This week we decided to make up another batch or two of raw packed turkey and vegetable soup , the same as I had made in an earlier post. This is really handy for me on the days that I am here alone, I know I can just grab a jar of soup, tip it out and microwave it in 2 minutes for a piping hot portion controlled ,nutritious,delicious meal.
We bought another 12 kg box of turkey wings, and we normally use the meaty end for the soup.We trim the meat off the bone, de-skin and chop into bite sized pieces. The mid section of the wing we normally keep for treats for our blue cattle dog Tilly.
This time we had purchased a second 12kg of turkey necks just for her so we decided we would use the mid wing bits to can for the first time in my Fowlers Vacola Jars. We were able to pack 3 wing bits into each jar(I had to chop off about an inch off the top of all of them.
So after doing all this, I gathered up all the bits,bones(that I cracked in half with the big meat chopper),skin,little end bits and all the vegie peelings from the turkey soup. I put them in all a big stock pot with variuos other bits and pieces, garlic, mixed herbs,sauces,salt and pepper, and simmereed the heck out of it for a few hours until it seemed to be ready.
I then took a jug and poured the contents of the big stock pot through a colander into a smaller pot.
This was not a fine enough strainer, but was good to remove the bulk. Next I poured the remaining liquid back through another finer strainer to remove the less coarse particles.
Then for a third time I strained again, but this time through a couple of thicknesses of muslin.
Next i poured this beautiful honey colored liquid into two big plastic containers and placed them into the fridge overnight so that any fat would settle on top and set so that I could skim it off in the morning.
When I checked this morning, this is what I found, something totally unexpected It had all gone very gelatinous .There was a very small layer of solidified fat which I removed.
I realized that I would have to empty the contents back into a pot and reheat to liquify before canning them.
I then started filling my + No 27 Fowlers Vacola jars, only to realize that It wouldn"t fit into the 6 jars that I had allocated to it, so I swapped over to my No 20 Fowlers jars and was able to fill 15 of those.
The tops of my jars were then wiped clean with paper towel soaked with white vinegar, and the pre soaked rubber rings were placed on checking that they were not twisted anywhere.
Next the lids were placed on firmly and clipped down with two metal spring clips.
Although I have been recently told that Fowlers information states that only one clip is needed, I like my mother before me have always used two, as do many other preservers I know and have never had any non sealing issues because of that.
I then processed these jars in the pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 25 minutes.(These jars are a little larger than pints so I processed them according to the instructions for quarts).
While they were processing I also did a water bath load of crushed tomatoes in mixed size bottles.
So, here is the final result. I am very pleased with my work, worth every bit. This was the first time I had made turkey stock,I had made chicken and lamb stocks before, but this is by far the best and will not hesitate to make it again in the future. It will be well used in many future meals in this house.
My next preserving project will probably be pea and ham soup and I will post the story of that down the track a bit.
Thankyou for stopping by, hope you have enjoyed reading a little of what we do,
so until we meet again,
Cheers,
Jane.
