom probably
didn't, or maybe didn't, cook oreat those things.
So, I'm just letting you know ifyou are gonna cook or preserve
something that is new to you.
Your cooperative exception hasyou covered with times for
(23:59):
pressure scanning, all thosedifferent types of meats.
anna_1_06-26-2025_1636 (24:01):
Perfect, perfect.
And if you are nervous aboutpressure canning, you absolutely
can utilize a freezer as well.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (24:09):
Yeah, totally.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (24:10):
sure that you know that there are
other types of preservationbesides canning.
We are talking a lot aboutcanning, but you can definitely
utilize your freezer.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (24:20):
Yeah, I can't say enough good things
about a good old freezer, butit's amazing.
It's amazing that we have that,can you imagine like 500 years
ago to think oh, they'll havethis thing in every home that
keeps everything super cold allthe time.
It's amazing.
yeah, we're pretty lucky to havethose.
anna_1_06-26-2025_16361 (24:35):
months.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (24:35):
Yes.
Months and months.
The next item on our list forTaco Tuesday was tomatillos and
slash green sauce.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (24:43):
I love either a tomatillo salsa, like a
green salsa or a chili verdesauce.
We have somebody that comes upfrom New Mexico to Utah and they
roast hatch chilies in, I wannasay August or something, And
it's just right down the streetat My Smiths and they're outside
just roasting these peppers andit's so amazing.
(25:05):
And I love canning those inlittle four ounce jars.
And I can just add those towhatever I'm making for Taco
Tuesday, whether it's corn orit's.
The meat or the rice.
it just gives it such excellentflavor.
And so I wanna encourage ourlisteners to, to maybe do some
of those more specialty peppersin little jars.
(25:28):
That, what I love to do,honestly.
so I do love tomatillos.
I never grow them.
They seem to take up quite a bitof space, but I do like them.
It just takes a little while to,to find them around where I
live.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (25:42):
So my neighbor.
Grows tomatillos.
She's a really wonderful cookand has spent time in Central
America.
So she's like my go-to for allthings.
Taco Tuesday and the tomatilloswere, they look like a tiny
green tomato wrapped.
In a paper lantern, and ifyou're going to be eating them
(26:04):
at all, those little paperlanterns have to be torn off.
And I would have my little girlon the little chair next to me
and she would help me peel thosepaper lanterns off the tets.
And it's a great job for a kidbecause you can't do it wrong.
There's a lot of'em.
it's just a fun little paperyhusk that comes off and, I just
(26:27):
think green salsa is delish.
I think green, like all thingsverde is delicious.
And those weird little tomato,are they a cousin of a tomato?
I'll include a link in the shownotes, Our Oregon State
University extension office saysthat tomatillos are our first
cousin to the ground cherry in amore distant relative of the
tomato.
So as a tart flavor, that's
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (26:48):
yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (26:48):
sweeter as it ripens it's.
It's just a little weird littleveggie, but they are delish, I
think.
And even if you don't grow them,you can them in a boiling water
canner.
And you can pressure can them,and you can make delicious green
salsa.
You can make, there's lots ofvery good, tested recipes using
temas including relish.
(27:10):
Yeah, this link has a bunch ofreally good recipes on it and
directions for freezing.
So that might be a cool,addition to your sauce lineup.
Either something you preserveyourself or just exploring maybe
growing them or trying them outonce.
It might be fun to try that out.
If you've never done verdesauce, they're good.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (27:28):
I've seen him in the grocery store,
like in the Hispanic food aisle.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (27:32):
so to can whole tomatillos you
obviously remove the husks, youcook them in boiling water till
they're tender.
Pack hot tempts loosely in jars.
Acidify each jar with onetablespoon bottled lemon juice
or lime juice per pint, or twotablespoons per quart, or a
quarter teaspoon citric acid perpint, half a teaspoon per quart,
(27:53):
so it's very similar to plaintomatoes.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (27:57):
Uhhuh,
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (27:57):
at from sea level to a thousand
feet, you process for 40minutes.
So they're a long haul.
I have never canned plaintomatillo's personally, but I
have done lots of
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (28:07):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (28:07):
salsa recipes or sauce, te Matet
Green, ver Salta Verde.
I've done a bunch of differentrecipes and I feel like they're
all good.
I liked all of them.
I guess if you like that greenSalta Verde flavor, they'll
probably all be pretty good.
And frankly, most of the recipeswill be very similar.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (28:21):
I really like the ball Canning
recipes, salsa Verde out of theBlue Book, guide to preserving.
