Canning frozen vegetables and Velveeta cheese

The weather here is turning cool and the rainy season has started so this is a good time to get back to canning. Ready to do bacon and burger but have a couple more questions. Can I can frozen vegetables and canned from the store? What about velveta cheese, can it and other cheeses be preserved in red wax and how long will they last?

C. N.
Wagoner, Oklahoma

Frozen vegetables can be canned, but I like them better dehydrated. You can re-can large, #10 cans of vegetables but they do get a bit overcooked that way. Fresh is best. If you do re-can them, treat as if they were fresh and follow canning directions for each vegetable exactly.

I’ve canned processed cheese like Velveta as well as cheese sauce and hard cheeses. Check out the section on canning cheese in my book, Growing and Canning Your Own Food. Basically, cut the cheese in cubes and melt in the jar, in a pan of boiling water. As the cheese melts, keep adding until it’s within 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 60 minutes. Hard cheeses will continue to sharpen as they age, but will keep for years. Processed cheese will last nearly forever, as will cheese sauce. — Jackie

Storing lard

Thank you so much for the info on canning lard (actually your answer to someone else’s question). I tried it a couple of days ago and was happy to get 11 beautiful pure white pints from 10 pounds of lean fat. I simmered the lids and they all sealed. How long do you think they’ll stay good in a cool pantry? P.S. The chickens liked the cracklings too, so no waste at all!

Donna Herlihy
Wentworth, New Hampshire

I’ve never had lard go bad in storage, but I usually use it up within a year or two.

Glad your chickens liked the cracklings. I do too! — Jackie

4 COMMENTS

  2. Being from New England, I did not know that. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll certainly keep your suggestions in mind for the next batch. BTW, that was LEAF fat, not LEAN fat (kind of an oxymoron)! Thanks again for the suggestions. Donna Herlihy

  3. There is no way I would waste cracklings on a chicken! Just imagine all the flavors that could have gone into corn bread, soups, white sauces, and other dishes. Cracklings are such good eatin.

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