Pressure Canner Split Pea Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 cup diced carrots (approx 4)
- 1 cup diced celery (approx 3 sticks)
- 1 cup diced onion (approx 1 large or 2 medium)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup water
- 1 bay leaf
- 16oz (500g) dried green split peas
- 8 cups hot chicken stock (homemade or add 2 stock cubes to 8 cups boiling water)
- 1 cup diced High Caliber Bacon
- salt to taste
- a dash of High Caliber Butcher Grind Pepper
Directions:
- Wash, peel and dice carrots, celery and onion. Cook in a big stock/soup pot with ¼ cup of water on medium heat, for about 5 minutes.
- Rinse the peas well and pick out any discoloured peas. Add to the pot with the minced garlic and hot chicken stock and mix well.
- Simmer for 50-60 minutes or until peas are soft and tender.
- Dice the bacon and add to soup, simmering for a further 20 minutes while you pre-heat your jars and lids. Bring jars to a boil in a large pot of water covering them, boiling for 10 minutes. Bring seals and rings to a simmer in a saucepan covered with water for 10 minutes. While they’re heating you can pre-heat the water in the pressure canner too. You don’t want hot jars cracking if they go into cold/cool water! [Hot soup goes into hot jars then into hot water]
- Add an extra cup of hot water if soup thickens too much (it should be at serving consistency before canning and it will thicken during processing). Season to taste, then ladle hot soup into pint-sized jars, to 1 inch (2.5cm) headspace. Remove bubbles, adding extra soup (if required) to 1 inch (2.5cm) headspace.
- Wipe rims, apply seals and twist bands on to fingertip-tight.
- Place hot jars into pressure canner (which has 2 inches of hot water already inside). Attach pressure canner lid and heat on high until visible white steam has vented for 10 minutes. Add weight and bring up to 10 pounds pressure then process for 75 minutes (pints) at this pressure. Once finished, turn off heat, allow pressure to return to zero before venting then remove lid. Remove jars after 5 minutes to a tea towel-covered bench to rest overnight.
- The next day remove bands, label and store in a cool, dark place for up to 12 months.