I think that's the recipe that Iused.
And it was really good, like yousaid.
This is just a little Anna tip.
I like to roast all of thethings that are going into that
salsa first.
put'em under the broiler, get'emreally nice and crispy and black
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (28:42):
Mm,
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (28:43):
blend everything up in your blender
and then can'em.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (28:46):
Very good idea.
That's all I have on my list.
Anna, do you have anything elseto add to our Taco Tuesday
lineup?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (28:52):
I think that's it for me as well.
we covered the fillings of thetacos and I would.
Just do one little plug and thatis to try and make your own corn
tortillas
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (29:03):
Ooh.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (29:04):
Uh, we took a trip to Guatemala and we
were staying in this hillside,Airbnb, And we didn't have a car
and we were stuck there becausemy in-laws were with us and they
did not really wanna go up anddown this hillside.
And the only thing that was atthat house, we brought a little
bit of food but there was a boxof masa and I was like, oh, this
(29:29):
is great.
All I have to do is add boilingwater, let it sit for about 10
minutes and then form tortillas.
It was.
The best tortillas I've everhad.
The shape was not the best, butthey were so delicious.
And you get masa at any grocerystore.
I think it's pretty popular now,there's lots of different
(29:49):
brands, just try making your ownhomemade tortillas.
It's really fun.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (29:55):
My sister makes hers with sourdough
discard, and I also thought theywere delicious.
It's not something I normallymake but there's recipes out
there and if you've already doneall this cooking in advance.
Then just whipping up the freshtortillas will be no big deal
because you have everything elsealready prepared.
So put that in the back of yourminds.
I think that's a great cherry ontop.
(30:15):
Anna, good job.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (30:17):
Yeah, it's fun and my kids using the
tortilla press for it,
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (30:22):
fun.
anna_1_06-26-2025_1636 (30:22):
sauteing up your stuff, you can let the
hot water, the boiling water,absorb into the masa, then you
can start cranking those out.
It's fun.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (30:33):
Love it.
Good job.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (30:34):
idea of fun.
Maybe not everyone's.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (30:36):
Now if you listen to this podcast,
that's your idea of fun.
great.
Okay.
Well thank you so much everyonefor joining us on this very fun
episode.
That's our show.
We don't want you to miss anepisode, so please be sure to
subscribe.
If you found this episodehelpful and informative, please
give our show a rating andreview.
It only takes a few seconds andit really helps our show grow.
(30:58):
Follow us on social media atSmart Home Canning and at the
domestic wildflower.
Email your preserving questionsto Perfectly Preserved
podcast@gmail.com and we will doour best to answer your
questions on the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
Stay tuned for our next episodereleased every week.
Welcome to the PerfectlyPreserved Podcast.
I'm your host Jenny Gomes.
And I'm Anna Cash.
Here we come together to bringyou a podcast all about
preserving food safely, easily,and dare I say, perfectly.
At home.
We are master food preserversmoms wives, and we love talking
about canning.
ready to can like a masterpreserver.
(00:21):
Let's get into today's episode.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (00:25):
Welcome back to another episode of the
Perfectly Preserved Podcast.
I'm here with my co-host, Anna,and I am Jenny.
We are Master Food Preserversand we're so excited to welcome
you to another episode of Seasonthree.
before we get started, helps usso much.
It helps other Canners find ourshow.
If left us a review, please takea second pause the show and
(00:45):
leave us five stars and a littlequick.
You can even do voice of textwritten review if that's easier.
unfortunately it's like reallyimportant for shows to have
reviews.
It helps our show get seen byother listeners, and it helps
the world have better canning.
Okay?
You're gonna be helping theworld have better.
Are canners out there if youshare the show.
So thank you so much for doingthat.
(01:06):
Anna and I spend most of ourtime on Instagram.
I am at the domestic Wildflowerand Anna is at Smart Home
Canning.
If you are interested inpressure canning, ask for the
pressure Canning Cookbookanywhere.
Books are sold written by yourstruly.
Anna and I both have courses anddigital resources available on
our websites.
Go to smart home canning.com orthe domestic wildflower.com to
(01:29):
learn more.
Today's topic, we are divinginto something that felt very
California.
Where I live at the very top ofthe state, but California
nonetheless, for all of its upsand downs and pros and cons.
We have a really great, tacoTuesday thing going.
(01:49):
It is very common for moms Iknow to make tacos on Tuesdays
for their families.
A very common theme atrestaurants, it's very common,
like Taco Tuesday is a thing,and when I said it, it seemed
like it was a little bit lesscommon in Anna's neck of the
woods.
