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Gary350
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Has anyone ever canned potatoes in mason jars?

I have learned that we can not keep 100 lbs of potatoes all winter without having some go bad or having them grow sprouts. We ate a lot of potatoes and I gave a lot of potatoes away, this years crop is gone. It is not possible to have a root cellar in TN it would become a swimming pool in a few days. I had 100 lbs of potatoes in a spare refrigerator they sprouted anyway and some went bad. Potatoes in quart jars will be great for several things.

I don't recall if I ever canned potatoes in mason jars, if I did it was 40 years ago and I just don't remember.

Has anyone canned potatoes in mason jars?

I am interesting in learning how well potatoes do in mason jars?

I know grocery store sells canned potatoes so potatoes should turn out good in mason jars.

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jal_ut
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I have not. We always kept them in a cellar.

Here the Utah State University has an extension service which has much info on home canning. Is there something similar available there?

The Ball Blue Book gives a recipe for canning potatoes in jars, pint or quart. They must be processed in a pressure cooker.

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Gary350
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I was hoping someone would have recommendations, what works, what does not work and what works best. Not very much information online, 2 YouTube videos, 1 says cut potatoes put them in jars, the other one says cut potatoes put them in jars add salt then cook. My canning book says nothing about canning potatoes. I am doing my own experiments to determine what happens. I am doing 5 jars of pints, adding 1/4 teaspoon salt to each pint.

Left to right first jar is hash brown potatoes. I noticed after 15 minutes hash brown potato water & potatoes are turning brown. Shredded potatoes have a lot of surface area allowing more starch to go into the water faster than larger potato pieces. Maybe adding salt sooner would have helped. I know factories soak shredded potatoes in boiling water 7 minutes to reduce starch this makes hash brown potatoes cook better and taste better.

Second jar is small potato pieces for potato salad and soups. I barely can see a brown tint to the water.

Third jar is larger potato pieces for stew. Water looks clear.

Forth jar is 1/4" thick cut potatoes for country style skillet fried potatoes with onions. Water is not looking brown.

Fifth jar is french fries. Water looks good no brown color.

Potatoes are out of the pressure cooker and have cooled. Tomorrow for breakfast we will test the hash brown potatoes. Potatoes all look good.

Top picture is after cooking.
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Gary350
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This morning we opened the pint jar of hash brown potatoes. The potatoes have soaked up all the water in the jar. Potatoes are all stuck inside the jar like 1 large blob of mud. We tried to cook the hash brown potatoes it was very slow, if you cook out the water it makes nice golden brown potato pan cakes, flavor is good.

Wife thinks we need to add lemon juice to the jars this keeps starch from being sticky. I did some online research and found information that says, add lemon juice or vinegar to mason jars of potatoes. Looks like we need to do more research and development to learn how to can potatoes in mason jars. Vinegar is $3 per gallon, lemons are $1.50 each.

The other 4 jars of larger potato pieces look good so far. We will test those later.

When I was in grade school I remember my grandmother use to grade potatoes for hash brown after dinner. She put the graded potatoes in a very large pot of water then left it set. 2 hours later she drained off the water and replaced it with new water then put the water container of hash brown potatoes in the refrigerator. Next morning she cooked hash brown potatoes in the cast iron skillet. She made the best hash brown potatoes. I need to try soaking hash brown potatoes 2 times for canning potatoes. I like to make breakfast hash brown potatoes like this but I seldom remember to get them started in the evening after dinner.

We need to try vinegar for canning potatoes too. Vinegar has a lower boiling point than water it will cook away leaving no vinegar flavor.

Online video, How Stuff is Made, shows factory cooking hash brown potatoes 7 minutes in a large tank of boiling water to remove starch. Next hot potatoes go into a cold water tank to cool. Potatoes are, drained, dried, frozen, then packed in bags to sell. I have done this to make hash brown potatoes for breakfast it works good. Its been a while since I saw the video I need to find it and watch it again.
Last edited by Gary350 on Sat Jan 26, 2019 10:46 am, edited 2 times in total.

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applestar
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I’m following your experiment with great interest Gary350 :D

They do sell processed hash brown potatoes in bags in the freezer section along with french fry and steak fry potatoes. Is that another option for you if you want these potatoes for hash browns?

...I was going to say before you said vinegar flavor cooks out that if vinegar flavor is an issue and these potatoes maintain sufficient texture, maybe you could use the kind of vinegar you would use for potato salad recipe and use them to make potato salad — for example, I prefer using apple cider vinegar for German potato salad, but use white wine vinegar in another recipe.

