Canning Rice

Greetings to my Titus 2 sisters,
Here's a post from my old homestead blog about canning rice.  I used to love canning (and dehydrating) anything I could get my hands on and now that we're in the van full time it's far in the past. 


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Canning rice is super simple and the most complicated thing about it is the information on the internet.  You'll be told that it's impossible to can rice and it's dangerous.  We've been doing it for years and so have the people that we got the recipe from.  Please go do your own research and make your own decisions before doing any canning project.  Usually caned goods last years on the shelves (I've heard of some people using them 30 years later although I don't personally recommend that myself) but for canned rice we like to use it up in less than 6 months mostly because it does soften up as it sits.  

The consistency of home canned rice is not quite like when it's cooked on the stove.  It does have some that sticks together and some that is a bit drier than the rest but once it's mixed and heated up, it does just fine for a fast lunch or dinner.  I do recommend using a wide mouth jar as it is somewhat tricky to get it out of the jar. 

This is not a 'how to can' post that gives all the specific details on canning basics and processes, this is a post for those who are already familiar with canning and are looking for recipes.  


CANNING RICE
The process is simple and this recipe is for 1 pint jar.

* To each pint jar add 2/3 cup rice (I've used this recipe for brown rice)

* Fill with boiling water leaving 1 1/4" headspace.  Try to be very accurate on this.  Too much water and it will expand too much, not enough and it will be dry.

The recipe calls for venting for 7 minutes instead of the normal 10.
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Using a 10 lb pressure, can for 17 minutes.

To use, just dig the rice out of the jar, break it apart and heat with a little water to steam it if you are looking for plain rice.  One of our favorites is to mix the rice with beans and eat it with natural/organic tortilla chips that we find at our local dent/bent store. Or just mix it in with whatever liquid (tomatoes, broth, salsa etc) and heat until hot.

I usually only used my canned rice for those times when I was running behind on time or not feeling well.  Having simple home cooked convenience foods on hand will help you resist the urge to run through the fast food restaurants or grab prepackaged freezer meals.  As you train yourself in cooking from scratch and stock up your pantry to do so, you will find that as you mature in this learning process that when you walk through a grocery store you will resist the urge to purchase items that you can make at home for much less cost and much more nutrition.

I find it very satisfying knowing that I am doing my best as a godly wife to provide healthy foods as well as keeping them inexpensive and best of all hearing my husband say he would rather eat our home cooked food than eat out. 

Love,
Sister Deb

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