Re: *GOBBLEGOBBLE*

> >mmmmmmm     canned meat

> Better than frozen, and I'm using turkey stock as the canning liquid,
> not straight water.  I might actually free up some freezer space
> depending on how much stock I need for canning beyond the three
> gallons I made today.

We do a *lot* of canning from my wife's garden. I help
with it a lot (chopping, slicing, dicing -- and carrying what
must be hundreds of jars a jear down to the basement
store room) , but don't know much about the whole
process.

We've never home canned meats of any kind. I don't
know why. Never really thought about it. I guess it's
sounding like a great idea if you can catch a sweet
deal on some bulk meats.

Anyway, I've got some questions you might be able
to answer:

(a) Is canning meats any different than fruits/veggies/
    pickles etc (which is what we mostly stick to). If
    so, what do you do differently?

(b) What's the expected shelf-life of, say, a jar of
    turkey? We usually don't go longer than about
    2 or 3 years on the shelf with the other stuff. Not
    that we throw it out 'cause it's old, it just normally
    gets eaten up before then. Can we get 2 or 3 (or
    more) years out of canned turkey (beef, chicken,
    whatever?)

(c) Any special preparation or secret ingredients
    to increase either the shelf-life or the quality
    of what comes out of the jars after a few years?

I'm going to do some research on this over the
weekend. You've piqued my interest on this. Just
asking if you've got any input from your personal
experiences with this.

Thanks.