How to Dry Fresh Herbs at Home

September 1, 2022 by Melissa Norris 17 Comments

Learning how to dry fresh herbs at home is easy, and there's no replacement or substitute for doing it yourself. Learn the best methods for drying herbs at home in this post!

Growing an herb garden is an excellent place for a beginner gardener to start, and making your spice blends at home is a frugal way to save on your grocery bill.

Why I Love Growing and Cooking With Herbs

When drying your own herbs, you know that they haven't been sitting on the shelf at the grocery store for years, and your food will taste much better because you are using ingredients from your garden.

Cooking with fresh herbs is incredible. I love adding fresh basil before serving my homemade tomato soup, and dill to this Ukrainian Borscht recipe, or having rosemary, thyme, and sage on hand to make marinated cheese balls.

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The depth of flavor is so much more than the dried version. However, if you live in a climate that has cooler winters, then not all of your garden herbs are available year-round.

So like any true Pioneer, we're preserving our herbs for use during the winter. When cooking with dried herbs, I put the herbs in at the end of the cooking time to maximize the flavor.

If you're looking for more of a fresh herb flavor, try preserving herbs in salt following this homemade celery salt recipe or this recipe for preserving fresh basil.

When to Harvest Herbs

It's crucial to know how to prune and harvest herbs correctly because you want to get the most flavor out of your herbs.

As an herb grows, it has the most intense flavor in the leaves just before it flowers. If you aren't ready to harvest, it's best to clip off the flower buds to keep the plant from putting its energy into the flowers.

The best time of day to harvest herbs is in the early morning. Herbs have the highest concentration of oils in their leaves at this time of day. You want to gather right after the dew has dried but before the sun begins to heat the air and plant.

Basil is the exception to this rule and can be picked later in the morning.

How to Harvest Herbs

The part of an herb used for cooking is generally the leafy part. I find it best to use scissors and cut off the entire stem to prevent the leaves' oils from rubbing off on your skin. Minimally handling the plant allows oil to retain more in the leaves when needed.

Lightly rinse the herbs to remove any dust or other unseen debris. I'm sure you practice organic gardening at home, so we don't have to worry about any chemicals or pesticides.

Place herbs on paper towels to absorb the excess water and dry completely.

Bundles of fresh herbs laying on a wooden table.

Drying Methods Used to Dry Herbs

There are several ways to dry herbs. The two ways I prefer are the hanging method and using a dehydrator.

Dehydrator – This is the method I use most because of our damp weather in the Pacific Northwest. After a ton of research, I purchased my Nesco Square Dehydrator due to its design to hold more food per tray than the circle varieties, and I liked the price point. I've had my Nesco for more than five years and love it. We've dehydrated fruit leather, jerky, candied apples, and herbs. I've run it for two days straight without any problems, and it's extremely quiet. You can also purchase mesh tray liners here.
Hanging Method – This method (also known as air drying) requires no special equipment, and anyone can do it.
Freezing – Freezing is an option that some people find retains more flavor. You can add frozen herbs directly to your food when cooking, which works best in foods such as meats and vegetables.
Oven Dry – I don't recommend drying fresh herbs in the oven, as most ovens' lowest setting isn't low enough to allow the herbs to dry without burning to a crisp.

Bundles of fresh herbs tied with twine and hanging upside down to dry.

How to Dry Fresh Herbs – Hanging Method

Tying the stems together in this method is critical. Moisture content reduces as the herbs dry, and they shrink together. Another vital part to remember is to hang them upside down. Gravity pulls the essential oil into the leaves, which is the part we want to keep.

Supplies Needed

Fresh Herbs – Make sure your herbs are freshly cut with no spots or bruising on the leaves.
Twine, String, or Rubber Band – You'll need something to secure the stalks together.
Dry Location – A dry location out of direct sunlight with plenty of airflow is necessary for the best drying environment. Pro-Tip: If you don't have a place away from sunlight, use a paper bag to cover the herbs as they dry. Paper bags will also protect the herbs from dust that may settle onto them as they hang to dry. Simply create a hole in the bottom of the bag for the stems to poke through and hang the bag around the herbs.
Hook or Nail – This is needed to secure the upside-down bunch of herbs.

