[LotuSeed]

I'll start off by saying that I know potatoes can be stored for long periods of time with minimal effort. My preferred storage method is pressure canning them. I know pressure canning isn't a big thing in the UK, but I thought I'd post how I process my potatoes for long term storage, in case anyone is curious about pressure canning. It's a lot of work up front, but it saves me a lot of time and energy in the long run. Anyway, here's how I do it.

I harvested the potatoes (the tops were still green but we're looking a little worse for wear.

I cleaned them, peeled them, and cut them into chunks, letting them soak in water with asorbic acid to keep them from browning.

Since they're new potatoes, the skins are really thin and come off quite easily.

Next, I drained the water and added the cut up potatoes to a fresh pot of simmering water, eventually boiling for about 2 minutes.

[LotuSeed]

While the potatoes were heating up, I put the jars into the pressure canner to warm up.
I then filled the kettle with spring water and brought that to a boil.

I removed the hot jars from the pressure canner, drained the water from the potatoes and started ladling them into the jars. Parboiling them removes some of the starch and helps prevent water getting cloudy. Varieties with a higher starch content will cloud the water more over time than those with lower starch levels.

I then added a teaspoon of kosher salt to each jar and filled with the boiling water from the kettle.

My lids were soaking in very hot water. Before putting the lids on, I wiped the rim of each jar with a clean paper towel. Then I screwed on the metal rings. This part canbe a bit errr, painful. The jars and their contents are very hot!

Then I loaded them into the pressure canner, leaving about 3 inches of water in the bottom of the pot.

[LotuSeed]

I put the quarts on the bottom and the one pint jar on top.

Then I added a bit of distilled vinegar to the water. (It prevents buildup forming on the jars) Put on the canner lid and tightened it into place. I let it vent for 7 minutes, then I put on the 10lb weight. 

Once the canner came up to pressure, I adjusted the heat tiger about 4 jiggles per minute and let them process for 40 minutes.

Once time was up, I turned off the gas and let the pressure come back down to zero.

Then I removed the lid, placed the jars on a dish towel and left them to sit for 24 hours.
The next day I removed the rings, wiped the jars down and labeled them. Then it's off to the "root cellar" until I'm ready to use them.

[New shoot]

The pressure canner is a serious looking piece of equipment LotuSeed 

Have I read this right?  You take the rings off the jars and leave the disc only in place.  Is that to make them easier to open when you want them? 

[LotuSeed]

Yeah it was a bit of an investment, but worth every penny. My only regret is that I didn't get the 30 quart one, which can fit two layers of quart jars.
I remove the rings so that I know that a jar is well and truly sealed by a vacuum. If something were to go "off" in storage I'd be able to tell very quickly and easily. If I left a ring on, and something lost its seal, the ring would continue to hold the lid in place and possibly create a false seal. The ring is only necessary up to 24 hours after the jars come out of the canner. They're reusable (I have loads of them seems like everywhere) but the lids are one time use (for canning purposes at least). Thanks for commenting, I wasn't sure how this would be received or if anyone would find it interesting.

[snowdrops]

Very interesting, what's the texture of the potato when you use them? Are they at that point fully cooked & just needing reheating?

[LotuSeed]

They're fully cooked and only require reheating. The consistency is dependent upon the amount of starch in the variety being canned, and to an extent, the size of the pieces. The ones I've done so far hold their shape nicely and aren't mushy, though I try to use the waxier textured varieties (they're usually the ones that are labeled all purpose, good for boiling or in salad. I'm going to try steaming some for mashed potatoes. I still have a few quart jars from August of last year and they still taste really good. Nice texture, flavor and they've held their color really well.

[Goosegirl]

My OH makes his own sauces etc and bottles them by ladling them into cleaned and pre-heated jars then screws the lid on. When they cool, there should be a little "dimple" on the top of the lid to tell you that there is a vacuum there so you know the contents are properly sealed. Is your pressure canner better than this method?

[allotmentann]

May l ask, what is the advantage of pressure canning over 'normal' canning?
(By the way l think one of the reasons canning is more popular in the US is the cheapness of the jars. Being able to buy the one time use lids anywhere and everywhere for very little makes it much more affordable. And canners are not easily come by. I remember doing an online search a few years back for the none pressurized one and couldn't find one. Although that may have changed now).
I love methods of preserving that don't involve the freezer. It is the way things have been done for hundreds of years and l am not limited by lack of freezer space. I have never thought of doing potatoes. 

