Dave's advice is the way to go. I just finished canning Habitat Soup which is split pea, carrots, onion and diced ham soup and I copied the recipe from the Ball Blue Book. So yummy and I know this winter it's going to be so welcome on those freezing days. In fact, I'm thinking of making another batch.

Madonna

Bcskye, thank you. I will look at the recipe and probably do it when I get done with winter squash (which I haven't done yet, and want to can about 100 lbs. I have Madonna's Tomato Marmalade cooking right now. Mmmmmm…….

There's a mega monster cushaw squash sitting on my kitchen counter that I'm trying very hard to ignore. lol!

Would this one be safe to use if you did the 1/2 solid 1/2 liquid I notice this one said to fill jar 3/4 full I know that isn't right but is the rest of the recipe and directions okay to follow? Is cooking for 1 hour before canning to long a time?

http://iowasue.blogspot.com/2011/07/home-canned-bean-soup.html

The original recipe from BH&G would have been safe to use but she has modified it with lots of added low-acid ingredients - garlic, celery, and carrots - that were not in the original recipe when it was tested. The current BH&G Ham & Bean Soup with Added Vegetables recipe is for freezing only.

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/meat/ham-and-bean-soup-with-vegetables/#page=0

It appears she figures she has made her recipe safe just by increasing the processing time over the original recipe which was 60-75 min. for pints/quarts. She increased it to 75-90 mins. for pints/quarts. That increase might be enough to cover the increased density and higher pH but we can't know for sure since it hasn't ever been tested.

So the simple answer is we don't know if it is safe or not. Personally my guess - probably safe if you stick with the 1/2 & 1/2 rule just because of the long processing time. It's your choice.

Dave

I'm making this hopefully tmrw or over the weekend. Is it ok to sub chicken stock for the water that everything cooks the 2 hours in? I usually use stock when making it in the crockpot for fresh eating. Lori

Which "this" of the recipes in this discussion are you referring to? If you are planning to freeze it no problem. But if you want to can it then switching from water to chicken stock changes everything.

Dave

When I said "this," I generally meat ham and bean soup. My intention was to follow BBB's recipe for bean soup on pg 103, with a processing time of 1 hr and 15 min for pints. I use stock for all my soups when making for fresh eating so I wasn't sure how to proceed since I'm not sure I would like it near as much without. Don't want to chance safety but wondered if I would be wasting my time and effort if I didn't like the end result. I had initially planned to do veg beef at some point with broth as well. Any advice is welcome. Lori

That is why indicating the specific recipe to be used is important. They have different processing times for one thing. BBB using the processing times for meats, but many other recipes including NCHFP have shorter processing times.

By using the meat processing times of 75-90 min you can use broth instead of water but you will have to chill and skim the fats it adds before filling the jars. Switching from water to broth changes the density, the fat content, and the pH so it isn't a simple substitution.

Thanks Dave. I did plan to cook it today and process it tomorrow for both time issues for me and to skim the fat in the morning. Lori