Soup Base Recipe

I know, you thought I'd never get around to posting the recipe for the soup base. Well, here I am and here it is...

(btw, I got the recipe from my neighbor, so thank you to her. And I called the extension office to check on the "safety" of canned soup. The only thing they said was to NOT add any rice, tapioca or barley (thickening agents). They didn't give a real reason, just said it made your soup NOT SAFE.)

Canned Soup Base

Fill each jar with:
1/2 tsp. salt
dash garlic
1 TBS. heaping bouillon
1 TBS. parsley
1/4 cup onion
1/3 cup celery
1/3 cup carrots
Fill the remainder of the jar with potatoes and water.
Leave one inch headspace.
Put lids on the cleaned rims of the jar.
Pressure at 13 lbs for 40 minutes (or whatever your pressure cooker altitude cooking is for potatoes, since they cook the longest when canning.)

Enjoy... you can make this into a potato cheese soup, clam chowder or beef stew.



A few tips and notes that I would do differently: I would make chunkier carrots and celery. I used my food slicer/shredder and they turned out thinner than I would like.
And I used a soup base bouillon type seasoning. I think I'll try the actual cubes next time. I think the soup base is now overcooked.

Otherwise, we tasted it the other day and really enjoyed it as a cheesy potato chicken soup.

Potatoes - fresh and canning

Need some good, fresh, Idaho potatoes for your Thanksgiving dinner? (or any other meal, for that matter?)

Well, we are making them available in 50 lb boxes or bags. Prices range from $5.00 for very large spuds, $10.00 for a variety of sizes to $15.00 for consistently sized potatoes. Those are the prices for now, anyway... (fall of 2009)

Let me know if you are interested in getting any. We have a cellar full.

They are Russet potatoes - aren't they pretty (as far as potatoes go)?



Last week, I got ambitious and even made bottled soup base with some of my potatoes. I'll get the recipe to you soon. I am way excited to use this bottle to quickly make soup someday.

Oh - and for those serious canners out there... I talked to the ag extension office about making soup base and they said it is usually okay (safe) - as long as you don't put any thickeners in - like rice or barley!

This jar has a few seasonings and is mostly filled with veggies... more on that coming soon.

Until then...