There is nothing better than having homemade chicken stock ready in the pantry. A rich, golden broth can turn an ordinary dinner into a comforting homemade meal, and having jars of stock available makes soups, sauces, gravies, rice dishes, casseroles, and quick family dinners much easier to prepare.
But if you bought half-gallon Ball jars specifically for pressure canning your chicken stock, there is one important thing to know: those large jars are not the right choice for shelf-stable home-canned chicken stock.
The safest solution is to switch the stock into pint or quart Mason jars before pressure canning. Tested home-canning instructions for chicken or turkey stock use pint and quart jars, not half-gallon jars. Half-gallon jars are generally reserved for canning very acidic juices rather than low-acid foods such as meat stock.
This may feel frustrating after spending money on beautiful large jars, but it is much better to change the jars than to improvise a processing time. With low-acid foods such as chicken stock, safe preservation depends on achieving the correct temperature throughout the entire jar. Simply adding extra processing time to a larger jar does not automatically make the process safe.
To prepare your chicken stock, begin by making your favorite homemade broth from chicken bones or a carcass. Simmer the bones until the stock is flavorful, then remove the bones and strain the liquid carefully. Allow the stock to cool enough for the fat to rise to the surface, then remove excess fat.
Bring the strained stock back to a boil before filling your canning jars.
Prepare clean pint or quart Mason jars and keep them hot while you work. Ladle the hot chicken stock into the jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims carefully so there is no grease or broth interfering with the lid seal.
Place the appropriate new canning lids on the jars and secure the rings according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Place the jars into your pressure canner and process them according to a tested chicken-stock recipe and the pressure appropriate for your canner type and elevation. A tested schedule for chicken or turkey stock uses 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts, with pressure adjusted according to altitude and whether you use a dial or weighted gauge.
Never substitute a half-gallon jar simply because it looks similar to a quart jar. A half-gallon container holds twice as much as a quart, and the larger volume changes how quickly heat reaches the center of the food.
Your half-gallon jars do not have to go to waste, though. They can be extremely useful for storing dry pantry ingredients, refrigerator foods, homemade mixes, or other foods that are not being processed as shelf-stable canned products. They can also be beautiful containers for flour, sugar, rice, beans, pasta, or other kitchen staples.
If you already filled the half-gallon jars with chicken stock, don’t panic. If the stock has not yet been processed, simply transfer it into properly sized pint or quart jars and continue with a tested pressure-canning method. If the stock has already been sitting at room temperature in unprocessed jars, don’t assume that a sealed lid makes it safe for storage.
Homemade chicken stock is one of the most useful foods to keep on hand. Properly prepared stock can make weeknight dinners faster, add rich flavor to homemade soup recipes, create a delicious gravy or sauce, and provide a convenient foundation for countless comfort-food meals.
The beautiful half-gallon Ball jars can still have a place in your kitchen—but when it comes to pressure-canning chicken stock for long-term food storage, choose the tested pint or quart size instead.
See more on the next page