But I do love the idea oftalking about what you can
(02:11):
preserve.
To make a meal prep day likeTaco Tuesday easier and faster.
Before we started this episode,Anne and I talked about okay,
what are the things that aperson could preserve to help
make Taco Tuesday easier?
And it's true, if you just madetacos every Tuesday, that might
get boring, but it would beeasy.
(02:33):
It would be easy to not have tothink, what are we making for
supper?
if you're at the stage of lifewhere you just need to know,
this is what I'm making forsupper every Tuesday.
Welcome to Taco Tuesdays.
Welcome to California.
the first item that we wanted totalk about on our list, Anna,
pressure canning corn.
(02:53):
What could you say aboutpressure canning a couple jars
of corn for your pantry shelf.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (02:59):
Sure.
Corn is a pretty easy thing tocan when it's in the height of
summer and corn.
I wanna say it's like a dozenfor two or three bucks or
something.
That is the perfect time to getcorn.
Cut it off the cob.
Can it with a little bit ofwater and salt, maybe throw a
(03:20):
little jalapeno in there if youwant it a little spicy.
I like things a little spicy,not crazy, but a little bit.
And you pressure can, it, cornis a low acid vegetable and so
you really wanna make sure thatyou're using your pressure
canner to hit those, thetemperatures that are needed to
kill the c botulinum That's whatI would say about corn.
(03:41):
I actually.
I canned corn one year and Ifound actually that I like
blanching it and then flashfreezing it and putting it in my
freezer rather than canning it.
I think the flavor is a littlebit better for my taste.
What about you, Jenny?
Do you can a lot of corn.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (04:01):
No, but I don't live in a place.
Where we grow a lot of corn.
So if you are a corn farmer'sdaughter, I bet you do know a
lot of people that can corn.
That's not a row crop or a cropthat's as common here.
people I know have corn in theirgardens and plenty of people do,
can it?
But I would say my mom would'vefrozen corn, not canned it.
(04:23):
But it certainly is a safe foodto pressure can, and it could be
a really useful thing to have onyour pantry shelf.
My kids, this is not taco or itis taco related, but it's just
corn related too.
My kids went to a wonderfuldaycare.
When they were teeny tiny.
And Eile would put canned cornon top of their tacos and on top
(04:46):
of their spaghetti.
And the rest of everything elsewas so mild.
'cause she just has like littledaycare people.
They don't want anything spicy.
So my husband and I alwaystalked about canned corn is like
what the kids ate at daycarebecause it was, she always did
it and the kids loved it,'causeit's mild, it's easy on the
tummy, it's kind of sweet, Kidsjust loved canned corn.
Whether you can it in a pressurecan or yourself or blanche it
(05:10):
and slice it and then put thosekernels into a bag and freeze
it, either would be reallyuseful additions to your summer
lineup of preservation.
In just thinking about all theways that you can prep for a day
like Taco Tuesday.
The next item on our list wasBeans Anna, how do you do your
(05:31):
beans?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (05:34):
Okay, so I do all kinds of beans.
I love having an available fibersource.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (05:41):
Mm-hmm.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (05:42):
I think fiber is a very underrated
thing in our diet.
It's really important for guthealth.
And so I do red beans, I dogarbanzo beans, white beans,
great northern beans.
I love all types of beans.
And I like to add some seasoningto the beans just because.
(06:03):
Life is too short to eat boringfood.
So I usually add like chilipowder and cumin, maybe some
garlic powder, onion powder, andthose things don't affect the pH
don't live with boring beans.
If you have something specificthat your family likes, don't be
afraid to add a little bit of JIguess.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (06:25):
So it's great that you talked about
boring beans because I also donot want our listeners to eat
boring beans.
When I was coming up with goodideas for my book, I did wanna
include a lot of bean focusedrecipes because you can pressure
canned beans very well.
The results are very tasty.
(06:45):
It's very time saving, and it issuch a frugal ingredient.
If you get dried beans, youcannot get a cheaper food.
They are so affordable and theycan turn out so good, like the
cost is so low and the outcomecan be so good.
They've really suffered a PRproblem.
They really need to be churchedup.
I think.
People think they're reallyboring and lame, but they can be
(07:06):
really superstar.
One unexpected place that Ifound for good ideas, for
flavors that we could puttogether for beans was on the
brands.
If you buy whatever brand ofbeans, look on their packaging.
They have websites with tons ofrecipes.