Instructions

Tie the ends of four or five stalks together.
Hang the bunches upside down in a warm, dry area, out of direct sunlight.
Allow herbs to dry until the leaves crumble at your touch.
Remove the leaves from the stems, keeping them as whole as possible (this allows for more flavor when it comes time to use them).
Store the dried leaves in an air-tight container (you know how I love a good Mason jar!).
Label contents of the container.

Note: Moisture content and climate will be factors, and it could take weeks to months for herbs to dry. Just be patient and use the paper bag trick if you're concerned about dust or debris.

How to Dry Fresh Herbs – Dehydrator Method

Supplies Needed

Fresh Herbs – Make sure the herbs are fresh with no spots or bruising on the leaves.
Food Dehydrator – Any dehydrator should work. If you have a Nesco like mine, try these Nesco screens. Herbs shrink as they dry, and these screens keep them from falling through the cracks.

Instructions

Place herbs in a single layer on the food dehydrator tray or drying rack, ensuring they aren't touching.
Herbs dry best at 95° F. If you live in an area with high humidity, you may need to increase the temperature slightly, but try to stay as low as possible to maintain as many nutrients as possible.
Dehydrating times for herbs will vary depending on the size of the leaves and the moisture content. Some herbs will dry in 12 to 24 hours, and others may take several days.
Herbs are dry when they crumble at your touch.
Store the dried leaves in an airtight container.
Label contents of the container.

Pro-Tip: Herbs don't transfer flavors when drying, so you can dry them together. I have dehydrated four trays at once with chocolate mint, spearmint, oregano, basil, and thyme.

How to Tell When Herbs Are Dehydrated

Take a leaf between your thumb and pointer finger to test if the herbs are dry. It should crunch and crumble when pressed.

If you're unsure whether herbs are dry, you can take them out of the dehydrator and place them immediately into a ziptop baggie. Seal the bag and watch for any condensation to form on the inside of the bag. If you see any moisture, they're not dry yet.

The smaller the item, the faster it will degrade and lose its flavor. Leave the leaf in its largest form for storage and grind it up before use.

How to Store Dried Herbs

After the drying process, it's time to get them packaged in containers and stored on the shelf. It's best to keep dried herbs in a dark, cool, dry place to retain the most flavor and extend the shelf life.

Store herbs in an air-tight container. I prefer glass jars as plastic containers seem to affect the flavor of the herbs over time.

Mason or Weck jars work well for herbs. Make sure to label the contents of each container.

How to Use Dried Herbs

Here are my favorite herb blends to make (including FREE printable labels for the jars!).

Have you dried herbs at home? Share your experiences below! Especially if you have any favorite herb blends to share.

A woman pointing to a basil plant where it's starting to flower.

How to Dehydrate Fruit (Cherries, Blueberries, Grapes, Raspberries & Blackberries)

August 2, 2022 by Melissa Norris 26 Comments

Learn to make the best dehydrated fruit and enjoy your summer harvest all year long. Dehydrating fruit works especially well for cherries, grapes, and berries. Using an oven or a dehydrator, use my secret trick to speed up the dry time.

A bowl of dehydrated cherries on a wooden counter.

Why I Love Dehydrated Fruit

Dehydration is an excellent way to preserve your fruit, especially berries for year round use. It's shelf stable and can be eaten as is.

It's light, meaning easy to pack and shove into pockets. And you can use it to make delicious candies, treats, cakes, and breads.

Dehydration, when done at a low temperature, makes it “raw” food, retaining almost all of the nutrients.

This year as I was dehydrating trays of cherries my husband asked why I was doing it if we never eat them? Unbeknownst to him, I dehydrate them every year and just tuck them away! We don't get many cherries for dehydrating, so they're my special treat!

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We're blessed on our homestead to have raspberries, blueberries, and a plethora of blackberries. I turn most of our bounty into various jams. I like to keep the sugar low in most of my jam recipes, and I like to make jam without pectin.

If you're in need of some jam recipes, here are some of my favorites:

For more info on canning jam, be sure to check out this post on making jams and jellies like a pro.

Even though my love of canned jam runs deep, one thing they're not great for is for traveling or packing in lunch boxes.

Frozen and then thawed berries aren't friendly for munching on, although I will say freeze-dried fruit is quickly becoming another favorite go-to in our house, freeze dryers are cost prohibitive for some.

