rkunsaw
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Question about canning cream soup

We have a large asparagus bed and can lots of asparagus, We also can vegetable soup from our garden vegetables.
A friend in England sent a recipe for asparagus soup that I really like, but we have never tried canning any creamy type soup.
Does anyone have canning instructions for such?

cynthia_h
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I haven't canned any creamed soups, but I have canned many different products: jam, jelly, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, pumpkin (pressure canned!), chutney, etc.

It's possible that canning a soup which contains milk/cream/half and half isn't going to work because of the extended periods of high temps needed for safety. Also, a dairy-containing soup won't have a very high pH, which will necessitate pressure canning.

This combination (extended high temps + pressure canning) is likely to cause separation of the dairy product. Not a happy result.

Maybe an alternate method of preserving the asparagus would work, followed by making individual batches of the soup when the mood strikes you?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

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shadylane
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hello rkunsaw, I have canned cream of chicken, and have canned my own bechmael sauce.

The creamed soups consisted of the use of 1/2 & 1/2 and heavy cream, butter and flour and broth and water.
There are a lot of different types of "creamed" soups some that contain sour cream and cream cheese...those I have not tried.

Depending on your recipe, have it made and bring to a boil, keep hot.
Prepare your jars, seal and place in canner. Can at 10 lbs pressure for 60 minutes. That is for quart jars.

They do not separate but become condensed as a jell. When heating, it breaks back down. I add a little broth, water to bring to a steamy hot meal.

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Ozark Lady
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I missed the last post in the other thread, had a nice long reply, and it was locked, and my post is lost in outer space!

I hope that I can remember what I said! Grrr! Brain not so great on thinking it over again...

I often can excess goat milk. I use a pressure canner and a meat recipe for timing. It ends up dark in color, kind of like canned evaporated milk at the store. It works fine for cooking, but not for drinking... it tastes well, cooked kind of like evaporated milk does (to me).

I canned cream of chicken, cream of broccoli, and cream of celery soups... I experimented because my recipe said... do not thicken...
well, I had to be a chemist... I did in fact use corn starch in one, flour to thicken the other one, and the other 4 I followed the recipe and didn't add milk or thickening agent.
The corn starch did absolutely nothing. I think that corn starch has one time of thickening and doesn't repeat if you go above a certain temperature???
The flour separated out and sat on the bottom, where it made a hard, impervious layer. At point of use, it took me a lot more time to mix that flour back into the soup, than it did to just use the others and add the flour and milk when I heated it for eating. And the ones that I added the milk later, were prettier in appearance than the long processed ones containing the milk.

In my opinion, the experts were right... don't add the milk and flour until you are heating it to eat it.

The milk increases the processing time, and the flour separates.

Not expert by far, just my experience.

I hope this is not now locked.

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shadylane
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I don't like to use corn starch, it doesn't work as well as flour.

Did you make a thick sauce in a separate pan before adding to your soups to thicken by finishing cooking or just add the flour and milk to the soup..just wondering what went wrong?

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ElizabethB
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I freeze cream soups rather than can. I have some nice potato soup and a split pea cream soup in the freezer. I pureed the potato soup and froze it in small portions. I like to use it as a base for oyster, crab and shrimp chowder. In the past I have also frozen creamed corn, brocolli and cauliflower soups. I do not use flour or corn starch. The starch from the veggies plus cream and butter is enough to thicken the soup. If my base needs thickening I add a little bit of boiled, pureed potato. I never considered canning my soups. Sounds like a good idea but with plenty of freezer space freezing is much easier.

A month ago G was hungry for white bean soup. Made a big batch and still have some in the freezer (along with the creamed split pea and potatoe soup). Saturday G insisted on making red beans and rice (with home made venison sausage and home smoked taso) Cooked all night in the crock pot. Wonderful. We had it again last night and I put the remainder in quart zip locks and froze.

I do can veggies and fruit preserves (figs) just never thought of canning soup.

starfish
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Thanks Shady Lane,
I read and read that it was unsafe to can soups with cream or milk. But I was thinking "wait a minute" they have been doing it for years. Otherwise the soup would not have been used as readily in the times before the refrigerator. All these regulations have so held people in fear and captivity. I had some corn chowder I wanted to can. I did using the 10 pounds of pressure for 60 min.
Starfish

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Lindsaylew82
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ClearJel (by brand) is a thickener that does not get degraded (is that the right word???) during processing. It stays jelled/thickened even after reheated post canning. So far, I've not found any other thickener to maintain viscosity during reheating.

B Salem
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Has anyone used Thermflow when canning soups?

B Salem
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I know Ball does not recommend canning with cream or half and half, but my grandmother did for years, all kinds of soups, she used flour as a thickener but I have read about Thermflow shich does not separate and will thicken up again after re-heating, I was just wondering if anyone had tried that



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