Home Canned Chicken Stock

I have long been a stock maker. We often have roast chicken for dinner on Sunday nights and I always save all the bones, in the freezer, from any of the meats we eat. In addition to bags of bones, I also always have a bag of vegetable trimmings going in the freezer. Any time I chop an onion or peel a carrot or have extra celery or parsley... into the bag it goes (those are really the only veggies I add, and maybe some garlic peelings, as some vegetables, like cabbage or broccoli, will add an off flavor to your stock).

Once I have enough stock goodies saved up in the freezer I announce a Stock Day. I love Stock Days because I get to stay home all day with the excuse that I must stay near incase my stock needs me!

Early on Stock Day I fill our large stock pot with all the trimmings, about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and up to the top with water (the vinegar brings out all the gelatin and minerals in the bones). I then bring the whole thing up to a slow boil, reduce to barley a simmer and let it go all day... and I mean all day, like 10- 14 hours!

Once the stock has been on the stove forever, I strain it and let it cool to room temp. I then ladle it into 2 cup freezer containers (that's what comes in a can of chicken stock from the store, so many recipes call for 2 cups of stock). These little containers of stock then get loaded into our big chest freezer out in the garage... but sometimes they can take up a lot of space!

So, imagine my excitement when I found this! A recipe for canning your own stock... I just knew that all my dreams were coming true, I mean, home-canned chicken stock, how cool is that?! And, lucky for me because the Mr. gave me a pressure canner for my birthday last year!
*** you need a pressure canner to can anything non-acidic***

The only issue was that I wanted to use my same old method for stock making that I have always used. Well, any canner out there will tell you with a fierce look in their eye "Oh, but honey, you must always follow the recipe when canning.... those recipes need to be tested!" Well, I didn't want to follow said tested recipe. I mean, good gravy, the point of stock is to use up all those extra bits... not to go out and purchase vegetable to use!

So, what is a girl to do? Well, being the rule following canner that I am, I immediately contacted my local extension office to inquire about such things. She told me the only way to pressure can you own made up stock recipe was to process it for... 75 minutes! AHHH... really, 75 minutes? But in Marisa McClellan's blog post, she says she uses up all the extra bits too!

Well I decided to go with what the extension office lady told me and after 75 minutes of pressure canning I had 7 quarts full of wonderful nutrient rich stock. It now sits in our new canning closet ready to be used for all sorts of delicious meals.


Later I did post a comment on Marisa's blog post asking her what her thoughts on the 75 minutes were... I must say, I like her answer and will most likely process for her suggested time from now on. In addition, I always boil my stock for 10 minutes upon opening just to be on the safe side of home preservation :)