If you grew up in a family thatate two or three different kinds
of beans, there's dozens ofother bean recipes and profiles
(07:29):
and different ways to preparethose beans that you may not
have thought of, several brandwebsites were excellent in terms
of just, oh, that is something Idefinitely would eat, or, that
seems like a very good, easyrecipe.
So your step in this TacoTuesday lineup of beans
preparation, you would just bepressure canning the beans and
probably adding some seasoningslike Anna just explained, either
(07:52):
garlic powder, spices.
Those are easy add-ins and notcan be a place like if you just
look at those websites just toget your wheels turning as to
okay, so if I take the time tocam these beans.
What else will I use them for?
But I thought those were like, Icouldn't even believe how good
the websites were.
I was like, why did I not evenknow that this was a website?
They need to be on social mediaor something.
(08:13):
They were great.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (08:13):
And in your pressure Cannon Cookbook,
you have a really great navybean recipe.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (08:18):
You.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (08:18):
tell us why navy beans are called
that and why they're
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (08:21):
Oh, so, uh, navy beans are white.
They're not blue.
But they were a staple in themilitary and they are for good
reason because they're supernutritious.
I don't know if they are themost mild tasting, but they are
a very mild tasting bean.
And on their website, oh God,was it called Camilla?
I'll have to look it up.
(08:41):
But, they had a white beanchicken chili, and I was like,
oh, I need to get a, a way tomake that recipe canning safe,
right?
So I worked backwards from that.
Delicious.
And so affordable beans, man,I'm telling you, they're such a
cheap food.
And that was just like, I workedbackwards from their website and
it is a really good recipe.
(09:02):
you could certainly look intothat.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (09:04):
It's delicious.
I made it and my family waslike, oh, you need to make this
more often.
It's so good.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (09:10):
Oh, well thank you.
I am glad that you felt thatway, but hopefully we sold you
on the beans.
Tomatoes is another obvious,taco Tuesday ingredient.
Anna is a big proponent ofcanning, diced tomatoes, which I
think perfect for thisapplication.
Tell us a tiny bit about yourcanned tomatoes.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (09:30):
Yeah, so when I do diced tomatoes, I
know I talk about like spicingthings up, but my tomatoes I
leave pretty plain.
I'll just do, the requiredcitric acid for acidification
and my tomatoes and then I addsalt.
And then I will use thosetomatoes for either fresh pico
de gao.
Other than the tomatoes, there'sa restaurant here, I don't know
(09:52):
if they're still around, but inSalt Lake it was called Chevys
and it was, my husband and i'sfavorite Mexican place to go to.
And they had this salsa that wasjust killer.
And, the other, I would say likemaybe five years ago I looked
up, a copycat recipe andActually used canned diced
tomatoes.
And so I'm able to make thatfresh ish salsa and, i'll have
(10:15):
to look through and see if I canfind that recipe and then I'll
share it with our listeners inthe show notes.
But that's what I use dicedtomatoes for.
I will also add it to my meatproducts when I'm sauteing it
with, whatever spices I'm using.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025 (10:28):
about.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (10:28):
Do you use tomatoes for that?
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1536 (10:30):
I do think that the diced tomatoes
is probably the way to go or thewhole, even the whole tomatoes.
How holes or halves that I thinkwould be the most useful for a
taco extravaganza?
I usually can like a plaintomato sauce'cause we eat
probably more pasta than we do.
But that said, I think your, thediced tomatoes are a good way to
(10:51):
go.
And then that leads us to saytoo salsa.
So it's a very common, Peoplereach out to us and say, what's
the best canning recipe forsalsa?
And the thing that I think youneed to know is that if you can
salsa it is not going the sametexture as a fresh or pico de
gao or salsa fresca type oftexture.
(11:12):
I know, like my husbandpersonally, he wants the fresh,
He, there's no canned salsa thathas the same texture as fresh.
not gonna achieve that.
But by using canned tomatoes, Ifeel like the rest of the
ingredients can be, can still bevery crisp, that cilantro could
be crisp, and fairy freshtasting.
And then you're still being ableto assemble all that when
(11:33):
tomatoes are probably out ofseason, potentially.
Can the tomatoes in either dicedor whole, or however you wanna
can them, but then you couldstill make that fresh chasing
salsa.
That's not to say there's stillvery good salsa recipes.
Anna has a good salsa recipe shelikes that's canned.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (11:48):
I was gonna say, it's funny, the yin
and yang of us, because Husband.
Doesn't love a pico.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (11:53):
Oh,
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (11:54):
onion flavor, Likes a canned salsa
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (11:57):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (11:58):
Cooked and softened and stuff.
