Venison - How to Home Can Venison

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Venison - How to Home Can Venison

Venison is the meat of the deer, here in Central Alabama the deer are plentiful almost to the point that they can become a nuisance for many farmers, even small time vegetable gardeners like myself. Whitetail is the common type of deer in this part of the United States.

Usually one or more deer are taken for food per year for this household. There is no trophy hunting involved, you kill the animal you eat the animal. Its much like raising a pig for pork or a cow for beef but they run free and you either hunt on your own property or get a hunting permit from other property owners, there is state land that anyone can hunt.

I usually freeze the deer and just cook it as I want this meat for dinner, but since I am headed off the grid I am home canning more and more to reduce the power of a deep freezer, and canned deer is delicious!

I used a hind quarter from a spike deer, The bigger the deer, with bigger antlers the stronger tasting and tougher the meat will be, the younger deer are tender and has less fat.

First I wash of the leg off making sure its clean , then I slice the meat off the bone using a very sharp knife.

Next I cube the meat, you may slice the meat if that is how you would like to serve it.

I cooked the meat for 15 minutes in a pot filled with water.

Then I filled my clean canning jars 2/3 full with meat and covered the meat with the deer broth to within one inch head space, apply new lids.

In the pressure canner I put 3 quarts of water, a couple spoons of vinegar and I had it nearly to the point of boiling then I placed seven pints of the venison into the pressure canner.

I covered and processed for 1 hour and 30 minutes. I allow the cooker to cool on its own, then I remove the home canned venison and put it on a towel, carefully because its still bubbling, After its cooled down I removed the band, label and store in a cool dark place.

And that is how to home can venison aka deer meat.

By Andria Perry

Photos by Andria Perry - taken 9-21-16 during a home canning session.