# Canning Ground Turkey?



## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Can it be done? I did a search on here and google, but neither had any information. A local store has the frozen 1lb chubs on sale for $1 each. Much cheaper than ground beef. Anyway, can I just do it the same way that you can ground beef?

Thank you for your help!


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

This interests me as well. We just bought a whole bunch of ground turkey on sale and we just froze it. We weren't sure how canning it would turn out.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Well yall able ta do canned hamburger, ya can beef.
Ya can turkey an chicken, so why couldn't yall can there ground versions?
I'd think ya would do it just like hamburger.

I couldn't find nothin on it niether, but then there ain't alot out there on cannin hamburger. I see no reason it wouldn't work.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

I think the concern is how would it taste. Ground turkey is pretty nasty bland to start with-it has to be seasoned to be palatable. But you're right, Coot...I guess you could follow the methods for hamburger and just can it plain then doctor it up when you cook your meals.


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## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

Just a thought, but I think I'd make it into small meat balls, brown in pretty hot olive oil, then can. We don't can ground turkey, but we can turkey meat by cutting both white and dark meat into roughly 1/2 inch chunks, brown and can with a tsp of chicken stock, and it's delicious.


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## Riverdale (Oct 31, 2009)

How about dehydrating it?

Hamburger Rocks


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## fancy1 (Jan 18, 2011)

I've been dehydrating ground turkey the same as if it was beef. The "hamburger rocks" method works well for me. It saves the freezer space and once rehydrated my family can't tell that it was ever dried.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

The Ask Jackie column over at the Backwoods homes cans all kinds of cooked/browned meats in her pressure canner. Most of the recipes and advice are archived and usable thru the internet. 
I do have a bit of a problem with drying any kinds of burger-if it is too fatty you end up having to store it in the freezer anyway due to the fat going rancid--probably still edible but not the most pleasant taste for sure. If I am going hiking or camping sure I dry it and use it up within a couple weeks, but longer than that--not happy eating.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Emerald said:


> I do have a bit of a problem with drying any kinds of burger-if it is too fatty you end up having to store it in the freezer anyway due to the fat going rancid--probably still edible but not the most pleasant taste for sure.


isn't ground turkey very lean? (3oz (84g) = 100 (k)cal & 1.5g fat


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

slightly OT:

duck is considered a very fatty meat, but that's primarily the thick, fatty skin; if you can remove that, the meat has little marbling in it & is only like 2% fat :2thumb:


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

The_Blob said:


> isn't ground turkey very lean? (3oz (84g) = 100 (k)cal & 1.5g fat


Turkey would probably be much better dried than any of the other meats that have too much fat-- I just noticed that I meant to say "many kinds of burger" not any kinds of burger! LOL my mind runs faster than my fingers are typing some days!
We used to dry and use many different types of stuff for camping as we often would hike out and lunch in some of the more remote spots in the big parks and then hike back in for sleeping at night.. Dried foods weigh so much less than fully hydrated stuff. Some things were yummy for weeks dried and some quickly went south in flavor... Dried hamburger was one of the things that we tried to use up quickly as the fat in hamburger would go rancid after about 2 weeks. 
Now shredded venison will rehydrate well and didn't seem to go bad as quickly and was great with a bit of bbq sauce on it for quick sloppy bambi on the trial.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Yeah, venison, like turkey, is low in fat, so it would keep longer than fatty meats..

How do you dry meats like that? We made jerky years a long time ago, but I've never just "dried meat". I would really love to know how to dry it and how to store it, and how long it keeps


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

gypsysue said:


> Yeah, venison, like turkey, is low in fat, so it would keep longer than fatty meats..
> 
> How do you dry meats like that? We made jerky years a long time ago, but I've never just "dried meat". I would really love to know how to dry it and how to store it, and how long it keeps


I just had the butcher sliver it when I had the deer butchered out- if you ask when you bring bambi in most of them will gladly sliver/slice thin for jerky for you and vac-pack it(well my guy does) and I just lightly brined it in watered down soy and a touch of brown sugar and once it was dehydrated super dry I spent a bit of time cutting it with scissors into thin strips and then just put a bit of boiling water over it and let it sit for about 20 minutes or so and then drain and add a bit more water to cook it down till it is soft again and add the bbq and we usually put it in tortillas as they are easier to carry in the back pack. Steam a few fresh nettles from the trail and maybe some of that powdered Parmesan cheese(travels well and doesn't go yucky in the backpack) Great hot lunch.
I seem to remember even putting the dried shredded venison in a thermos with the boiling water while we walked and then just heated it up a bit at the site and adding BBQ.
Since the car accident we don't hike any more. Just too hard to go more than about 4 miles without a pack, I don't think I could carry more than 10 pounds now. But we still go walking on the less rugged trails that are local. Now if I could find a cheap llama to train and feed I might take up long hiking again! Humm or maybe train the grand puppy to carry a pack. Or better yet the grand kids when they get older!! There's the ticket!


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