Food Prep - Canning Chicken Soup w/recipe

There are many chicken soup recipes, but I make super basic soup for canning. We can add in spices, rice, noodles, or whatever we want to when we open the jars later. 

For 12 Pints, I am using 1 gallon chicken stock, 10 chicken thighs, one celery bunch, and one bag of carrots.

First I put the chicken (with bones and skin) in a crock pot, on high, for about 3 hours...I add salt and pepper.

Next take the chicken out to cool...

Then I pull the meat off the bone to cut up (which then goes in the fridge until morning), and put the bones and skin back in the pot on low or medium overnight.

In the morning I prep my jars and get the canning area set up. 

I chop all the carrots and celery, a pull the chicken out of the fridge. 

Then layer them in the jars...

I strain the broth before adding it to the jars...

Then fill the jars with broth, leaving an inch...

Wipe rims...Put the lids and bands on...then get them in the canner.

All soups are pressure canned.

At our altitude meat soups are 15 lb, for one hour...

After it vents steam for 10 min, we drop the weight on...

As the pressure builds it is normal for some canners to spit a bit and get bubbly around the vent...

On an All American the gauge is really just a guide...the weight is what we watch.

Once the pressure builds to the weight, the weight will jiggle and release just enough pressure to maintain. It should jiggle between 2 and 4 times per minute...and you can regulate this by turning the heat up or down slightly.

I like weighted canners, because gauges can break. And I like this one because it is super thick walled so I know it can handle 15 lb for longer than I need it to...and there are no gaskets to loose or have to replace.

So that is all for now, I am off to time the jiggler...but chicken soup is the easiest thing in the world... :)