Topic: Thank you to everyone here

[bhamcurry]

Living in Alabama, there aren't many curry restaurants, although the quality isn't too bad.

But.... it's not quite the same.

Thanks to all the advice, the encouragement, and the amazing resource links posted here, I am now on my 3rd successful BIR curry. I have 8 pint jars of curry gravy in the pantry*, and a wife and 6yo son who are enjoying the fruits of my curry obsession.

Curries so far: chicken korma, lamb rogan josh, and chicken dansak tonight, thanks to all y'all 

(* I processed the gravy in my pressure canner at 11psi for 60 minutes. It is shelf stable and microbiologically inert.)

[chewytikka]

Nice to read about your early curry success 

(* I processed the gravy in my pressure canner at 11psi for 60 minutes. It is shelf stable and microbiologically inert.)

This is an interesting method of base gravy storage, maybe you would like to share more info on this and your methods.

cheers ChewyTikka

[bhamcurry]

Nice to read about your early curry success 

(* I processed the gravy in my pressure canner at 11psi for 60 minutes. It is shelf stable and microbiologically inert.)

This is an interesting method of base gravy storage, maybe you would like to share more info on this and your methods.

cheers ChewyTikka

Hi ChewyTikka,

I do a load of food preservation because I have access to incredible seasonal produce and a farm that sells grass fed beef. I basically follow the USDA guidelines and process according to their guidelines.

For the official guidelines, all as PDFs, go here:
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html

For processing high acid foods such as jams, relishes, and pickles, this is the kind of hot water bath pot:
https://smile.amazon.com/Granite-Ware-Enamel-Canning-9-Piece/dp/B002KHN602/

For processing low acid foods such as curry gravy, beans, stocks, etc, this is a pressure canner:
https://smile.amazon.com/Presto-01781-23-Quart-Pressure-Canner/dp/B0000BYCFU/

I know you can get some canning supplies from Lakeland, but they tend from "expensive" to "you have to be f***ing kidding me"..... 

[chewytikka]

Thanks for the links Bham
I have plenty of Pressure Cookers already ;D
Much prefer reading first hand experiences, rather than Google/textbook guides.

enjoy the forum and your BIR journey 
cheers ChewyTikka.

[bhamcurry]

Chewy Tikka, I would hesitate to use a pressure cooker as a pressure canner, if nothing else because most pressure cookers aren't tall enough for the size of jars I use. I am also not sure whether a pressure cooker can sustain the kinds of high pressures needed to kill c. botulinum, which is the worry with low acid foods. It's something I could research, but as I have both pressure cooker and pressure canner I don't need to worry about it for myelf  ;D

[Bhaji Bob]

Hi bhamcurry.  I hope you enjoy your time in this Forum and that you will share some of your experiences here as I think there may well be an interest in what is possible with the canning process.  I did consider canning base gravy as an alternative to freezing but finding out of the risks of botulism with low acid canning, have not actually tried it, despite acquiring the canner in the link some time ago.  It seems a bit risky to me and freezing is a safer bet.  I've had a brief look at the list of vegetables and the recommended pressure and cook times on the U.S site info and it's quite involved.  So I'm not sure how a typical base gravy that you would find here, would fare.   It would be interesting to hear how you do it sometime.

Thanks.
Bob


 

[Gav Iscon]

Funnily enough I was reading up on this the other day. Pressure Canners usually have a pressure gauge built in as depending on what type of food it is, you have to adjust the heat to adjust the pressure.. I was wondering if my Instant Pot would do it but it doesn't reach enough pressure. The newer models have a canning feature on them which increases the pressure. Also as Bhamcurry said, the canners are usually taller..

[bhamcurry]

Hi bhamcurry.  I hope you enjoy your time in this Forum and that you will share some of your experiences here as I think there may well be an interest in what is possible with the canning process.  I did consider canning base gravy as an alternative to freezing but finding out of the risks of botulism with low acid canning, have not actually tried it, despite acquiring the canner in the link some time ago.  It seems a bit risky to me and freezing is a safer bet.  I've had a brief look at the list of vegetables and the recommended pressure and cook times on the U.S site info and it's quite involved.  So I'm not sure how a typical base gravy that you would find here, would fare.   It would be interesting to hear how you do it sometime.

Thanks.
Bob

Bob, I have pressure canned a load of low acid foods such as meat stock, meat sauce. beans, and such like.

The curry gravy looks very much like a vegetable soup. Using the usual rule of thumb of "look at the ingredients list, find the one with the longest processing time, and process for that much time" results in a 55 minute @ 10psi (weight) or 11 psi (on certified gauge) time. I usually add another 5 minutes to be safe, hence the 60 minute processing time for the pint jars (500ml) of gravy that I put up.

If you include any meat your minimum processing time for a pint jar is 75 minutes. As always, look to the official sources - they adopt a belt, braces, spare belt, and extra braces approach to food safety because the consequences of getting it wrong are so horrifying.

I also use a weighted gauge that I bought from amazon.com for my pressure canner. Getting the pressure gauge to the county extension service for certification, while free, is a pain in the bahookie and the weighted gauge is a no-maintenance addon well worth the cost For reference I bought this one:
https://smile.amazon.com/Presto-50332-Pressure-Canner-Regulator/dp/B000HMBVQ8/

This weighted gauge allows you to compensate for your height above sea level. The higher you are, the more weight you need to add, and the longer the processing time. Where I live is less than 1000ft above sea level so I don't need to adjust my processing times - these adjustments are all laid out clearly in the USDA guidelines.

I hope all of this is useful and not too much info?

[bhamcurry]

Funnily enough I was reading up on this the other day. Pressure Canners usually have a pressure gauge built in as depending on what type of food it is, you have to adjust the heat to adjust the pressure.. I was wondering if my Instant Pot would do it but it doesn't reach enough pressure. The newer models have a canning feature on them which increases the pressure. Also as Bhamcurry said, the canners are usually taller..

Hi Gav,

as I alluded to in my reply to Bob, the pressure gauges have to be checked regularly, recommended yearly. The weighted replacements make pressure canning a lot easier as I can always tell when I hit pressure - there's a happy little "tsst tsst" noise that is my theme tune while pressure canning  ;D

Instant pots have not been assessed by the USDA for suitability for pressure canning. I would hold off on using them for such until the experts have a chance to thoroughly check them out. I appreciate that the expense of buying a pressure canner is not for everyone, so I would just use your freezer for storage.

[Bhaji Bob]

bhamcurry.  Thanks for your reply and no, it's not too much info as I'm quite interested though I probably won't go down the canning route.  I'll stick to freezing my base gravy but try not to store so much.  Wifey is very tolerant but we can get short of freezer space which was why I was originally interested in canning.  However, things change and it (storage) is not the problem it once was.  Freezing smaller amounts is my better option, I think.  All the best.


Bob