Under pressure– cooking
Pressure cookers are usually thought of one of those things that grandma used, dangerous and intimidating as it seemed, to store her preserves and can her winter veggies. Not quite an appliance on it’s own, not just another pot or pan, the pressure cooker is a must have device for any savvy and frugal cook.
Pressure not only injects fluid into the food and speeds up cooking time considerably, it also softens hard materials like seeds, bones, cobs, and kernels.
Not only will you have the assurance that you can store food for months, you’ll know exactly what went into that food. Things you may not have considered for canning: soup, stew, chowder, bone meal, sauces, gravy, sliced citrus fruit, salted meat, potatoes, carrots and homemade pet food are all good candidates.
And you’ll be able to prepare things like hummus, hominy, bone meal, berry syrup, and berry preserves on the fly (without hours upon hours of cooking and waiting) to store for a later date or to serve up the same day. You can also speed the preparation of foods for storage by giving them a run in a pressure cooker.
A few tips to get you started:
- Always read the manual before using your pressure cooker and follow the instructions for your model.
- Buy the smallest pressure cooker size that will accommodate your needs, filled with water and food they can be quite heavy.
- Do not try to recycle self sealing jar lids
- Keep extra jars, rings and seals on hand
- Look for sales on the produce your family prefers
- Pressure cook bones, cobs, shells, husks, pits and kernals before throwing them in the mulch pile (they will break down much faster)
- Pressure cook bones and corncobs for your pets to chew on (their teeth will thank you)
- Core and pressure cook apples and pears in a spiced or maple syrup for a sweet treat