Tuna Thursday

Yesterday was Tuna Thursday. A local fisherman found me through a flyer and asked if I would can his fresh tuna in exchange for a percentage of the catch. Since I had not canned tuna before ( have canned lots of salmon) and really and truly had it on my bucket list I took the bait. The deal was he would supply the fish ready to can and the jars and I would do the canning.

His first lesson was never to go last minute to find 7 cases of wide mouth 1/2 pint canning jars in early September. After stopping at several stores with empty shelves, he ended up at a True Value hardware store and spent $13 per box - ouch! A word of advice to Fishermen, go secure your jars before you go fishing and you will save money.

My first task was to clean the kitchen sinks, counters and equipment with a bleach mixture. I had a new plastic table cloth which I wiped down and put on the kitchen table.

The next task was to wash all the jars. It took two rounds in my dishwasher. I found out I can get three dozen jars in a load. I suppose I could have washed all the jars by hand but I wanted them sterilized too. Since I really don't like washing dishes, I think it was most efficient to use the machine. The fellow wanted mostly 1/2 pint jars which meant more jars to wash than if he had chosen pints. 1/2 pint hold more fish than a typical tuna can from the store. I am sure you have noticed that the amount and quality of canned tuna has changed since we were kids and home canned tuna really makes that evident.

The fish arrived on ice in a huge cooler packaged in plastic bags.

Tuna is cut into what they call loins. The pieces actually look like pork loins and I thought they looked a bit like corned beef because of the fatty area on the belly. The loins were rinsed off to be sure all scales were gone and put on the cutting board. "Tuna Tim" cut the loins into rounds about 2" long for the 1/2 pints and 4" for the pints.

I packed the fish into jars. It is necessary to push the fish down tightly to avoid air pockets and maximize the contents. Depending on how thick the loin was, two chunks could fit side by side and there was room for some of the belly meat on top.

A1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt was added. In my research, I read about various ingredients that could be added for flavor and moistness. Some canners added water to the top of the head space level and others added two teaspoons of good quality olive oil. Since the tuna had a healthy amount of natural fat it did not seem necessary to ad extra oil. The results proved this to be true. Personally I do not like tuna packed in oil (memory of a sailing trip, oil packed tuna and seasickness pops up). Too much oil can interfere with the canning process. I added dill and garlic to some jars. Many things can be added including jalapeno peppers, garlic, sage, rosemary, hot sauce, dill, pre made salad dressings.

To get the oily fish juice off the rims of the jars, paper towels were dipped into white vinegar and the lids were wiped clean. This seemed to work well and the vinegar was a relief from the fishy smell in the kitchen.

We used tow All American pressure cookers and did the processing outdoors. Fried turkey propane cookers work really well and kept the heat at a fairly consistent level to keep the pressure canners at 11 pounds of pressure for 100 minutes. It took less time to bring the pressure down after cooking because we were working outdoors so we could open the canners and unpack them onto the canning table outside. All those cooling racks we have collected over the years came in handy for this project.

Then we repeated the entire process three times and ended up with 48 1/2 pints and 15 pints for the fisherman and some additional pints for us. I actually took one quarter of the fish and canned mine separately. It was a long day and I have to admit the house still smells fishy even though I cleaned with bleach again afterwards but the tuna is beautiful!

Oh I forgot to mention the fisherman also brined and smoked some of the catch for a few hours before canning. That fish turned a beautiful umber color and smelled great. I do not have much experience using a smoker. I do own one (guess where I got it?) and will now get it out and get some practice using it. My neighbor has been giving me salmon and we plan on smoking the next batch he catches.

I have now learned to can tuna and crossed off another item from by bucket list. This is a labor of love and canning your own tuna is very doable. If i were to can for money, I would have to charge between $3 and $4 a jar. If you figure the time it takes to wash jars, pack jars, bring canner up to pressure 20 minutes, pressure can 100 minutes, cool down 25 minutes, cool jars then wash it is time intensive and costly. We were at it about 8 hours yesterday and we had two canners going. Hmmmmm what will be next?

Canning Tips

My friend Peggy invited me to an LDS women's night where they were going to demonstrate canning dried beans. I was thrilled to be included and very happy of the graciousness of the group to allow someone to join them. The hostess, Judith, did a great job and it is clear she has lots of canning experience and lives what she teaches. She also dries many plants and herbs and makes tinctures for her family.

Here are some of Judith's tips:

1. After canning jars have been cleaned and steralized, place them open end down to reduce the amount of dust that can get in the jars. It seems Washington has the highest amount of botulism in the ground in the country. Always wash produce carefully.

2. When using a new box of canning jars she throws away the lids if they are stuck on the jars. Boxes are stored in hot warehouses and the lids can soften enough to secure to the jars. These lids when pulled off might not seal when canning. It is not safe to reuse lids.

3. Save plastic mayonaise jar lids. They screw on canning jars and are good for storing leftovers.

4. Do not use aluminum Victoria Strainers when processing tomatoes. Aluminum will change tomato flavor. The plastic ones are fine.

5. A good trick to prevent lemon seeds from getting into the bowl while squeezing out juice is to put lemon half inside a clean twoel and squeeze. Seeds are trapped in the towel. Judith saw this trick used by a waiter while on vacation in France.

6. To reduce gas when eatting beans chew fennel seeds before dinner. More natural than Beano and much less costly!

7. Swishing your mouth with a tea infusion made from White Oak will improve peridontal disease and make those 4 and 5 gum space scores go to 2 and 3's. Will save money on dental bills too...cha ching cha ching.

8. This is a bean masher from Mexico. I had never seen one and certainly would like to have one

9. Do you know why garbanzo beans are sometimes called chick peas? If you do please leave a momment. I will give you the answer later! Let's see how many people know the answer to this question. (I admit I did not know and had wondered what the difference was between garbanzo beans and chick peas)