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Nov. 4, 2025 - Epoch Times
05:35
‘It’s like we’re waking up from a grocery store coma’
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So give me a picture of what we're going to do here.
So we're pressure canning.
There's two different types of canning.
There's water bath canning, pressure canning.
So today we're doing pressure canning of beef tacos.
And this is actually really super simple.
My family has been doing this for hundreds of years.
You just fill the jars, you put them in the canner and you put the lid on, and then you run the canner.
And so what that does is it creates an environment inside the jar where then you can put it on your shelf and you don't need any refrigeration.
How long does this last?
I mean, can anything go in these jars?
Practically anything.
I mean, there are a few caveats and a few things that you need to be aware of when it comes to food preservation, but your fruits, your vegetables, all of your meats, your game.
I love the canned meats and the meals in the jar because then what I do is I batch can everything.
So like I'll do up 40 pounds of taco beef.
I'll do all of that all in one day.
And then I don't cook tacos for like an entire year.
I often say it's like we're waking up from a grocery store coma.
It's like we, over generations, over time, we have just come to rely on a grocery store.
But this what, this isn't the norm.
This isn't how we have lived in this country for the existence of the country, right?
Grocery stores are actually a relatively new thing if you look at our history.
So my family, while we've always canned and we've always preserved our food, there was generations of people in between there that didn't get to experience that.
And so I don't think it was ever lost.
It just became less popular.
And I think now that people are starting to look at their foods and our fragile food systems, you know, like during COVID, and they're starting to go, oh my gosh.
I mean, like what happens if I do go to the grocery store and I can't get my whatever.
Now canning is done globally.
This isn't just something that just Americans do.
It's done globally.
But here in America, we use like a two-piece lid system on the average.
And here's your superb lids and your superb rings.
So the flat part of the lid is called a flat.
That's pretty easy.
And then it has this sealant on the bottom of it that creates a seal onto the jar.
And then you have your rings.
And this is a placeholder for the lid while we're processing.
So what we do in canning is the next step would be we put the lid and the ring on and the flies have just really come out in full force today.
But we just put that lid and that ring on and then once it goes into the canner the lid will actually kind of bounce up and down and it will push all the air out of the jar.
It will push all the oxygen out of the jar because we're heating it under pressure.
Because I noticed you didn't do it particularly tightly.
It doesn't need to be.
This is just a placeholder.
So once this jar comes out and this lid is sealed, this comes off and you just put it on your shelf like this.
The lid is what holds the suction to the jar, not the ring.
So yep, I would just wipe these down.
I would just use a rag with a little bit of vinegar or water and I would just wipe these down, make sure that I've got a good clean rim.
You're gonna do it?
Absolutely.
We've got this.
Now what if I've, I think I may have touched the body, the base of it.
It's okay.
These have all been, this is a great fun fact.
This is a sterilizer.
So you can also use this to sterilize things.
That's how hot it gets to.
I see.
So these have been cleaned with hot soapy water.
They don't, touching them is okay.
They're going to go in the sterilizer.
Okay, wow.
Well, there we go.
I just learned something new.
That on top of their lid.
And I don't even need to push it down too hard because it's going to...
Nope.
Just make sure it's centered on the jar.
Nope, that ring won't work.
And with this one?
Thank you.
Okay.
Now, wait, wait, wait.
Bag up.
Okay.
Three fingers like this.
Okay.
Just use one hand.
And as soon as the lid starts to engage and turn, the jar starts to churn, that's kind of enough.
Okay, let me make sure I got it right.
There we go.
That's it.
Okay.
All right, now that water's hot, so careful.
I'm going to give you, come back out again.
Let's do it safely.
I'm going to give you one of these.
Okay.
And you just pick it up.
Yep, use two hands if you need to.
And that goes in here.
This protects you and keeps you from getting burned.
Great.
And then you just repeat that process for as many jars as you have going into the canner.
You know, the thing about this, which is so amazing, is like I often would make a lot of basically something very similar to this, actually.
You know, basically ground beef with some, but I often end up eating it really quickly because I didn't actually keep it.
I didn't set it up to keep it, right?
It just lasts a few days, but you end up kind of consuming it.
This also kind of keeps it kind of away from you a little bit for a while if you need that.
For sure.
We save on average about $10,000 to $12,000 a year in groceries by canning.
That's astonishing.
In the last, you say, a couple of years?
Yeah, so we like to rotate everything in one to three years.
So I always like to have enough to take us from harvest to harvest.
So like if it's corn, I want at least 52 quarts because I know we're going to eat one jar of corn a week.
That 52 takes me to the next harvest year.
But they will last on the shelves as long as they're in a good environment, away from the sun, cool, dry.
They'll last for years on your shelves.
That's astonishing.
Yeah.
Wait till I tell you about freeze frying.
Next time.
Hey, listen, thanks so much.
Are we allowed to shake hands?
Yeah, I think so.
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