canning salmon

Notes so I remember next time. 

Last year I canned sockeye salmon because a friend's boyfriend had too much and so they shared, and it was FABULOUS.  I especially like the salmon patties I make with it.  Also of course I love it because it's free. 

Well, this year isn't free, but I found a source with coho.  He says it'll be great for canning because of all the good oil.  I'll give it a whirl. 

Last year I canned all pints (except a practice run with some past-prime pink fillets my friend's kid gave me; they were not great but dogs have enjoyed that).  This year I realized that half-pints would expand how often I use it.  It's a commitment to open a pint and have to eat it quickly, especially since the dog can't eat it (she gets stomach problems).  But a half pint I could make into a sandwich spread and eat for breakfast on toast.  Oh, yes.  So, I pulled out all the half pint jars and ... I need more.  It'll still be mostly pints. 

So, today I went and got the coho and it was such a delightful experience to chat with the fellow and learn. 

I got 20# with the heads on, gutted and bled.  That was 4 fish ($80 as it's $4/#).  I'll mark here when finished how many jars that makes.

I need a good fish knife.

It took me about 1.5 hours to process the fish - chop off the heads (save to make fish broth to can so that I can make salmon chowder in the deeps of winter, and then bokashi the fish heads since I can't just bury them outside), chop off the tail and fins (then chop to put into bokashi bin), cut into pieces.  I wash the fish off in cool water and scrape off easy scales, but I don't really scale the fish, and I don't remove bones or skin.  I don't usually eat the skin when canned, but it slides right off (MUCH less waste than trying to skin it raw).  The bones get soft and are crunchy, and a good source of calcium.

My canner (an electric Carey canner aka Nesco, that I use A LOT) only holds about 4 jars, but I think I can stack the half-pints on top of the pints, so I can do 4 pints and 3 half-pints per load.

Pressure can on high for 100 minutes. 

So I can do one load tonight and hopefully can finish tomorrow.  I have to let my canner cool down and rest between loads, but I'm guessing I'll be doing about 18 pints worth, so ... maybe 3 loads tomorrow?  I can start early since I just have to warm lids and fit it into jars and roll.  Then I'll make the fish broth and can that. 

Not bad.  Maybe two hours worth of work and $80 for 18 pints of fish and a few quarts of broth. 

If I'm still feeling chipper when all done processing, I'll ask him to try again for some sockeyes on his next run ($5/pound). 

I'm gonna need more jars!