So in comes dehydration. I confess that I overlooked dehydrated fruit for years. Mostly because I tried dehydrating blueberries about 10 years ago and after three days straight, I still had half shriveled but not dehydrated berries.

I'm so glad I gave it another try after learning the trick to speeding up the dehydrating time.

Everything Worth Preserving

Discover the 9 home food preservation methods to safely store delicious food for year-round eating with all of my step-by-step tutorials, recipes, and easy-to-use charts. Learn everything you need to know about cold storage (aka freezer), water bath/steam canning, pressure canning, dehydrating, fermenting, freeze-drying, root cellar, infusion, and salt/curing in the new book, Everything Worth Preserving.

Preserve food for a healthy well-stocked pantry & peace of mind, all in one resource.

In this book, you can search for any produce from A-Z and get a list of all the ways to preserve that item, plus recipes! Grab your copy (and FREE bonuses for pre-ordering) here.

A Nesco food dehydrator with cherries inside.

Supplies Needed

If you plan on doing much dehydrating, I recommend getting an actual dehydrator. They are a great investment and make dehydrating a “set it and forget it” kind of task.

Can you use your oven with the door propped open? Yes, but you can't control the temperature, and then you can't cook in your oven. Plus, if you have little ones, leaving your oven door open isn't probably the safest thing.

Nesco Dehydrator

I have a Nesco square dehydrator and am very happy with it. I purchased it many years ago and it still runs like a champ.

It's quiet and gets the job done. I haven't had any problems with it and have run it close to a week straight when doing cherries and then a batch of blueberries.

A Nesco dehydrator will be a more economical approach if you're just getting started. And I highly recommend getting these screens for sticky fruit and fruit leather (they're even dishwasher safe!).

Excalibur Dehydrator

If you plan on doing a lot of dehydrating, you'll want to consider the Excalibur dehydrators. This is a great upgrade for those dehydrating large batches of fruit at a time.

I don't have one, but know many people who do, and they all say it's the workhorse of dehydrators and well worth the investment.

It is more expensive than the Nesco. However, the air blows from the back of the unit instead of the top, making it more efficient.

This is the cheapest deal I've found for an Excalibur dehydrator.

Pro Tip: If you're dehydrating multiple batches back to back, consider setting your dehydrator up outside in a safe location to keep from heating up your house during the hot summer months!

How to “Check” Your Berries Before Dehydrating

When you're dehydrating berries, you need to use one simple trick to cut hours and days off your dehydrating time. You need to check your berries.

“Checking” is merely piercing the skin so the moisture can evaporate more quickly. Berries are mostly water, after all. Checking should be used with blueberries, cranberries, and grapes, or any other similar type of fruit.

I pit my cherries before dehydrating, so I'm technically checking them when I pit them. There are multiple ways you can “check” your berries to speed up the dehydrating process.

Poke each berry with a pin – Take a safety pin or sewing pin and poke a hole in each berry. If you're doing a small amount, this might not take very much time, but if you're doing tray fulls, this is going to take forever.
Boil/steam your berries – Briefly boil or steam berries until they've split their skins, but not enough to cook them. This method works well, but you will lose some nutrients by heating them.
Freeze your berries – This is the method I prefer. Simply toss your berries into the freezer for a few hours. It will rupture the cells and make your berries good to go. When it's the middle of summer, and a task takes no work on my part (okay, besides the harvesting), I'm all about that!

Sometimes getting kids involved in the process is fun, if they can safely poke the berries then this is a great option, however, I'm sure many of you would agree that option #3 is the best!

Learn how to dehydrate fruit at home to save money and build up your food storage. This simple tip will cut hours off your dehydrating time. Grab this now to preserve the summer berry and fruit harvest.

How to Dehydrate Berries

After you've prepared your berries by checking them, spread them out on your dehydrating trays. (For sticky berries or fruit, I highly recommend the dehydrator mats for easy clean-up.) You want the berries or fruit to be evenly spaced so they dehydrate at the same rate.
With our blueberries, we have several different varieties, which means different sizes of berries. I recommend putting the smaller berries on one tray and the larger ones on another. I didn't the first time and had to manually separate them as the smaller ones were done before the bigger ones. So save yourself some time here.
Turn on your dehydrator and let it do its thing. The fruit setting on mine is 135 degrees.
Even with “checking”, berries take quite a while to dehydrate fully. My cherries took 28 hours. My small blueberries were done at about 24 hours, whereas the larger ones took 36 hours.
Rotate your berries or fruit after 12-hour mark for even drying. My top tray dehydrates a tad faster than the bottom one, especially when I've got all four stacked.