[sunshineband]

When you mentioned taking the ring off LotuSeed, it reminded me of my Mum testing all the fruit jars through lifting them by the edge of the lid (only an inch off the worktop!) and if they "passed" the ring was screwed back on and the jars went into the store cupboard. Any failures were eaten up within a day or two.

[LotuSeed]

GG I have both a pressure canner and a regular water bath canner. The type of food I'm preserving determines which of them I use. For things likes peaches, pears, applesauce, salsa and jam I use the water bath canner. The high acidity combined with the heat kills off any "nasties" lol. I use the pressure canner for things that are low acid foods like potatoes, French beans, dry beans etc. it can also be used to preserve meat, poultry and seafood.  The maximum temp that my water bath canner will ever get, no matter how long it's left one the stove, is 212F. The minimum temp  reached by pressure canner is 240F. The higher heat level is able to kill off any "nasties" found in low acid foods, Clostridium botulinum in particular since it thrives in low acid, anaerobic environments. The higher heat destroys the bacteria and its spores. Both canners can be used for tomato products, but they are considered to be on the  "borderline" between high and low acid so many recipes call for added lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid. Generally speaking, you can put a hot substance into a jar and it will seal on its own quite easily. The purpose of putting the jars into either type of canner, is to ensure that the contents of the jar are heated all the way through, killing bacteria and mold and creating the conditions for a stronger vacuum seal.

Allotment man I believe it was sometime during WW1 that the government here started encouraging people to preserve their own foods and they started putting together guidelines so that the average person could do so in the safest way possible. Just like with any science, techniques and practices evolved as more research was done and newer methods were developed and continue to change. Practices can still vary greatly from person to person. Reusing commercial jars used to be fairly common practice 80+ years ago in addition to using the Ball jars. I don't think it's popular because the supplies are readily available here, I think the supplies are readily available because the demand is there. When the government stepped in to make canning accessible it sort of naturally progressed into the creation of standardized jars for home canning use. Recipes are written for quantities that generally call for half pint, pint or quart sized jars. (Though Ball has reintroduced the pint and a half sized ones, and they do make half gallon sized ones too). I believe canning is also popular/common in Canada as well and supplies are pretty accessible there too. 

[LotuSeed]

When you mentioned taking the ring off LotuSeed, it reminded me of my Mum testing all the fruit jars through lifting them by the edge of the lid (only an inch off the worktop!) and if they "passed" the ring was screwed back on and the jars went into the store cupboard. Any failures were eaten up within a day or two.

I pick my jars up by the lid like that too sometimes lol especially the ones that have been stored for a while. The "pinging" of the lids as the jars come out of the canner is music to my ears and the concavity assures me they've sealed properly. The first year I canned I left the bands on and then I read they could rust (they do that pretty easily when not on a jar lol) and can become difficult to open. It was weird at first, seeing the jars without bands, but now they're off after 24hrs.

[Snoop]

I looked into it a couple of years back and was even prepared to flash out on a big canner but I found it hard to justify the cost of the jars as well so abandoned the idea.

If jars were more readily available at a more affordable price, I reckon more people would do it, though anyone with a freezer might not bother too often.

[LotuSeed]

I looked into it a couple of years back and was even prepared to flash out on a big canner but I found it hard to justify the cost of the jars as well so abandoned the idea.

If jars were more readily available at a more affordable price, I reckon more people would do it, though anyone with a freezer might not bother too often.

They do sell jars on amaz....co.uk. Weck, kilner, maybe Fido, Le parfait, Bormioli , Quattro stagioni etc. Some have more reasonable prices than others and some have reusable lids. And any pot tall enough to hold the jars and two inches of water above them works just fine for a water bath canner. Just stick a dish towel or a round rack on the bottom so the jars don't come into direct contact with the bottom of the pot. You can't process low acid foods with the water bath method, but there are lots of high acid and tomato based recipes that are just fine. I've done peaches and pears in light syrup, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, whole tomatoes, tomato salsa and salsa verde (w/ tomatillos), applesauce. You can make dilly beans (which is basically a pickled French bean). Heck you can even make pickles from watermelon rinds!
Freezers are great for storing foods long term I'm not knocking it, I have a chest freezer in the basement, but the amount I save on freezer space and the energy to run it, to me is worth the investment. Keeping 60+lbs of peaches in the freezer is impractical for me, so I can them in light syrup.

Pressure canning would be more challenging there because only certain jars can stand up to the high pressure and heat inside the canner and those are not as readily available. The initial investment can be significant (I've spent hundreds on jars, but I can reuse them over and over again so it evens out. There's a website, www.freshpreserving.com that has loads of recipes, the majority of which are for water bath canning. Anyway, just something to think about.