Canning Basics Wild Game

At a glance..

Beef, pork, lamb, poultry, fish and wild game animals and birds can be safely canned at home with good results — provided you start with properly handled meat, wild game, poultry and fish and carefully follow the processing guidelines in this booklet.

The details..

The Wisconsin Safe Food Preservation Series is a comprehensive guide that provides readers with the knowledge they need to safely preserve their own food at home. This particular volume focuses on the safe preservation of meat, wild game, poultry and fish through canning techniques. The authors emphasize the importance of starting with high quality ingredients that have been handled under sanitary conditions throughout processing in order to avoid contamination by food poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella or Listeria.

Fish are particularly perishable raw foods that require careful handling in order to maintain safety and quality during processing. Readers will learn about suitable species of freshwater fish for canning such as catfish or trout but also how these types of seafood may be significant sources of food poisoning bacteria like Clostridium botulinum which requires longer processing time than other canned foods.

For those who purchase fresh meat or poultry for canning purposes it is important to make sure it has been properly chilled or frozen while being inspected by state authorities before use. If you butcher animals yourself then following safe food handling guidelines is crucial; however most people are advised not to do so without proper equipment and knowledge.The authors provide tips on choosing commercial processors if needed.

Finally this guide offers advice on freezing meats prior to canning them including trimming visible fat from wild game avoiding off-flavors wrapping tightly in plastic freezer wrap labeling packages dating each package storing cuts at 0F thawing completely before using within one or two days.