Dehydrated cherries in a jar with a woman's hand pointing to them.

How to Know When Fruit is Dehydrated?

If you're unsure if your fruit is fully dehydrated, you can sample a few. If you feel liquid, then put them back in. Some of my smaller berries got hard, so I knew they were fully done. You want chewy berries but not overly sticky or wet. Otherwise, they start to mold.

Another way to check them is to place a handful of still-warm fruit (it's important they're still warm) into a jar or plastic bag and seal tight. If you notice any condensation forming on the jar or bag the fruit isn't fully dehydrated.

A jar of dehydrated cherries and fruit vinegar on a wooden countertop.

How to Store Dehydrated Fruit

Store dehydrated fruit in an air-tight container in a dark, cool place for optimal shelf life.

Unlike freeze-dried fruit, dehydrated fruit is best when eaten within a year. This is why I like to plan how many fruit and berry bushes we need for our family for a year's worth of fruit.

How to Use Dehydrated Fruit

Use your dehydrated fruit in homemade breads, muffins, granola, candy, or just by the handful! Be warned, they're kind of addicting.

There you have it, my favorite way to dehydrate fruit and my time-saving tips when dehydrating blueberries, cherries, and grapes! Have you tried this method or other home food preservation methods before?

Cherry Pit Vinegar

Move over apple scrap vinegar, you’re not the only fruit that can be used twice for delicious things.

Ingredients

1 cup cherry pits*

2 cups vinegar (any vinegar of your choice)

Place the pits (leave all the bits of cherry fruit on them you can, this helps with the flavor) in a clean glass jar. Cover with vinegar and place out of direct sunlight. White vinegar takes on some color if using red cherries whereas apple cider vinegar won’t change as much in color, but both work equally as well.
Allow to steep for two to three weeks. Strain, place back in a glass bottle, and enjoy your cherry pit flavored vinegar!

*Only use uncracked pits. As long as you don't try to smash them with a hammer, they’re not cracked. Cherry pits (most stone fruit pits) do contain small amounts of cyanide. This is only exposed when they’re cracked, smashed, or ground up.

You may also be interested in my fruit preserving course!

How to Dehydrate Fruit (Blueberries, Cherries, Grapes, Raspberries & Blackberries)

Melissa Norris

Learn how to dehydrate fruit at home. This method will save you hours of time when dehydrating fruit.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 1 d 2 hrs

Total Time 1 d 2 hrs 5 mins

Course fruit, Snack

Cuisine American

Equipment

Dehydrator

Ingredients

Fruit
Water for rinsing

Instructions

Rinse berries and remove any twigs, leaves, etc.
Check berries by either freezing for a few hours, poking each berry with a pin, needle or paperclip, or quickly blanching in hot water.
After you've checked your berries, spread them out on your dehydrating trays. Try to put berries of similar size on the same trays.
Turn on your dehydrator to 135 degrees Fahrenheit or the fruit setting if it has one.
Check on your berries or fruit after 12 hours and rotate your trays.
Your fruit is done when it's shriveled and slightly tacky/sticky. Do the "dry test" mentioned in the notes section below.
Store dehydrated berries in an airtight container in a dark cool place for optimal shelf life.

Notes

For sticky berries or fruit, I highly recommend the non-stick mats for easy clean-up. You want to the berries or fruit to be evenly spaced so they dehydrate at the same rate.
Even with “checking”, fruit takes quite a while to fully dehydrate. My cherries took 28 hours. My small blueberries were done at about 24 hours, whereas the larger berries took 36 hours. This is still better than three days though!
Dry Test – To know if berries are dry, do the “dry test”. Place a handful of still-warm berries into an airtight container (sealed Mason jar or sealed plastic baggie). Let them sit for 10-20 minutes and check the sides of the container. If you see any moisture or condensation on the jar or bag, the fruit isn't dry and needs to continue dehydrating.