But it is funny that.
Just how different people areand
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (12:03):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (12:03):
So if you're like, I want a fresh one.
Do a fresh one if you want.
Canned salsa.
I do have a little mini course.
It's a$10 mini course all abouttomatoes and I give you my world
famous Salsa recipe.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-20 (12:18):
Perfect.
So I think the next thing thatwe wanted to dive into was meat.
So there's many ways that youcould go about canning meat that
would be seasoned perfectly forTaco Tuesday.
And I think we'll start with thefirst, which I think we would
both pass on, which is groundbeef.
So you can safely, pressure, canground beef in a pressure
(12:41):
canner.
There are many trusted, everycooperative extension website
has a good recipe for it.
I think they usually recommendthat you brown at first and pre
browning your meat is called Hpack.
And we would definitely say for,I can't think of an exception
other than fish.
You would probably be happierwith the results if you browned
(13:04):
your meat first.
But ground beef canned, I justwas like, I don't know why I
would do this.
This is not that much better.
And.
Cooking up some hamburgersisn't, doesn't take that long.
So Anna and I both talked beforewe pressed record, and we just
didn't love pressure.
Canned ground beef.
What do you think, Anna?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (13:26):
Yeah, it's just for me, the flavor
isn't very good.
The texture is weird.
for me, I would skip it, but
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (13:34):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (13:34):
you if you wanna give it a try.
And you love it and your familyloves it, do it.
But, for me, I wasn't a fan, butI did love beef chunks.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (13:45):
Yes.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (13:45):
So beef chunks you can use for
stews or, some kind of beef,Taco seasoning beef or whatever,
carne asada.
Those, I would also do hot pack,like Jenny was talking about.
And what I do is I cut my beefinto one inch chunks and then I
(14:07):
broil it for, oh, maybe threeminutes and really get the top
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (14:13):
Mm-hmm.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (14:14):
what you're trying to do really is.
Keep the shape of the meat.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (14:20):
Yes.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (14:20):
do a raw pack, if you just put in
chunks of raw meat into a jarand pressure can it, you can do
that.
But what happens is it kind ofinto a big blob at the bottom of
the jar if you do a hot pack allof those pieces stay pretty
uniform.
They stay apart from each other,and we eat with our eyes first.
(14:42):
And for me, I just prefer a hotpack.
The way it looks in the jar, itlooks appetizing, it looks
delicious.
That's just me personally.
What about you, Jenny?
Do you do a hot pack?
Do you do a raw pack?
What do you
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (14:53):
For red meat, I would only hot pack.
when I signed my deal to writemy cookbook, that was sincerely,
my number one concern was how inthe world am I gonna make this
food look good?
Because pressure can meat.
It's not the prettiest it.
Can it just kind of like
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (15:10):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025 (15:11):
slumps to the bottom of the jar and it
just really can look ugly in ahurry.
But if you pre-Brown your meat,it keeps the shape, it gives a
very good flavor by doing thechunks of beef, I'll say you can
do very good taco meat with buckmeat or venison.
I've done that a bunch of times.
I do that all the time.
I'd say that is very good.
(15:33):
And it's like very shredded,right?
Like any kind of it's notcarnitas because you can that,
but it's very similar to thatcarnitas texture.
and you can easily season any ofthe meats that we're talking
about.
however you would like to seasonyour tacos with your chilies,
your cumin, all of your spicesthat you might prefer.
All day long.
I would choose a tough cut ofbeef that you don't necessarily
(15:54):
want to like cook in some otherway.
Brown it, and then pressure canit?
Amen.
that takes a zero to a hero inno time.
It's such a good choice.
And then chicken.
How do you pressure?
Can your chicken, Hannah?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (16:05):
I do, my chicken the same way.
So I will cut it into one inchchunks.
I will broil it for about two tothree minutes, maybe up to, I
think five minutes But, you justwanna see those, juices start to
come out and then it shrinks alittle Get more in the jar if
you do a hot pack, whereas.
When you do raw pack, like Jennysaid, it kind of shrinks.
(16:29):
It kind of goes down into achunk.
When I do the, this might soundgross to our listeners, but the
first time I did chicken, I dida raw pack, when I pulled it out
of the pressure canner.
It looked like brains.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (16:44):
Hundred percent
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (16:45):
like my kids are gonna, I'm gonna say
go down there and get somechicken and they're gonna be
like, mom can brains like, thisis so disgusting They are not
gonna want to eat it.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (16:55):
so as a person that has seen
cooked.
Venison brains.
