[Sca-cooks] My two cents on canning compost...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Hullo, the list!

Jadwiga asked a while back about canning compost, because I mentioned  
having done so. All I've done is what I believe is called open-kettle  
canning, bringing the mixture to a good boil and ladling it into  
sterilized jars and sealing it while hot, because the mixture is  
rather acidic and the batch was small. It seems to have worked out  
just fine, and as I've mentioned elsewhere, some of this batch was  
still edible after close to ten years.

I'm sure pressure canning would be safer, and I wouldn't bet on the  
stuff being good for years and years -- all I can say is the above  
worked fine for me on that occasion.

I think maybe any concerns about pressure canning leading to an  
overcooked, mushy product might not be taking into account the  
inherent water loss if the mixture is properly salted and pickled.

Adamantius




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04