Keyword Dehydrated fruit

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Canned Tomato Sauce Recipe (+ Water-bath & Pressure Canning)

August 2, 2022 by Melissa Norris 132 Comments

Home-canned tomato sauce from vine-ripened tomatoes may as well be an entirely new product as there is no comparison to store-bought. It's incredibly easy to make and you can water bath or pressure can it for long-term food storage.

Jars of home canned tomato sauce on counter with ripe paste tomatoes and wicker basket

Follow this easy step-by-step tutorial for my favorite canned tomato sauce recipe and enjoy it spiced up as pizza or spaghetti sauce, use it in chili, for tomato soup, barbecue sauce, cabbage rolls, and so much more.

Why I Love This Recipe

Learning how to can tomato sauce is life-changing. No, seriously, with a single jar you can create pretty much anything your heart desires with tomato sauce as the base.

Using my principles for growing a year's worth of tomatoes (and then saving the seeds for the following year's garden), I am able to can our entire year's worth of tomato sauce. Never having to purchase tomato, pizza, or spaghetti sauce from the store is pretty amazing. In fact, I dare say this may be the most versatile item in my home food storage.

And let me tell ya, if you've never had homemade tomato sauce before made from vine-ripened tomatoes, then you've never had tomato sauce before. All else is an imitation, my friend.

If you're struggling to grow enough tomatoes to put up for sauce, you can always buy them from the farmer's market. But you may also be interested in how to prune tomatoes for a better harvest, or even my 10 tomato growing tips for a disease-free harvest.

Be sure to also check out these 129+ canning recipes to put up this year!

How Do You Can Tomato Sauce?

The best part about canning homemade tomato sauce is that you've got options! (A girl can never have too many options for canning recipes, right?)

You can use both water bath and pressure canning methods for this canned tomato sauce recipe. Update: you can use a steam canner, as long as the processing time is 45 minutes or less (I incorrectly said 30 minutes but it is actually 45 minutes, yay). Keep reading below to see which option best suits your needs.

If you feel like you could use a bit more hand-holding for canning tomato sauce, you may be interested in my Tomato Canning eCourse! (It's only $19 and includes how to can salsa and other sauces as well!)

What Tomatoes Make the Best Sauce?

First off, you can use any tomato, but truly, paste tomatoes are the best for making sauces.

Why, you ask? (I love it when you ask questions, I truly do!)

Paste tomatoes have less water inside and are fleshier. This results in a thicker sauce without so much reduction time. And I'm all about saving time in the kitchen!

Some good paste tomato options are Roma tomatoes and, of course, the mother of all paste tomatoes (and quite possibly the best paste tomato of the bunch) is the heirloom San Marzano Lungo No. 2. I grow them every.single.year.

This also happens to be the variety that frequently ripens first, so it's a double win in my book. We liked the flavor diced and tossed onto pizza, but it really shines in sauces and pastes.

A white colander filled with fresh tomatoes.

How Many Tomatoes Do I Need To Make Tomato Sauce?

You need a lot of tomatoes at once to make tomato sauce. This may be difficult if you don't have a large number of tomato plants and your tomatoes are ripening over a long span of time.

To allow for this without needing to make small batches of sauce, you can freeze your tomatoes whole in gallon ziplock bags until you have enough to move forward with this recipe.

The bonus of freezing tomatoes is that, as they defrost, you're actually able to peel the skins off, eliminating the step of having to roast them in the oven in batches (watch the video above to see how to do this if you're working with fresh tomatoes).

If you didn't grow enough tomatoes in your garden for sauce, you can buy a flat or two at the local farmer's market or barter with a friend. It's up to you how you source them, but for this canned tomato sauce recipe, you'll want at least 20 pounds of tomatoes to make about 7 pints of sauce.

Sliced tomatoes on a blue cutting board with a knife.