My impression of canned potatoes (not home canned but in canned soups and stews from the store) has been that they taste Ok in those soups and stews but there is a distinct difference in texture (maybe gooey or rubbery?) than fresh potatoes cooked. I have had potatoes served In restaurant soups that I thought must be made from frozen or canned potatoes.

Maybe the mushed up home canned potatoes would make good mashed potatoes if you used milk and other mashed potato ingredients to can them in? I don’t remember — can you can milk? Another option might be to use recipe for chicken/turkey stock mashed potatoes. ...or would there be too much moisture — maybe it needs to be larger pieces that won’t mush up together and could be drained first ?

There is a YouTuber I have been watching lately who cans I think 1/2 gal? jars of stew by combining meat, carrots and potatoes with salt and boiling water or stock added (I think she used plain boiling water when canning just meat because she said it will make its own broth this way). I’ll find the link if you are interested.
...I had an issue with her method because I always sear/brown the meat when making stew, but I suppose you could do that before canning the cubed meat?

—— This is all moot for me because I don’t have a pressure canner and I have a glass-top stove which won’t support a large canner anyway — I have to start by getting a sturdy camp stove to put out on the patio, maybe ? But I’m sensitive to propane gas ... haha you see the dilemma :roll: ....

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Gary350
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Applestar. You have several good ideas. Your right if potato water is poured off you loose potato flavor. When we cook soup & stew it always requires water, a jar of canned potatoes plus the water in the jar can all go into the soup & stem no flavor should be lost.

I love Waffle House hash brown potatoes for breakfast, I know starch must be gone because their hash browns never screws up my blood sugar. 1 of my next experiments will be to soak hash browns in several containers of water then see if they keep better in pints and cook better too. I have done this for hash brown potatoes for breakfast at home it works.

There are pickling recipes that say, pack fresh vegetables in mason jars then fill them with boiling hot pickle spice vinegar, put on the seals & rings, turn upside down to cool. In about 1 month pickled vegetables are ready to eat. I need to try this with potato salad potatoes. This might also work with boiling water over a mason jar of potatoes.

I also need to experiment with dry hash browns to freeze but we have a very small freezer. Wife uses the freezer for temporary storage for things that are on sale and things we need then we eat from the freezer for a few weeks not having to buy from the grocery store every other day.

We eat different in winter than summer. We buy Bread & Butter pickles 10 jars each time in summer then turn them all into relish in the food processor for potato salad & cole slaw & hot dogs on the grill, in summer we never have any juice left over it goes into the potato salad and cole slaw for flavor. I have a container of pickling spice I can use to make pickle spice vinegar and try your idea small potatoes in pickle spice vinegar instead of water.

I bought my small pressure cooker for $2 at a yard sale. If I bought every $2 pressure cooker I saw I would have 60 of them. LOL. I bought my large pressure cooker brand new 41 years ago. We have a glass top stove it barely gets hot enough to boil water it takes the large pressure cooker a whole hour to boil water and another hour to make steam and cook 9 pint jars.

I bought a small hot plate prices are $16 to $20 depending where you buy one. Freds have them for 16 and Walmart has them for 20. I have seen them other places too. Some where I saw a larger hot plate I need it for my larger pressure cooker. I have not tried the small hot plate on the large pressure cooker it will probably work much better that our glass top stove.

We have a griddle I might try the large pressure cooker on the griddle.

We have an induction heater cooker WOW this is amazing how well this works but it only with on pans that are magnetic. It does not work on aluminum or stainless. It heats up my 10" cast iron skillet in 45 seconds a gas stove heats up the same skillet in about 3 or 4 minutes. I use this on the patio and camping to cook wife does not like cast iron it hurts her wrist to pick up the heavy skillet.

These portable cook tops are cheap, most expensive one is the $60 induction heater I would not trade if for 50 of the other cookers. Griddle is $20. Double burner $30.
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Gary350
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There appears to be a limit to how much water potatoes will soak up while setting inside mason jars. There is also a limit to how much potatoes expand when they soak up water. When filling jars with potatoes leave about 10% extra space for expansion other wise potatoes will become too tight in the jars to dump out.

This morning after cooking 3 slices of bacon for breakfast in the electric skillet I make good use of the bacon grease in the skillet. I opened a pint jar of 1/4" thick potato slices, we often fry these for dinner with onion & garlic but this morning I'm not using garlic & onion if this turns out bad I don't want to waste extra food. I poured all the water from the jar making sure no potatoes escape then I poured potatoes into the hot skillet. With lid on skillet potatoes cooked about 10 minutes on both sides. Potatoes have a very good flavor it is hard to tell if potatoes taste any different than cooking fresh sliced potatoes that were never canned in mason jars. Potatoes from the mason jar cook much faster than a fresh sliced potato, they are all ready cooked all these potatoes need is to be warmed up and cooked golden crispy brown on both side. 1 pint jar of potatoes is the perfect amount for, dinner for 2.