I'm gonna tell you, that's notan exaggeration.
It's fine if you eat brain, eatit all day long, but it's not
pretty
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (17:07):
sure.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (17:08):
like gray scrambled eggs.
If you're wondering.
And that's what raw fact meatlooks like.
I'm not kidding.
Grotesque in appearance.
In appearance only.
It's not pretty.
I'm not a food shamer.
I'm not trying to shame anyonewho eats.
Whatever they eat.
I think food's amazing.
I'm such a pro.
Eat whatever you wanna eatperson, but it's not pretty.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (17:30):
Sure.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (17:31):
you care about that and if you're
also trying to like, approximatewhat your family might be used
to eating, if you're, bringingeveryone on board with this
preservation jam you've gotgoing on, making it look
approximate or close to what youmight get elsewhere is
important.
So again, we're pro Browning,
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (17:52):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (17:52):
pro Hot Pack.
The exception of that is fishand you don't necessarily, or I
would say it's far less commonfor you to hot pack your fish.
But do you have anything else toadd about meat, Anna?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (18:05):
I think when we talk about meat,
it's important to really go oversafe food handling practices.
So it's important that your meatis chilled.
Don't let it sit out on thecounter.
For hours and hours while you'reprepping your jars and
everything, make sure that youhave cleaned off your work
surfaces with either a bleachwater solution or some kind of
(18:27):
cleaning solution.
And then just keep your meatchilled until you're ready to
use it, then process it.
Quickly I don't know if this isa good tip or not Jenny, but
somebody told me he was a hunterand he said that his mom always
canned their wild game inchunks.
She would put like a cut ofonion on the top, like
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (18:50):
Like a ring.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (18:51):
an onion.
Yeah, like a half inch ring.
She would put it on the top andthen she would pressure When
they went to open it, she wouldtoss that onion out because it
almost like collected some ofthat gamey flavor.
I have never done that, butmaybe you could do it this fall
and
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (19:08):
Report.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (19:09):
goes.
'cause he was very
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (19:10):
Sure.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (19:11):
He was like it.
It really took a lot of thatgamey flavor out.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (19:16):
So gamey flavor is something we
could talk about all day long.
Sometimes.
Wild game tastes, quote unquotegamey because the person cooking
it is uninitiated and maybedoesn't know how quite to
prepare it.
I can't say enough good thingsabout Steven Ella and his brand
meat eater in terms of learningabout how to properly prepare
(19:38):
meat so that it has the bestchance of tasting delicious,
whatever wild thing you aregoing to prepare and or pressure
can.
That said.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (19:46):
Cool.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (19:47):
Maybe the onion would do it.
I have no idea.
I've never done that.
But I do know that it takes atough cut of meat.
you pick your kind and it makesit tender.
And if you add things like aslice of jalapeno, a scoop of
tomato paste, that was mysister-in-law's deal, she would
do make fajitas, but it wouldjust be hunks of venison, which
(20:08):
is like a very concentratedtomato flavor without being too
watery.
Right.
And then I think like a teaspoonof taco seasoning and a clove of
garlic or something.
That's how she would pressurecanned her buck meat.
And it was very good.
Very like just a very goodflavor.
And I think if you are cookingwith good ingredients and
(20:29):
tenderizing the meat, it's notgoing to taste like beef, but
it's going to taste pretty good.
So I think
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (20:36):
Yeah,
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (20:36):
just stop thinking about gaminess
necessarily.
Think about what am I gonna cookwith this?
That is a really great,delicious flavor that will bring
out the best.
But the onion, I wouldn't saythat would be a mistake.
That might help.
And of course, gaminess also hasto do with what has the animal
been eating and the age of theanimal.
So if you happen to know, likethis bear was eating on deceased
(20:59):
things, okay, that would tastedifferent than a bear that was
eating blackberries all summer.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (21:04):
Sure.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1536 (21:05):
a very, very old buck.
You know, if someone, you know,gets like a monster deer, well
he's gonna be really old.
That will taste different thansomething smaller and younger.
So
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (21:15):
yes.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025 (21:16):
that's my 2 cents on the topic.
But it's a good thing to bethinking about because more and
more people are eating,
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (21:21):
it.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (21:22):
more and more people are eating
different meats and, there'spressure, canning times, and
information on many differentgame types.
So if you are gonna pressure cansomething a game animal, I
included several times in mybook, but if you don't have my
book or you're just lookingonline, your local cooperative
extension for wherever thatanimal came from.
(21:45):
if you are doing a moose searchup, Alaska's Cooperative
extension, they will have timesfor all things moose.