Ingredients

Tomatoes (about 20 pounds makes 7 pints of sauce), I recommend San Marzano, Roma and Amish Paste, or another paste tomato, but remember, any tomato will do!
Bottled lemon juice (1 Tablespoon per pint jar and 2 Tablespoons per quart jar) it's important to use bottled juice from concentrate as fresh lemons vary in their acidity.
Salt (1/4 teaspoon per pint jar and 1/2 teaspoon per quart jar) I like to use Redmond Real Salt, but any sea salt will do as long as it doesn't contain iodine or anti-caking agents.
Dried Basil (1/2 teaspoon per pint jar and 1 teaspoon per quart jar) I don't like adding dried herbs to my jars anymore because I feel like they lose flavor during the canning process, instead, now I add my herbs after opening my jars of canned sauce for whatever recipe I'm using it for.
Canning jars, lids, and bands
Either a water bath or pressure canner

Tomatoes on the bottom of a large stockpot and a potato masher mashing the tomatoes.

Making This Tomato Sauce Recipe

1. The first step, pick yourself some tomatoes! I didn't bother weighing out my haul, it was approximately 90 ripe tomatoes which I'm guessing came close to about 20 pounds of tomatoes. It yielded three one-quart jars plus a one-pint jar in the end.

2. Slice the tomatoes in half and remove the inner seeds and white membrane.

3. Lay the tomatoes, skin side up, on a cookie sheet and place in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 5 minutes, or until the skins begin to come loose from the flesh.

4. Remove skins and reserve in a bowl (I like to either dehydrate or freeze dry my seeds and skins to then pulse into a powder and use to thicken soups!).

Tip: If you want to skip this step of removing the skins, try using the Weston Tomato Press. Or simply chop the tomatoes and add them to the stockpot, cook them down, mash them, and then put the sauce through a food mill to remove the skins.

5. Place the remaining tomatoes into a food processor or high-powered blender and give it a quick pulse to liquefy the contents. If you don't have a blender or food processor, you can mash the tomatoes (as shown in the photo above).

NOTE: Keep track of how much liquid you end up with, this amount will be necessary to know how many jars to prepare for canning.

A stockpot filled with boiling tomato sauce.

6. Pour all tomato sauce into a large stockpot and bring up to a simmer and allow to reduce until the sauce is as thick as you like it. For my paste tomatoes, this usually means reducing it for about 40 minutes which allows about 1 inch of the liquid to evaporate. But my sauce is already pretty thick right from the start. This is purely preferential and will vary based on tomato varieties.

7. Meanwhile, prepare your jars, gather your lids, and either your water bath canner or your pressure canner.

8. To each jar, add a small amount of tomato sauce, then bottled lemon juice, salt, and optional herbs (see ingredients above for amounts).

NOTE: Lemon juice (or citric acid), salt, and herbs should be added to each individual jar, not the pot of tomato sauce. And you must add the bottled lemon juice for safe shelf stability.

Canning jars and measuring spoons with lemon juice and salt in them.

Jar of tomato sauce with a head space measuring tool in the top.

9. Fill jars with tomato sauce up to a 1/2-inch headspace for water bath canning and 1-inch headspace for pressure canning. I typically like to pressure can because it takes less time.

10. Run a spatula around the jar circumference to remove air bubbles. Add more tomato sauce if needed to keep 1/2-inch or 1-inch headspace depending upon your method of canning.

11. With a damp clean cloth, wipe the rim of the jar clean. Place on lids and screw down the bands until resistance is met, then to fingertip tight.

Waterbath canner with jars covered with water.

Water Bath Canning Instructions

1. Place jars on a rack inside your water bath canner.

2. Make sure at least 1 inch of water is covering the tops of the jars.

3. Once you've got rolling boiling water, add lid and process pint jars for 35 minutes or quart jars for 40 minutes.

NOTE: See recipe notes for altitude adjustments above 1,000 feet in elevation.

4. Turn off heat and remove the lid from the canner. Allow jars to rest inside the water bath for 5 minutes.

NOTE: If you remove jars immediately, you run the risk of cracking the jars or the siphoning of liquid, which can inhibit a proper seal.

5. After the five minutes have passed, using a jar lifter, carefully lift jars out of the canner and place them in a draft-free area on a kitchen towel folded in thirds. Never place hot jars on a cold countertop.

6. Allow jars to rest, untouched for at least 12 hours, 24 hours if you have the counter space.

7. Remove bands and check seals then move to the pantry for storage. (If any jars didn't seal, store them in the refrigerator and use them within a day or two.)

Upclose shot of a pressure canner with jiggler.

