Toots, how are you doing with your tuna? I picked up my annual 75#s of loins last weekend, but my BIL is taking his share of that, I won't be canning all of it! My MIL used to bake her tuna whole before canning (she'd then add a little olive oil to it) - I didn't like it at all, it's just like I could buy at Costco cheaper than I could can it at home. I didn't have any interest in canning tuna for a long time until I had some a friend had raw packed....yummmm, so much better. Everyone I know cans tuna raw pack; maybe my MIL did it precooked because that's the way they do it in the commercial canneries and she had worked in canneries to help out the family (the dear lady had 10 children). I use wide mouth pints, but will can a case of 1/2 pts for my mom, and I do add salt.... scant 1/2 tsp 1/2 pts, 1 tsp pts. I've done it with garlic, but anymore I just look at that as an extra step...garlic can always be added to whatever recipe you're using the tuna for. Let us know how you did - it's a lot of work but worth it.

jamhar, I was gone all day and just saw your post, did you make the 24-hour window for reprocessing? New lids, start just as though beginning for the first time, the timing must be consecutive uninterrupted minutes to be safe. 100 minutes. That was a shame, good news is while I prefer my tuna raw packed, I know many who pre-bake and that's the way the canneries do it too, they prebake whole fish then section off the meat and pack, can. My MIL didn't pressure can but she took whole tuna when she had it to the cannery, baked it there, filled the cans (and they really were cans not jars) and they canned it for her. The end product is more dry but can certainly be flaked up for tuna filling for sandwiches, used in casseroles etc. and may still be better than what you can buy at the store.

Per NCHFP using quarts is not recommended. See link below for details. And the BBB says "Only can in half-pints or pints." I also checked several other canning sites with recipes for doing tuna and they all say the same thing - half-pints or pints only. I assume but don't know for sure, that it has to do with the density of tuna. Packed in a quart jar it would be difficult if not impossible to insure safe internal temps without an extraordinarily long processing time as it is already 100 mins. for pints. Simply adding more time won't insure the necessary temps are attained. Plus I would wonder, assuming you wouldn't use an entire quart at one time - that's a LOT of tuna salad ;) - once opened, how long would the remainder keep in the fridge without spoiling? I recommend freezing until you can get more pint/half-pint jars. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP- Canning Tuna

I concede that the USDA Guide is not very clear. No, let me correct that. It is extremely unclear. They need a new writer. The relevant sentence is Tuna may be canned either precooked or raw. All the instructions following pertain to hot pack. Too bad they didn't say so. It's perfectly fine to raw pack and not add anything but salt, if you wish. The tuna will exude plenty of oil on its own. Let's try again with the link to Oregon State Extension's document. It's a whole lot clearer. I should have done that in the first place. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Oregon State Extension Canning Seafood