Harvesting, canning and dressing

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, July 2019; written by Tammy Dinsmore

The harvest season is upon us. If you have been fishing, picking berries, hunting, or reaping the benefits of your garden this summer, you may have a need to preserve some of your bounty. The Ketchikan Public Library has a plethora of books and a few DVDs to help guide you through your desired method of preservation. Several books on canning can be found here, as well as books on field dressing and butchering wild game and fish.

If you need a no-nonsense book on canning fruits, vegetables, poultry, red meats, and fish, the Complete Guide to Home Canning put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service is a good resource to turn to. With just a few illustrations, this guide will walk you through the tools to use, the proper safety techniques, and the entire process of using either water bath canners or pressure canners. This is an older guide, so it does not include information on the latest and greatest pressure canners, but has solid advice and recipes nonetheless.

Ball Canning, Back to Basics: A Foolproof Guide to Canning Jams, Jellies, Pickles and More is just what is says, a basic canning book for putting up mainly fruit preserves, but it has a few recipes for pickles and sauces. I have used this book for making many different jams, and all recipes are specifically for the water bath canner.

In The Hunters Guide to Butchering, Smoking & Curing Wild Game & Fish by Phillip Hasheider, the author walks the reader through the tools needed, safety precautions, and for the slaughtering and preparation of big and small game, game birds, waterfowl, and fish. Got an alligator you need to know how to butcher? It’s in here! This book has great step-by-step illustrations for butchering just about any kind of game you have. In the later chapters there are instructions cutting and freezing or canning your game or fish, and recipes for smoking and curing meats.

If you want a more visual how-to, the library has some DVDs to help you out.

Homestead Blessings: The Art of Canning is hosted by the West Ladies. They walk you through the canning process starting with equipment needed and safety precautions, and move on to canning jam, vegetables and even eggs. This is a short introduction to canning and is less than an hour long.

Some other DVDs on our shelves take a look at wild game processing: The Hunter's Guide to Wild Game Field Care; Practical Game Processing: Field to the freezer; Deer and Big Game Processing, and Quarter and De-bone Big Game in the Field.

There are several more books about canning and preserving on our shelves. Come in and get some inspiration with new recipes and ideas!