Pressure Canning Instructions

1. Add water to the pressure canner, place the inner rack inside, and load jars.

2. Lock the lid, bring to a boil, and allow the pressure canner to vent steam for 10 minutes.

3. Put the weight on and allow the canner to come up to 10 pounds of pressure (or use a weighted gauge, depending on your pressure canner).

NOTE: See recipe notes for altitude adjustments above 1,000 feet in elevation.

4. Start processing time after weight begins rocking and hissing, or dial gauge reads 10 pounds of pressure.

5. Process both pint and quart-size jars for 15 minutes.

6. Allow pressure canner to cool down naturally and for pressure to return to normal.

7. Carefully remove the hot lid and wait another 10 minutes before taking jars out of canner.

NOTE: If you remove jars immediately, you run the risk of cracking the jars or the siphoning of liquid, which can inhibit a proper seal.

8. Using a jar lifter, carefully lift jars out of the canner and place them in a draft-free area on a kitchen towel folded in thirds. Never place hot jars on a cold countertop.

9. Allow jars to rest, untouched for at least 12 hours, 24 hours if you have the counter space.

10. Remove bands and check seals then move to the pantry for storage. (If any jars didn't seal, store them in the refrigerator and use within a day or two.)

NOTE: If you have enough tomato sauce to fill all the jars needed for a run in the pressure canner, I'd use the pressure canner. Food may reach a hotter temperature in the pressure canner, but because it's processed for less time, it retains more of the nutrients. But, if you don't have enough jars or don't have a pressure canner, the water bath is completely safe with this recipe.

Vertical view of an open jar of tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes on the counter and a teaspoon of dried basil.

Now stand back and look at those gorgeous scarlet jars, just begging to be simmered all day for spaghetti, in chili, or in these slow cooker cabbage rolls.

Seriously, does anyone else like to sit and stare at the rows of home-canned food, or am I the only one weird that way? I'm hoping now that you know how to can tomato sauce, you'll be staring at them, too.

Want to learn how to pressure can?

I have a FREE pressure canning video series here walking you through how to:

safely pressure can without fear of blowing it up or exploding
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what foods CANNOT be canned at home, even in a pressure canner
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home canned jars of tomato sauce on counter with ripe tomatoes

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Easy Canned Tomato Sauce

Melissa Norris

Learn how to can tomato sauce at home with this easy recipe, safe for both water bath or pressure canning!

4.22 from 82 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hr

Cook Time 1 hr

Canning Time 35 mins

Total Time 2 hrs 35 mins

Course Sauce

Cuisine Italian

Servings cups

Calories 119 kcal

Equipment

Pressure Canner or Water Bath Canner
Canning Jars and Lids

Ingredients

20 pounds tomatoes 20 pounds makes about 7 pints of sauce
7 tbsp bottled lemon juice
1.75 tsp salt
3.5 tsp dried basil optional

Instructions

Prepare Tomatoes

Pick your fresh tomatoes, slice in half and remove seeds.
Place tomatoes, flesh side down (skin side up) on a cookie sheet and roast in a 350 degree F oven for 5 minutes (or until skins start to pull away from the tomatoes).
Carefully remove skins and set them aside in a bowl.
Add tomatoes to a food processor or high-powered blender. Pulse quickly to liquefy contents.
Add tomato sauce to a heavy-bottomed pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and continue simmering until tomato sauce is reduced down to desired thickness. (This will vary based on tomato variety.)
Meanwhile, prepare your jars, gather your lids, and either your water bath canner or your pressure canner.
To each jar, add one scoop of tomato sauce, then add 1 Tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice to each quart jar).
Add 1/4 teaspoon salt to each pint jar (or 1/2 teaspoon salt to each quart jar).
Add the optional 1/2 teaspoon dried basil to each pint jar (or 1 teaspoon dried basil to each quart jar).
Fill jars the rest of the way with tomato sauce leaving 1/2-inch headspace for water bath canning and 1-inch headspace for pressure canning.
Run a spatula around the jar circumference to remove air bubbles. Add more tomato sauce if needed to keep 1/2-inch or 1-inch headspace depending upon your method of canning.
With a damp clean cloth, wipe the rim of the jar clean. Place on lids and screw down the bands until resistance is met, then to fingertip tight.

