Canning Pecans

[GoDawgs]

On Monday I picked up a 5 gallon bucket of pecans at a friend's house. About 3/4 of them have been shelled, about 4 lbs of nuts so far. I read in Jackie Clay's canning book about pressure canning nuts to keep them fresh and non-rancid for a long time so today I put up three pint jars of them just to see. It's really easy. They get lightly toasted or dried out on cookie sheets in the oven for 25 minutes. Then they go into the jars with 1/2" head space and into the pressure cooker for 10 minutes at 5 lbs pressure.



Two of the three didn't seal so I put the two back into the canner for another round of 10 minutes. They sealed. I think next time I'll can them for 15 minutes instead of 10. They'll get set aside and we'll see how they do over time. It would be nice not to devote freezer space to them.

Meanwhile, that last mess of nuts are a lot smaller than the rest as they came from a different tree. I think I'll let the squirrels have them and go back to my friend's house to get another half bucket of the larger ones. That should be a gracious plenty to have on hand.

[worth1]

Never heard of canning pecans.
Something new every day.

[GoDawgs]

[mention]worth1[/mention] , that was a first for me too. She says this works with all kinds of nuts. I think I'm going to try it with walnuts because they can go rancid in the freezer a lot sooner than pecans. I've had pecans stay just fine for three years in the freezer for three years. A 3 lb bag of walnuts were funky after just one year. Maybe canning will make the difference.

[karstopography]

We usually freeze them. Bought some Pawnee today, dad did anyway. Pecans never go beyond a year here in the freezer. Get used up before that. Good year for “Pa kahns” here. Never “pee cans”, lol.

[ponyexpress]

Interesting that you can without liquids in the jar. I did not think that was possible.

[pepperhead212]

I have stored walnuts for several years in my freezer, after vacuum sealing them. When I got a deal on them, I did this, then just opened the 4c bags, as needed, and dumped in a jar, keeping that in the freezer until used up. I'll be interested in the results of the canning - would that keep out enough O2 to prevent rancidity?

[peebee]

So are these the same as canned nuts, except the cans are glass, not metal? How interesting. And how I wish we had lots of pecan trees around here in S CA. I love all nuts except hazel & Brazil nuts. I always left those behind when eating a batch of mixed nuts.

[worth1]

My father was raised up in a tiny place called Bend Texas.
It is between Lampasas Texas and San Saba Texas.
San Saba is considered the pecan capital of the world.
Every year when we came down for Christmas we would go get giant burlap sacks of pecans and peanuts and bring them home.
We would then every night shell pecans put them in bags and freeze them.
There was a whole chest freezer dedicated to nuts dried fruit and so on.
I always had a sack of pecans and home dried fruit next to my bed to snack on at night while I was reading.
Ben Texas is the home of the world famous Jumbo Hollis Pecan tree.
I have played around that thing many times and never knew of its fame.
In 1919 it produced 1,015 pound of nuts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend,_Texas#Jumbo_Hollis
There are some very huge trees at Bend Texas.

[pepperhead212]

So are these the same as canned nuts, except the cans are glass, not metal?

Commercially, they can nuts, and a lot of "junk food" by putting nitrogen in the cans or bags, to keep them fresh much longer.

[worth1]

Also the nut needs the moisture removed as this will help to keep then from molding and or going bad.
The rancidity is caused from oxygen and heat.
This is why I am now toasting/slow frying my nuts in a neutral flavored oil or a nut oil to remove the moisture.
Also you will end up with a fantastic tasting toasted nut oil along with the nuts.
Just dont over heat them and let them do their thing slowly.
Put the hot nuts and oil in a jar and it will seal on its own.
I keep mine in the refrigerator.
Just remember this stuff will be hot big time so be careful.

[GoDawgs]

The 25 minutes in the 250 oven is supposed to dry them out. That was emphasized in the original recipe, to keep them in the oven for 25 minutes or so until they are dry but not toasted. No oil is used.

[PhilaGardener]

Man, lucky squirrels!

[GoDawgs]

An update on these canned pecans. I just opened one of those jars I put up last November. Those nuts were fantastic and tasted just as fresh as if I had just shelled them. Lots better than the ones I froze although those are good too. It's just that the canned ones are even better. From now on I'm canning them which will open up some space in the freezer too.

I was looking for walnut halves today and couldn't find any except at Walmart which only had 1.5 lb bags of them. We don't use a lot of walnuts but now that I've seen how good the canned pecans are, I'll buy that bag of walnuts while they're available and can them too since the recipe says the method works with all kinds of nuts.

[Linduchi]

Hi, if I understand you,you opened a jar after a year and it was great. So, did you pressure can the pecans? I pressure can all the time. What did you do to prepare the nuts before you put them into the jars? How long did you pressure can them for. I just shelled 25lbs of pecans.

[worth1]

Hi, if I understand you,you opened a jar after a year and it was great. So, did you pressure can the pecans? I pressure can all the time. What did you do to prepare the nuts before you put them into the jars? How long did you pressure can them for. I just shelled 25lbs of pecans.

If you'll go back to the first post it tells how they pressure canned them.

[pepperhead212]

So how much water is used in the pressure canner, in relation to the jars?

[worth1]

So how much water is used in the pressure canner, in relation to the jars?

I would imagine the normal amount so as the canner doesn't run out of water and steam.
2 to 3 inches of water in the canner before to put the jars in.
The jars will displace the water and it'll rise from one half to three quarters of the way up the jars.
If I have and empty spot I just can a jar of water and set it aside for emergencies.
It helped during the big freeze and my water was off for a couple of days.
I'm just wondering if the jars will float.

[pepperhead212]

I was concerned about them floating, too.

[worth1]

I was concerned about them floating, too.

I don't have any pecans but from some digging I found the weight of a quart of pecans to be around 1 pound.
Now it's just a matter of water displacement compared to the total weight of the quart jar and the pecans.
A quart jar with lid weights 15 ounces of basically a pound.
Then you add the weight of the pecans another pound.
With the water level at around halfway up the side of the jar you'll have a little over a pound of water displacement.
So the ship won't float until the water level gets almost to the top.
As long as the canner is full they won't tip over.
The three inch water level is for long 90 minute canning times.
So at 15 minutes you wouldn't need that much water.
An easy experiment in the kitchen sink.

[worth1]

I did the test even though I knew how it was going to turn out.
I put a pound of water in a quart jar and put it in the sink.
It didn't start to try and float until the water came up to about half way on the shoulder.
I did it with 8 ounces too and you could still get plenty of water in before it started to float.
The pint jar worked also.
One thing I noticed on a video was a lady was using regular mouth pint jars instead of quarts.
I think she was running 10 psi for 10 or 15 minutes.
But I don't know what her elevation was.
I was a rather lame video.