Things are looking up, I think the larger potatoes will be fine for soup & stew, pour potatoes & water in the stew no flavor will be lost. We will see soon as we cook stew and see how well it works.

Jury is still out on the smaller potatoes for potato salad.

Wife said, her grandmother use to can potatoes in mason jars, she added lemon juice that made potatoes can better and they tasted good for dinner.
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Gary350, thanks for economical ideas to equip for pressure canning! Image


...I had an idea for the excess water from the canned potatoes if only salted water — maybe you could use it for bread-making? ...a little potato flavor and maybe starch, and the salt might be just about the right amount?

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We canned venison hash (cubed venison meat and potatoes) this year in a pressure canner, and everything has good texture. He drains the liquid off and then sautees everything in a cast iron pan on the stove and it works really well. (We didn't brown before-- just afterward.)

I don't know where he got the recipe (somewhere on the interwebs, I'm sure). But it was just a matter of heating the meat and potatoes in water, adding the mixture to the jars with additional salt, and pressure canning for a typical amount of time. I would definitely consider canning potatoes, and I want to experiment with canning soups next summer.

We used our pressure canner on the glass-top electric stove with no problems. In summer, I can outside on a propane burner, but everything worked fine doing it on the stovetop.

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Today I tested the french fry shape potatoes in mason jars. I poured the potatoes into the french fry basket in the sink so water will run off. Potatoes slide out of the jar very easy they were not packed in tight. Potatoes are a bit flexible like cooked spaghetti need to be careful so they don't break. Potatoes & basket stayed in the kitchen sink about 10 minutes while waiting for oil temperature to reach 375 degrees F. After cooking about 4 minutes potatoes floated to the oil surface indicating they are finished cooking but I let them cook 1 more minute so they are a little more golden brown color. When I removed potatoes from hot oil they only dripped oil a few seconds, unlike other potatoes that drip for 30 seconds then I pour them on a paper towel that is on a paper place to soak up the extra oil that drips off. These potatoes dripped no oil on the paper towel or the paper plate. Water in potatoes must be doing an excellent job of rejecting cooking oil. I sprinkled on some salt we had french fries with lunch they have a good flavor. French fries compare to other french fries a bit soft when hot then crispy after they cool. French fries are not oily or greasy tasting. 2 hours later cold french fries still not oily or greasy tasting. I am happy with the results of this experiment if there is no way to store a 100 lbs summer crop of potatoes it is worth it to can them in mason jars. 1 pint jar is perfect size for 2 people.

Wife's grandmother canned potatoes in jars by adding 1 tablespoon lemon juice to each quart jar, I still want to do another test with lemon juice in jars to see how they turn out.
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We poured the jar of small potato pieces onto the hot griddle, potatoes were soft & stick together they turned into 2 potato cakes. I cooked them golden brown on both sides they were good. Looks like this will not work for potato salad but it made good potato pan cakes.

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A very interesting thread. Some comments:

- A salesperson (!) talked us out of a modern stove. Said get a good used older one if you do canning; the tops of newer ones won't support a canner.

- Potato water is good to use for making bread. My standard recipe replaces one cup of flour with mashed potatoes and the water comes from boiling them.

- We parboil fries in water with a glug of vinegar, before they go into the fat; a tip I picked up somewhere. I don't know the chemistry of it but they come out crunchier this way.
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PS - Gary you're absolutely right: NEVER waste bacon fat! Unless you have health issues with it of course, but even then ... maybe in moderation ... just this once?

