Do it yourself - Tuna Canning

Home canned tuna (oil packed), once you do it you will understand there is world apart from commercial versions. When canning, it should done using pressure canner since tuna is a low acid food. It is better you can use "weighted gauge" model. To ensure the shelf stable result, please make sure your pressure canner works properly. 



What you need is,

• A pressure cooker
• Jars with lids and rings (I prefer Half pint, wide mouth jars)
• Skinless, Boneless chunk of Tuna
• Salt
• Olive oil (I prefer)

Jars with lids and rims

Jars, Lids. Rims and Jar lifters

Procedure:

1. Sanitize all jars, rings and lids (you can do it easily by boiling). DO NOT USE SOAP !! and let everything air dry.
2. Cut tuna chunk into 2.5 X 3 inches small chunks
3. Line up the jars and put 1 or 2 spoons of olive oil in to the jars
4. Put small tuna chunks in to each jar. Make sure to avoid as many air pockets as possible. Use scraps of tuna to fill the gaps.
5. Sprinkle half teaspoon of salt to each jar
6. pour enough olive oil to cover the tuna chunks and using a table knife fill the remaining air pockets with oil.
7. During this filling procedure, make sure to leave half an inch room from the top of the jar (VERY IMPORTANT). This space is called the "HEAD SPACE".
8. Wipe the rim of each jar using hot, damp towel to remove the debris from the fish, oil and salt. This is very important to make "Shelf Stable" product.
9. Place a lid on each jar and screw the rim. Do  not tighten the ring, leave it loose. (When re-using, rings and jars re-usable and lids are NOT !!).
10. Pour enough boiling water to fill 1.5 to 2 inches of the pressure cooker. 
11. There should be a spacer (a rack) that sits on the bottom of the pressure cooker.
12. Place the jars in circular pattern. This pattern will allow you to stack maximum number of jars in the pressure cooker.
13. Once the bottom layer was arrange, stack the second layer of jars on top of it. The bottom row will be partially submerged in water. It is ok as long as the water does not reach the ring level.
14. Close the pressure cooker and remove the dial gauge or pressure regulator from the steam vent.
15. heat the pressure cooker over to a high heat, for 10 minutes allowing steam to release from the vent. 
16. Carefully cover the steam vent with  dial gauge or pressure regulator.
17. Control the heat allowing the pressure to reach 10 - 15 lbs. 
18. Once the pressure reaches the desired level, control the heat and leave it for 90 minutes.
19. After 90 minutes, remove the heat and let it set. 
20. Remove the lid when the pressure was released and temperature gets down.
21. Remove the jars one at a time, using a pair of hot mittens or a jar lifter.
22. Let the jars set on a table with enough spaces.
23. Lids make some "Snap" or "Ping" sounds as a result of the vacuum created inside the jar (With these sounds, you can ensure your jars were sealed perfectly). 
24. Once the jars get cooled, Tighten the rings.
25. Keep the jars for future use.

Once you try this, I will guarantee you will NEVER BUY a canned tuna ever again . . .!!!

Further more, you can add different flavors by adding

• Garlic
• Jalapeno (Seeds and pith removed if you like)
• Pepper (Cracked)
• Hot sauce (Garlic Tabasco is my preference)
• or anything else you can think of

For other types of Pressure Canning . . . .  Please Click Here 

HAPPY CANNING . . .  ! ! !