Canning Collard Greens and Blackeye Peas

Hello, friends!  After taking a very long and unexpected fall break that began with a trip to Pennsylvania to visit a very dear friend, leading to an emergency room visit with a gallbladder attack, a surgery, and a trip to Texas, I am BACK!

I know, I know...It is Christmas time, but....I just had to share a canning post.  I promise the next post will be Christmas related!  :)

This could be Christmas related.  I have served this at my Christmas
dinner before!

Since I have recovered from surgery, I am finding the urge to be back in the kitchen with my canner!  The other day when I was grocery shopping, I came across a beautiful display of collards.  I knew a bundle was bound for my canner.  We love to eat these on New Year's Day, but I don't like to be standing, cooking in the kitchen all day on a holiday when the rest of the family is relaxing and enjoying time together.  Instead, I thought I would make life a little easier for myself this year while I had the time. These are very easy to can, even if the prep work to get the collards ready takes a little while.

First, I removed and washed each leaf.  Then I removed the stem from each leaf.  To do this, I fold the right sides of the leaf together and pinch along the stem.  When the collards are fresh, the leaves snap away from the stem rather easily, making it easy to peel the stem away.  Mine had been in the refrigerator for a few days, so they were on the limp side.

Once all the leaves have been washed and the stems removed, the leaves can be cut or torn to desired size.  I used to cut mine in nice, neat squares.  Then I had children.  ;)

I put water in these and brought them to a boil.  Then I poured that water off and added beef broth.  I let the collards cook down a while.  How long you let them cook is totally up to you.  I didn't cook mine completely.  I just cooked them until they were a little tender.  They will cook in the canner.  While those were cooking, I prepared everything I else I would need for canning them.

Once the collards were done cooking, I filled my jars with collards to one inch head space.

Then I used the beef broth to fill the jar to one inch head space.

The air bubbles were removed from the jar.

Yes.  I do usually use my magnetic grabby thingy.  :)

Then the rim of the jar was wiped clean, and the jar was sealed with a lid and ring before being added to the canner.

My one bunch of collards produced four pints.  I had a lot of beef broth left, so thanks to some quick thinking, I was able to can some blackeye peas along with my collards!

To do the peas, I added 1/2 cup dried peas to a hot jar and filled to 3/4 inch head space.

Air was removed as stated above, and the jars were wiped clean, sealed, and placed in the canner.

The directions for the collards were to process pints for 70 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  The directions for the peas were to process pints for 75 minutes at 10 pounds pressure, so the canner was set at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes to ensure safety.

For some odd reason, I had a hard time regulating my canner during this canning session.  My regulator kept wanting to jiggle way to fast even though I brought the canner's pressure up very slowly on a lower heat to prevent such issues, so unfortunately, I had a lot of siphoning due to having to adjust the temperature.  Such is the life of a canner, I suppose.  I will try again.  No problem.  :)

Sooo...what have you been up to this Christmas season?  I would love to hear from you!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

*Follow USDA canning guidelines to ensure safety of all home-canned foods.