Canning chili verde

[larryroohr]

I made a new friend on a trip to St. Mary's Georgia a week or two ago and we both love hot spicey mexican food (texmex in my case). We went to a local mexican restaurant and when I asked about green chili the waiter didn't know what I was talking about, and I got the impression my friend had never had it, didn't think to ask at the time.

Anyway, I've decided to send him some samples from a few of my favourite restaurants here in Colorado. I was going to freeze, pack it appropriately, and ship it fast. Then I thought about canning it. Canning is something I've intended to try anyway, I have a pressure canner and everything needed, and would can as canning pork.

I wonder if anyone has done something like this before and has any advice.

I'm concerned about re-cooking the chili and possibly ruining it for one thing, I wonder how the gravy aspect of one of the chili's would hold up. I'm going to just give it a try and see how it goes. If it does badly I'll try my own chili and let it finish cooking in the canning process. I usually cook the crap out of it in a crock pot anyway to get the chili's nice and soft.

My real concern is being a newbie to this the odds of getting something wrong canning and not knowing it are higher. Like all of us I dread ever giving someone food poisoning in the first place and in this case with botulism your talking about killing someone, not trivial. I'm wondering if adding an appropriate amount of pink salt as insurance makes sense. I'm not sure how this may affect flavour, or any other issues. 240 degF is not high enough to cause nitrosamine issues I believe.

Any input is appreciated. If it sounds too problematic I'll just go the frozen route for this and take up canning with something else as I want to be ready for home grown tomato's this fall.

Thanks,

Larry

[Katie Meadow]

In what form exactly are you wanting to preserve your green chile? I suppose you could can salsa or pickled jalapenos, but if you just want to have green chile to add as needed during the year I would go with freezing. In New Mexico typically the green chiles are roasted, peeled, and then frozen in bags or containers the sizes you estimate might be useful. I like to chop the roasted, peeled green chiles coarsely, add a little salt and mashed garlic, and freeze in small containers. If they are really hot, like Hatch chiles, I get rid of the seeds before freezing. If they are milder, and I want to use them for stuffing, I just freeze them whole, stems and seeds included.

[johannafin]

You don't want to play around with canning. If you do not process correctly you won't kill the nasty bugs and you could inadvertantly cause your friend to get sick. I would go to the Ball, USDA or Univ Georgia website and read thouroughly before you start expirmenting with canning. I think freezing would be the much better option for what you want to accomplish.

Johanna

[larryroohr]

Thanks Katie and Johanna,

When I say green chili/chili verde I mean the finished product, in a bowl in front of me with lots of succulent pork cubes and diced raw onions on top, and a a side of beans, rice, and good tortillas or good tortilla chips, Ok, now I'm hungry. I grew up on they east coast,and though the best food to be had anywhere is there IMO, the region is seriously deprived where this is concerned 8^).

Johanna, I agree, hence my concern.

Katie, that is exactly what I intend to do this year. So far my gringo chili verde making has been with hatches canned chili's. There's no excuse for living here and not hitting the roadside stands with the roasting barrels blazing away and stocking up the freezer every year.

I'm going to go ahead and experiment with this using calculated amounts of pink salt however unpleasant that may sound, at least for starters.

Thanks,

Larry

[janeer]

This brings back memories. When I was in college (long, long ago), a friend's mother used to send him her green chile on a regular basis, and we would have a feast--lots of white bread and beer to cool it down. It was pressure canned. However, I don't think I would can a restaurant product. I would go for the freezing, pack in dry ice, and ship FedEx. Expensive--but it's a gift, after all. Or, given that the chile is a preservative and it lasts many days in the refrigerator, pack refrigerated (cold) with gel packs, ship Fed Ex. Not canning it will be much better.

[TeakettleSlim]

Having recently moved to Arizona, I have a newfound appreciation for green chiles. I totally understand wanting to find a way to share them with the uninitiated. I've been trying to figure out how to get some frozen chiles to friends in Tennessee. However, I would strongly advise against canning a restaurant product, or even your own recipe if it hasn't been developed and tested specifically for safe canning. Chiles are low acid, which becomes a botulism risk in an airless environment like a canning jar. Usually such stews are thick, too, which prevents thorough heat penetration during canning. You'd really have to pressure can the bejesus out of it to get it anywhere in the vicinity of safe, and even then, there would be no way to guarantee it.

Please visit the University of Georgia site for a guide to safe canning: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/

The Harvest forum over at gardenweb also has a lot of helpful, canning-wise folks on it, too, and perhaps one of them might have a safe recipe you could make to share the chile joy. Or at least they could explain a lot more specifically than I have what the issues are with canning a product like prepared chili.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/harvest

Edited March 23, 2012 by TeakettleSlim (log)

[larryroohr]

Ok, votes are in, 4 to 1 (1 is me and my ocd'ness). I'll go the frozen route.

Now I have to go eat the chili I bought to play with this weekend, dang.

Thanks everyone.

Larry

BTW, if any of you fellow chili heads are ever in Pueblo Colorado you need to be sure to get to Gray's Tavern and get a 'slopper'. Google it, simple old steel mill town bar fare to die for. Unfortunately it's a two hour drive for me with no other reason to get down there anymore. I've never been able to come close making my own for reasons unknown to me, despite how simple it sounds. It has to be the chili.

[larryroohr]

Ok, I have to follow up on my slopper comment. I took my own advice and googled it. I had no idea there were so many versions or that it was featured on the food wars show and got all that internet attention. Gray's version is the only one I've had. It's two open faced (very thin) cheese burgers on half a bun each smothered with a lot of green and topped with a some cheese and a handful of of raw onion in a bowl, it doesn't look like that picture that keeps coming up. Part of the attraction of Gray's for me is it's like stepping back in time 50 years, old, a very long mahogany (I think) bar, pool tables, a very blue collar feeling like where I grew up. I recommend a good ol' american rice beer to go with, bud or miller. I'm no gourmet but I honestly can't think of anything I've ever enjoyed more.