Ground meat would be 75 minutes, I don't know about small amount of bacon and onions but agree that 20 minutes (the normal processing time for green beans) is too short. Even a "soup" (which NCHFP says should be made with reconstituted dry beans, and the jar no more than 1/2 solids) takes 60 minutes for pints. I don't even know if cooking the bacon and rinsing to remove the fat before adding it to the jars (in very small quantities) would be safe, I would think that just frying it and adding it fat and all to the beans would be dangerous.

You have to wonder what the judges' backgrounds are. Our local fair judges on appearance alone, except for canned chili (!). I'd much rather take the chances of tasting the jams!

This post was edited by ajsmama on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 19:44

Guess I'm being critical, but thinking they need a more informed judge?!

No you are being informed and their judges clearly are not. The salsa is the really scary one.

Dave

At SW Washington county fair it is stated that only tested and approved recipes can be used. They say no jar will be judged or displayed that doesn't meet the criteria. I think this fair you went to is doing a great disservice to the public. Just my two cents.
~Tina~

Wow! Frankly, I think this merits an email to the fair committee.

The Oregon State Fair doesn't accept any product not processed according to current guidelines - i.e. Ball, USDA, Extension. Processing method - hot pack, raw pack, BWB or PC and time must be specified as well as processing date. No unprocessed pickle will be tasted.

I'd guess the judging you observed was not the norm. Ball sponsors a lot of the food preservation competitions and they're very precise about the criteria.

Carol

Our local Grange fair just says pints or quarts, except where noted. Pickles and relishes can be in half pints and "Exhibitors must use Std. 602 6 or 8 oz. jars for jams and jellies. No paraffin or wax allowed." Nothing about approved recipes. Oh, and the chili says it will be taste-tested (hope they boil it for 10 minutes first, but I'd hate to be the one handling the jars even so).

The regional fair (Big E) just started a canned foods division last year, sponsored I think by Domino, I heard about it too late to enter (and almost missed it this year - have to enter this week!) but they taste all the jams as I recall and you have to submit the recipe (giving credit to the source) and processing procedures, they even say you have to follow NCHFP procedures.

All recipes become their property, which I don't understand, say if you're using one of Linda Z's or Christine Ferber's recipes, and the fair says they can use it, adapt it, do whatever they want with it with no compensation. So I might enter this year, but only the strawberry jam, nothing special.

Here is a link that might be useful: Big E canning rules

Bacon is NOT safe to add to green beans !! Not even if pressure canned for 90 min. for meats.... It can coat the beans and botulism can survive even pressure canning !!

I used to use a very small amount of bacon in my green beans, until I started losing 1/2 or more. After that I decided that I can add the bacon when I heat the beans up.

Thank you for your replies....you have given me the courage to contact our Extension director about this. Not going to win me any popularity with them, but their rule book states "All products must be canned and processed by latest methods recommended in USDA or Iowa State Extension University bulletins." Does anyone have a link to the not canning bacon with beans? Will let you know how it goes.....wish me luck :)

I'm going to add my own two cents worth here as I have been "judging" and picking out my jars for the county fair. It got me thinking about last year's judge. I really don't think she was very qualified to judge canned goods, even if she did give me a merit award. It was just a bunch of little things and a few glaring ones.

She misidentified a large piece of cinnamon stick as a clove in some watermelon pickles... Maybe she misplaced her glasses?

She questioned the extra processing time on some products, Mostly jams and jellies, until it was explained that some areas in the county are above 1000 feet. But then she excused herself, saying that it really wasn't necessary for jams and such anyway.... Uhhh.. what?

Also

Each canned item has to be labeled for recipe name and processing, of course, and our fair book says that canning methods, times, etc. must follow current USDA or University of Wisconsin research recommendations. Well I cited the NCHFP site and also Ball Blue Book as literature sources, as did others. And she pretty much implied that wasn't good enough... because it wasn't USDA or UW! Not that she knew some those items were mine, but I was just dumbfounded that she would say something like that.

Some judges have impressed me with their knowledge. Last year's impressed me for other reasons.

Can bacon be safely added to green beans when canning them?

At this time, a scientifically-tested recipe with the proper processing time that results in a safe canned product does not exist.

Therefore we do not recommend home canning of green beans and bacon.

Jessica Kovarik, RD, LD, Extension Associate, University of Missouri Extension

Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri State Extension

Thank you for the link Linda Lou- you are the best!

You are welcome ! Even if a person puts bacon in the water if they do a hot pack green bean, it will still contaminate the product, making it unsafe.

sos_acres - get you county extension service involved too. They are the responsible local authority on home food preservation and have access to all the guidelines and advisories. Plus they are in a position to put more pressure on the fair authorities.

In addition to Linda Lou's link above you can point out that even the older, now considered outdated guidelines, called for processing the food for the time required by the longest processed ingredient. In the case of the beans that would have been the meat at 75-90 min. depending on jar size. The salsa would have to be processed at 75-90 min. also as it is a mixed vegetable unless it was fully acidified.

Dave

Well I heard back from our Extension office- they are the ones that recruit the judges. Said they appreciated my bringing this to their attention. Will be interesting to see how they do it next year.