I see no one has addressed your question, and it is an important one. The vegetables you use in your soup can't be raw, in the main because all the soup ingredients need to be hot when they are placed in the jars. The safe processing times are calibrated based upon boiling contents. However, you don't need to overcook them either. Boil everything 5 minutes before jarring up and that's sufficient. I think you may be surprised at how well the vegetables hold up. The texture of the chicken will probably be more of an issue. Also, if you think of it, with uncooked vegetables, especially chunks of potato, you risk some absorbtion of the liquid during processing. It wouldn't be fun to pull your jars out of the pressure canner and see they're only 2/3 full of a dense sludge-like mixture. So be sure the mixture has been boiled 5 minutes and then aim for 1/2 solid contents and 1/2 liquid for appropriate density. You should be able to eyeball a half-jar and still come reasonably close to equally distributed contents. If you have a leftover jar of plain or thin stock, that's not a bad thing because it can be used lots of ways. You do have another option, and that's to can plain chicken and broth in one batch and mixed vegetables in another batch. Combine one jar of each for soup. This gives you maximum versatility and you may find this brings you closer to the flavor and texture you prefer. Carol

For anyone reading this in the future, I finally did contact Dr. Andress and there really isn't supposed to be any meat left on the carcass when you start, they rewrote the instructions for So Easy to Preserve but she says they might clarify a little more on the website that this is a STOCK not a soup, that's why I kept putting "stock" in quotes b/c to me a stock doesn't have meat. Here's her reply "Here is how we re-worded it for our University of Georgia So Easy to Preserve book, below, although it's not a lot more specific. And I might now choose to say "Place large carcass bones (with as much meat removed as you can)": Or the other option is to not allow picking of the carcass at all. The directions really only allow for adding back the bits still clinging to the bones after cooling, not the all the meat stripped from the bones. So that's how we tried to word the order of actions for our book. But we can consider rewording on the website from the USDA guidelines, also. Thank you for pointing this out. Chicken Stock (Broth) Hot pack-- Place large carcass bones (with most of meat removed) in a large stockpot. Add enough water to cover bones. Cover pot and simmer until meat can easily be stripped from bones, about 30 to 45 minutes. Remove bones. Cool broth; skim off and discard fat. Remove the bits of meat clinging to bones and add to broth, if desired. Reheat broth to boiling. Fill hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims. Adjust lids and process. CAUTION: Do not add additional meat to this product. Process in a Dial Gauge Pressure Canner......(etc.)" Since how much meat is left on the carcass can vary, I think it's best not to put any meat back into the broth for canning, though I suggest that straining to get any bits floating might not be necessary. I also wouldn't add anything left at the bottom of the stockpot to the jars (sometimes I get little bits of bone as well as meat at the bottom of the stock). I knew what stock meant to a chef, couldn't figure out why NCHFP website was saying to add meat back into the broth, this was from very old procedures and it turns out stock really means stock. Maybe this is clear to someone who's been canning for a long time, but I haven't had any training (beyond NCHFP course, reading, and what I've picked up on this forum) so when I read that you could have meat in the jars my first question was "how much" - answer turns out to be "really nothing". HTH

Yes, chicken soup is a wonderful thing to send to friends in need. Chanukah is a simple holiday, really just a festival and other than lighting candles there are no strict rules or restrictions. Everything else is custom and depends on the local traditions. I bet there are as many ways to make chicken soup as there are cooks in kitchens. I never roast the chicken first for making soup. An old Yiddish saying: "If a poor man is eating a whole chicken one of them is sick." I do roast chicken often though and I like to pour all the pan drippings, onions, and juices into the soup pot (if there is a soup pot). When just making soup, I like the dark meat portions best. Dark meat is more flavorful and moist and I find it holds up better to the long cooking. I skip the bay leaf, celery (I may use the little leafy tops of the celery if I have it) and parsley but add parsnip, several cloves of garlic and fresh dill weed instead and salt and pepper, plenty of both but let your taster be the judge. I often use whole pepper corns that I crack with the side of a wide-bladed knife first. Some people skim the top of the soup once it starts to boil. I usually stir it a few times, lower the heat and let it simmer for as long as I am in the kitchen. If there's time to cool the soup in the fridge it is easy to remove the fat from the top. And soup is usually better the second day.

oops! sorry. hit a wrong button. I wanted to comment on Campbell's soup. I totally agree about the taste. Dish water is a good discription of the chicken noodle now. and the Tomato, one of my favs, is so bland as well. I remember my mother making soup for us 6 kids and the condensed soup was really what you would call condensed. one regular can of tomato came out of the can in a almost can shaped mass and the directions said to add 3 cans of water! you had to really stir it like mad to get that condensed soup to mix smoothly with the water to create the creamy soup, it was that thicke! and it tasted great! Soup was an economical way to feed a family then. not so much now! Now you only mix in 1 can of water and the "condensed" soup just runs out of the can. really there is no sense adding any water because what you get now is red water, no longer the thick and creamy packed with tomato flavor. bland and watery. same for the chicken noodle. they just keep cheapening the product, like people wont notice. I get the whole "let's get rid of all the artificial crap and high sodium and make this healthier because that's what people want. but if you can't do that and still produce a product that tastes good and people want to buy it, you might as well realize your product is done. people are buying now on nostalgia only and eventually Campell's Soup will be no more.