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Yes,I have canned potatoes. A popular way here in Oklahoma, and probably throughout the southern states, is to can potatoes with green beans. My Mother and Gramma canned these for years. Sure tasted good. A 50-50 mix works good. Fill a qt. jar with the veggies 1" from the top, 1/4"-1/2" salt (omit if desired), then fill with boiling water to within 1/2" from top. Seal jars and process
according to your canner's directions and elevation. I can these with 10# of pressure for 40-45 minutes. If you have eaten these, you know what I mean. If not, you are in for a treat (if you like green beans and potatoes). Now I'm craving them! :roll:

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okie dodger wrote:Yes,I have canned potatoes. A popular way here in Oklahoma, and probably throughout the southern states, is to can potatoes with green beans. My Mother and Gramma canned these for years. Sure tasted good. A 50-50 mix works good. Fill a qt. jar with the veggies 1" from the top, 1/4"-1/2" salt (omit if desired), then fill with boiling water to within 1/2" from top. Seal jars and process
according to your canner's directions and elevation. I can these with 10# of pressure for 40-45 minutes. If you have eaten these, you know what I mean. If not, you are in for a treat (if you like green beans and potatoes). Now I'm craving them! :roll:
Now that you mention I remember my grandmother canning potatoes with green beans in quart jars when I was in grade school about 1958. All I remember is seeing the quart jars cooling on the counter top and it did appear to be about 50/50 beans & potatoes. I also remember them being in a bowl on the kitchen table. Potatoes were 1" size pieces. Grandmother never made this in pint jars she had these for Sunday dinner after church the whole family 24 people gathered at the house for Sunday dinner. Memories are a strange thing, I did not remember this until you mentioned it. I remember eating them on my plate they must have been good, I was never a picky eater we grew up with lots of vegetables for every meal.

I have my grandmothers cook book, my mothers cook book and my 50 year old canning book. Nothing in any of these books about canning green beans with potatoes. Grandmothers cook book in interested it tells how to keep a wood stove hot using certain size wood pieces and different types of wood. I found something interesting, it says potatoes can be hot packed dry or wet. Directions say, boil jars, boil a pot of water, boil seals & rings, boil potatoes but not until they become completely cooked. While potatoes are still hard pack them in boiling hot jars, add 1 teaspoon of salt, fill jars with boiling water, add seal & rings, stand them upside down on a towel until they cool. Potatoes can also be packed dry with no water.

Potato Blanching instructions. Bring 1 gallon of water to a hard rolling boil. Add 1 quart of 1" size potato pieces and stir continuously to make sure all potato pieces cook evenly. Poke at the potato pieces with a fork when potatoes become slightly soft on the outer surface remove from boiling water then pack into hot jars.

My grandmother would not do hot pack and only did water bath on tomatoes. Me too water bath works on tomatoes. Hot pack works on jelly & jam.

This new information is all very interesting. I bought a can of factory potatoes, potatoes inside are solid not mushy like mine. Our next experiment will be lemon juice in the jars with potatoes like wife's grandmother did. I might try hot pack potatoes but I don't trust hot pack very much.

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Tonight we cooked the last jar of canned potatoes. Potatoes were fried in a hot skillet with about 2 tablespoons of oil. Stir and flip over on all 6 sides until cooked golden brown. Potatoes taste very good. We will make more of these.

This was an interesting experiment. It turns out smaller potatoes get soft and stick together then cook up like a golden brown potato pancake. Golden crispy brown potato pancakes taste good but were not originally intended to be potato pancakes. Larger size potato pieces did best. Be sure to leave about 10% space for potatoes to expand inside the jars.

We need to do another experiment with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice in the jars with the potatoes.

We also need to experiment with canned potatoes in stew and soup.
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Lize
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Hi Gary350, Just curious to know if you ever tried the lemon juice or vinegar? I tried adding vinegar to my soaking water once for canning hash browns (to keep them white). As you stated, they came out of the jar like a solid blob, so I decided to turn them into mashed potatoes. Problem was they never would get tender, no matter how long I cooked them. I thought it might have been because of the vinegar. Thoughts?

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Funny you should mention this now - Milk Street Magazine just had one of those questions at the end of the magazine Off The Air in which someone asked why it seemed their potatoes would never get tender, when they cooked them in a tomato based soup, or other dish. They said thought it might be the acid, so they did an experiment, with vinegar, and lemon juice, and cooked the potatoes in each (didn't say how much they were diluted - just said the LJ was more acidic), and they would not tenderize. Their explanation was that the pectins toughen, from the acids, even more so in the Yukon gold, and more in waxy types. So adding a little acid will help those stay a little al dente, for salads, and the like, and is probably why with some vegetables, such green beans and asparagus, we sometimes see a tb of vinegar called for in the boiling water - to crispen them some.

Their suggestion - cook first, then add at the end. I wonder if adding some acid to the jar water, after cooking the potatoes almost all the way, would keep them from getting mushy? Only one way to find out - experiment!

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Yes, absolutely. They are wonderful. I like to can the small ones and use the larger ones fresh. We raise well over 200 pounds per year and in my hot and humid East Texas climate it is difficult to store them much beyond three or four months. These pictured below are 2019 crop.
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