Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How to “Can” Tuna ?

Pretty much like DougAK says. Been canning albacore for 50 years. We avoid adding 'flavors'. Salt of course. Every minute you spend pulling veins, discolored spots etc will pay off in a beautiful product that tastes like no canned tuna you have ever had. We finish off the top of every packed jar with a strip of tuna bellies...the rich fatty belly provides natural fish oil, packed with nutrition. One little tip that many older folks do, get a large container, fill it with ice water (avoid city water with chlorine) and pack your trimmed tuna chunks directly from the ice water into the jars. I don't know how it does it or why it does it, but the finished product is wonderful. Maybe it locks in more of the natural oil in the tissue, I don't know, but it works.

Beaver do yourself a favor and buy a 10 lb pressure weight as the canners come with a 15 lb weight. Your pressure is your temperature and if you’re canning under 1000 feet in elevation I run 10 to11 pounds for 100 minutes. If you use the 15 lb weight you really have to babysit it where as the other rocker will make it a lot easier for about 10 bucks. I can mine in half pints and pints and use canning salt at 1 level tsp per pint (1/2 tsp) for 1/2 pints in the bottom of the jar as it’s easy to get it to salty. Remove all of the bloodline and any veins you can and your end product will be a lot better. You can add a lot of different stuff to it but besides plain salt but my favorite is 2 rings of jalapeño in the bottom of the jar and a piece of thick cut bacon in the top and bottom of the jar. Pack your tuna tight and leave 3/4 to 1” of headspace. Sanitize your jars and pack and when packed clean the rim of the jars good. I heat the lids in lightly boiling water for a couple of minutes but some don’t. They make a small magnet for getting them out of the water that’s really slick. When putting the rings on I just run the rings down until they hit and just snug them up. A couple of tbs of white vinegar in the canner helps keep it clean. I also have extra plates for each canner to go between the layers of the jars so you can double stack your jars and save a lot of time.

Simpler is better. Pint wide mouth jars, tuna cut to fit in jar with half inch left on top. No spices or flavoring. Pinch of salt. Then lid and follow direction on the canner. Best you will ever have.

I like the idea of a small strip of belly on top, will try that.

I like mine in the sunflower oil, makes the miracle whip go farther

The sav-a-lot brand, .59cent

Can’t beat that. Cheaper than Friskies too.

This is incorrect. You do not need to pre-cook the tuna. We pressure can it all the time. Cut into chunks 1 inch or smaller, pack tight in the jars, you don't want any air inbetween the chunks. Leave proper head space. I think we put in 1/4 tsp of salt. Follow procedure in Ball Blue Book for canning for bringing canner up to pressure and processing. I haven't tried smoking then canning but I will with the next batch we do.

YES. A regular water bath canner will kill the bad stuff but not everything. Acids in the food will keep the stuff from spoiling. A pressure cooker will kill everything which is required for low acid stuff like meat, fish, and veggies like beans or carrots. We're at a higher elevation. I get it up to 15lb for 90 minutes. That kills spores, etc. At lower elevations, you can do it at 10lb.

The bad stuff not killed in a "cold pack" water bath canner as RC refers to. That which will grow in an anaerobic low acid environment, ie canned peas, beans, peppers, corn, meat, fish, and poultry, is botulism. And it will kill you and everyone who gets a taste deader than hell.

Get the proper pressure cooker as advised above and the accompanying "Ball" canning guide. Follow all temp/time/pressure instructions carefully.

https://www.amazon.com/All-Ball-Book-Canning-Preserving/dp/0848746783
or
https://www.healthycanning.com/ball-blue-book

Just cram Old Toot into a canning jar

Oh stop it! Camp chef and a pressure cooker or 2, and do it outside!!

Correct, pack jars raw. 👍

Hahaha 😝

🦫

I’ve added everything mentioned thus far, add a healthy squirt of this, damn good. 👍

Large pressure cooker, pint jars, and lids.

The “setup”.

Sweet

👍🏼🦫

I Got a 25qt All American pressure cooker might need to try this myself.

Judman has it nailed for the setup.

Pack raw tuna in jars, leave about 1/2" headspace.
Wipe rims clean.
Put on new lids, screw bands on finger tight.
Put about 3" of water and a squirt of lemon juice in the canner. Lemon juice is not critical, but helps with clean-up.
Bring up to temp, and leave the rocker off until a full head of steam is coming out. This eliminates cold spots and helps reduce jar breakage.
Once you put the rocker on, wait until the pressure relief valve seats all the way up.
Now start timing, 100 minutes.
After 100 uninterrupted minutes, turn off flame and let it cool naturally until the pressure relief valve goes down before you unseal the lid. Again, this helps prevent jar breakage.

I usually use just a pinch of non-iodized salt. ( Don't use iodized unless you like metallic flavored product.)
Try various additions - Catalina Dressing is good as someone else mentioned. A single jalapeno, or garlic clove. Maybe a little liquid smoke.

But most of my salmon, tuna, and occasionally halibut is just raw fish and salt.

Make sure you get all of the blood meat off (dark red stuff). It's so nasty the neighborhood cats won't even touch it. Sure makes good halibut and crab bait though, so don;'t discard it.

👍 solid advice. You’ll feed store bought tuna to the cats, after you can your own 😂

Odds are, were I doing it, the belly would never make it to the jar.....................especially if smoked first!