Canning Soup (SP 50-931)

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Vegetable, dried bean or pea, meat, poultry or seafood soup can be canned.

Caution: Do not add noodles or other pasta, rice, flour, cream, milk, or other thickeners to home-canned soups. If dried beans or peas are used, they must be fully rehydrated first.

General procedure

1. Select, wash and prepare vegetables, meat and poultry as described for the specific foods.
2. Cover meat with water and cook until tender.
3. Cool meat and remove bones.
4. Cook vegetables.
5. For each cup of dried beans or peas, add 3 cups of water.
6. Boil 2 minutes, remove for heat, soak 1 hour, and heat to boiling; drain.
7. Combine solid ingredients with broth, tomatoes or water to cover. Boil 5 minutes.
8. Salt to taste, if desired.
9. Fill jars halfway with solid mixture.
10. Add remaining liquid, leave 1-inch headspace.
11. Adjust lids and process following the recommendations in Table 1 or Table 2 according to the method of canning used.
12. After processing, remove canner from heat and wait until pressure returns to zero.
13. Remove weight or slowly open petcock.
14. Wait 10 minutes.
15. Unfasten canner lid and remove carefully.

Clam chowder base

Yield: about 20 half-pints or 10 pints

• 1/2 pound diced salt pork (optional)
• 2 quarts diced and peeled potatoes (about 8 medium)
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
• 3 or 4 quarts cleaned, chopped clams with juice
• 2 quarts boiling water
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cook salt pork until light brown in a large saucepot. (Bacon could be added before serving instead of using salt pork).
2. Drain off excess fat.
3. Add onion and cook until onion is tender but not brown.
4. Add clams with juice, potatoes and water.
5. Boil 10 minutes.
6. Season to taste.
7. Process half-pints or pints (not quarts).
8. Ladle hot chowder base into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace.
9. Adjust two-piece caps. Process half-pints and pints 100 minutes in a pressure canner (10 pounds with a weighted gauge; 11 pounds with a dial gauge).

To serve: For New England clam chowder, add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 cups milk to each pint of clam chowder base before heating for serving. Reduce butter and milk by half for each half-pint of clam chowder base.

Do not add butter and milk before canning.

Recipe variation

For Manhattan chowder, add the following ingredients, removing bay leaf before canning.

• 2 cups cooked tomatoes
• 1/2 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup chopped celery (about 1/2 stalk)
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

Processing meat stock (broth)

After cooking broth, strain and remove most of the meat scraps and fat. Ladle hot broth into hot jars leaving 1-inch headspace, wipe rims and adjust lids. Process in a pressure canner.

NOTE: We do not have recommended processing times for fish or other seafood-based broth or stock. These products freeze well.

Related Articles

• Preserving Garlic
• Canning Meats, Poultry and Fish: Problems and Solutions
• Preserving Summer Sausage and Deli Style Meats

Source: OSU Master Food Preserver Program

This document was adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA.

• 1 a b c Caution: if soup contains seafood, can only in pint or half-pint jars. Process 100 minutes.
• 2 a b c Do not can seafood in quart jars.