That will guide you in the rightdirection for the correct times
and give specific informationfor being aware of how long to
cook, how to cook, how toprepare to protect against,
potential parasites and creepycrawlies in that meat.
(22:07):
Most of the time the meat thatyou get will be very healthy and
safe, but bear in particular,you gotta be careful that just
means you have to cook itthoroughly.
But anyway, that's outside myscope of expertise, but I can
definitely encourage you to doyour research, the most overused
phrase on the internet today.
But do a little googly goo onyour, cooperative extension so
(22:28):
that you get the goodinformation on that particular
game type.
If you're pressure canning itand two thumbs up, if you make
it a taco flavoring, that'sgonna be delicious probably.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (22:39):
No, I love that and I appreciate your,
expertise on the matter.
I know you say I'm not anexpert, but like you are saying
things that I've never heard of,so I absolutely appreciate it
and I know our listeners will aswell.
Because we do live in a societyin the United States where we
are pretty sheltered from ourhunter gather roots, and there
(23:00):
are so many varieties of thingsthat you can eat
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (23:03):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (23:04):
that.
Can be just as healthy, just asdelicious, but they're very
unique and Just don't how to eatit or Figure it out.
So I applaud you guys for doingthat.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (23:16):
Like even if you're just thinking
about eating something from alocal farmer, that's different
than what you would've normallychosen like rabbit or goat.
Those are two domestic animalsthat are growing in popularity
in terms of what homesteadersare able to produce for sale,
for customers, and those aremeats that can safely be
pressure canned.
So if you were thinking like,okay, am I gonna buy like a
(23:37):
whole goat?
What am I gonna do with thewhole thing?
How do I preserve that?
that's a thing that more andmore people are considering and
it's just, it's a new thingbecause your mom probably
didn't, or maybe didn't, cook oreat those things.
So, I'm just letting you know ifyou are gonna cook or preserve
something that is new to you.
Your cooperative exception hasyou covered with times for
(23:59):
pressure scanning, all thosedifferent types of meats.
anna_1_06-26-2025_1636 (24:01):
Perfect, perfect.
And if you are nervous aboutpressure canning, you absolutely
can utilize a freezer as well.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (24:09):
Yeah, totally.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (24:10):
sure that you know that there are
other types of preservationbesides canning.
We are talking a lot aboutcanning, but you can definitely
utilize your freezer.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (24:20):
Yeah, I can't say enough good things
about a good old freezer, butit's amazing.
It's amazing that we have that,can you imagine like 500 years
ago to think oh, they'll havethis thing in every home that
keeps everything super cold allthe time.
It's amazing.
yeah, we're pretty lucky to havethose.
anna_1_06-26-2025_16361 (24:35):
months.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (24:35):
Yes.
Months and months.
The next item on our list forTaco Tuesday was tomatillos and
slash green sauce.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (24:43):
I love either a tomatillo salsa, like a
green salsa or a chili verdesauce.
We have somebody that comes upfrom New Mexico to Utah and they
roast hatch chilies in, I wannasay August or something, And
it's just right down the streetat My Smiths and they're outside
just roasting these peppers andit's so amazing.
(25:05):
And I love canning those inlittle four ounce jars.
And I can just add those towhatever I'm making for Taco
Tuesday, whether it's corn orit's.
The meat or the rice.
it just gives it such excellentflavor.
And so I wanna encourage ourlisteners to, to maybe do some
of those more specialty peppersin little jars.
(25:28):
That, what I love to do,honestly.
so I do love tomatillos.
I never grow them.
They seem to take up quite a bitof space, but I do like them.
It just takes a little while to,to find them around where I
live.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (25:42):
So my neighbor.
Grows tomatillos.
She's a really wonderful cookand has spent time in Central
America.
So she's like my go-to for allthings.
Taco Tuesday and the tomatilloswere, they look like a tiny
green tomato wrapped.
In a paper lantern, and ifyou're going to be eating them
(26:04):
at all, those little paperlanterns have to be torn off.
And I would have my little girlon the little chair next to me
and she would help me peel thosepaper lanterns off the tets.
And it's a great job for a kidbecause you can't do it wrong.
There's a lot of'em.
it's just a fun little paperyhusk that comes off and, I just
(26:27):
think green salsa is delish.
I think green, like all thingsverde is delicious.
And those weird little tomato,are they a cousin of a tomato?
I'll include a link in the shownotes, Our Oregon State
University extension office saysthat tomatillos are our first
cousin to the ground cherry in amore distant relative of the
tomato.
So as a tart flavor, that's
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (26:48):
yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-202 (26:48):
sweeter as it ripens it's.
It's just a little weird littleveggie, but they are delish, I
think.
And even if you don't grow them,you can them in a boiling water
canner.
And you can pressure can them,and you can make delicious green
salsa.
You can make, there's lots ofvery good, tested recipes using
temas including relish.
(27:10):
Yeah, this link has a bunch ofreally good recipes on it and
directions for freezing.
So that might be a cool,addition to your sauce lineup.
Either something you preserveyourself or just exploring maybe
growing them or trying them outonce.
It might be fun to try that out.
If you've never done verdesauce, they're good.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (27:28):
I've seen him in the grocery store,
like in the Hispanic food aisle.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (27:32):
so to can whole tomatillos you
obviously remove the husks, youcook them in boiling water till
they're tender.
Pack hot tempts loosely in jars.
Acidify each jar with onetablespoon bottled lemon juice
or lime juice per pint, or twotablespoons per quart, or a
quarter teaspoon citric acid perpint, half a teaspoon per quart,
(27:53):
so it's very similar to plaintomatoes.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (27:57):
Uhhuh,
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (27:57):
at from sea level to a thousand
feet, you process for 40minutes.
So they're a long haul.
I have never canned plaintomatillo's personally, but I
have done lots of
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (28:07):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_ (28:07):
salsa recipes or sauce, te Matet
Green, ver Salta Verde.
I've done a bunch of differentrecipes and I feel like they're
all good.
I liked all of them.
I guess if you like that greenSalta Verde flavor, they'll
probably all be pretty good.
And frankly, most of the recipeswill be very similar.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (28:21):
I really like the ball Canning
recipes, salsa Verde out of theBlue Book, guide to preserving.
I think that's the recipe that Iused.
And it was really good, like yousaid.
This is just a little Anna tip.
I like to roast all of thethings that are going into that
salsa first.
put'em under the broiler, get'emreally nice and crispy and black
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (28:42):
Mm,
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (28:43):
blend everything up in your blender
and then can'em.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (28:46):
Very good idea.
That's all I have on my list.
Anna, do you have anything elseto add to our Taco Tuesday
lineup?
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (28:52):
I think that's it for me as well.
we covered the fillings of thetacos and I would.
Just do one little plug and thatis to try and make your own corn
tortillas
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (29:03):
Ooh.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (29:04):
Uh, we took a trip to Guatemala and we
were staying in this hillside,Airbnb, And we didn't have a car
and we were stuck there becausemy in-laws were with us and they
did not really wanna go up anddown this hillside.
And the only thing that was atthat house, we brought a little
bit of food but there was a boxof masa and I was like, oh, this
(29:29):
is great.
All I have to do is add boilingwater, let it sit for about 10
minutes and then form tortillas.
It was.
The best tortillas I've everhad.
The shape was not the best, butthey were so delicious.
And you get masa at any grocerystore.
I think it's pretty popular now,there's lots of different
(29:49):
brands, just try making your ownhomemade tortillas.
It's really fun.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_153 (29:55):
My sister makes hers with sourdough
discard, and I also thought theywere delicious.
It's not something I normallymake but there's recipes out
there and if you've already doneall this cooking in advance.
Then just whipping up the freshtortillas will be no big deal
because you have everything elsealready prepared.
So put that in the back of yourminds.
I think that's a great cherry ontop.
(30:15):
Anna, good job.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (30:17):
Yeah, it's fun and my kids using the
tortilla press for it,
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (30:22):
fun.
anna_1_06-26-2025_1636 (30:22):
sauteing up your stuff, you can let the
hot water, the boiling water,absorb into the masa, then you
can start cranking those out.
It's fun.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_1 (30:33):
Love it.
Good job.
anna_1_06-26-2025_163619 (30:34):
idea of fun.
Maybe not everyone's.
jenny-gomes_1_06-26-2025_15 (30:36):
Now if you listen to this podcast,
that's your idea of fun.
great.
Okay.
Well thank you so much everyonefor joining us on this very fun
episode.
That's our show.
We don't want you to miss anepisode, so please be sure to
subscribe.
If you found this episodehelpful and informative, please
give our show a rating andreview.
It only takes a few seconds andit really helps our show grow.
(30:58):
Follow us on social media atSmart Home Canning and at the
domestic wildflower.
Email your preserving questionsto Perfectly Preserved
podcast@gmail.com and we will doour best to answer your
questions on the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
Stay tuned for our next episodereleased every week.
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