Water Bath Canning Instructions

Place jars on a rack inside your water bath canner.
Make sure at least 1 inch of water is covering the tops of the jars.
Once you’ve got rolling boiling water, process pint jars for 35 minutes or quart jars for 40 minutes. (See notes for high altitude canning instructions.)
Turn off heat and remove the lid from the canner. Allow jars to rest inside the water bath for 5 minutes.
Using a jar lifter, carefully lift jars out of the canner and place them in a draft-free area on a kitchen towel folded in thirds. Never place hot jars on a cold countertop.
Allow jars to rest, untouched for at least 12 hours, 24 hours if you have the counter space.
Remove bands and check seals then move to the pantry for storage. (If any jars didn’t seal, store them in the refrigerator and use within a day or two.)

Pressure Canning Instructions

Add water to pressure canner, put in the rack, and load jars.
Lock the lid, bring to a boil, and allow the pressure canner to vent steam for 10 minutes.
Put the weight on and allow the canner to come up to 10 pounds of pressure (or use a weighted gauge, depending on your pressure canner). See notes for high-altitude canning instructions.
Start processing time after weight begins rocking and hissing, or dial gauge reads 10 pounds of pressure.
Process both pint and quart-size jars for 15 minutes.
Allow pressure canner to cool down naturally and for pressure to return to normal.
Carefully remove the hot lid and wait another 10 minutes before taking jars out of canner.
Using a jar lifter, carefully lift jars out of the canner and place them in a draft-free area on a kitchen towel folded in thirds. Never place hot jars on a cold countertop.
Allow jars to rest, untouched for at least 12 hours, 24 hours if you have the counter space.
Remove bands and check seals then move to the pantry for storage. (If any jars didn’t seal, store them in the refrigerator and use within a day or two.)

Video

Notes

Keep track of how much tomato sauce you're blending as you go to have an idea of how many jars to prepare for canning.
You MUST use bottled lemon juice for this recipe in order for it to be considered safe (or citric acid, see free chart for differing types of acid and amounts right above recipe card).
Lemon juice, salt, and optional herbs should be added to each individual jar, not the pot of tomato sauce.
If you have enough tomato sauce to fill all the jars needed for a run in the pressure canner, I'd use the pressure canner. Food may reach a hotter temperature in the pressure canner, but because it's processed for less time, it retains more of the nutrients.
If you don't have enough jars to fill a pressure canner, or you don't have one, the water bath is completely fine with this recipe.
Even if you are pressure canning the tomato sauce, you still need to use the bottled lemon juice (or citric acid).
Allow jars to remain in the canner for the recommended time to prevent siphoning of liquid which can inhibit a proper seal.

If you're 1,001 feet above sea level, you must make processing adjustments.

For water bath canning 1,001 to 3,000 feet is 40 minutes for pints and 45 minutes for quarts, 3,001 to 6,000 is 45 minutes for pints and 50 minutes for quarts. For altitudes above 6,001 feet increase by an additional 5 minutes.
For pressure canning, 1,001 + feet use 15 pounds of pressure with a weighted gauge canner. For dial gauge, if 0 to 2,000 feet use 11 lbs PSI, for 2,001 to 4,000 feet use 12 lbs PSI, for 4,001 to 6,000 feet use 13 lbs PSI, for 6,001 to 8,000 feet use 14 lbs PSI.

Nutrition

Calories: 119kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 6gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 323mgPotassium: 1550mgFiber: 8gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 5398IUVitamin C: 92mgCalcium: 70mgIron: 2mg

Keyword Canned Tomato Sauce, pressure canning, Tomato, Tomato Sauce, Water Bath Canning

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

How to Choose the Best Pressure Canner

July 22, 2022 by Melissa Norris 69 Comments

Knowing how to choose the best pressure canner for you and your family is one of the first steps towards becoming more self-sustainable. A pressure canner will help you preserve a greater variety of foods to stock up your pantry and food storage.

Two pressure canners and jars of home canned food sitting on a kitchen counter.

Choosing the best pressure canner depends on your needs, how large your family is, and how much food you intend to be home canning.

If you're just getting started with pressure canning, I recommend taking my free 4-part video series where I teach you how to safely operate a pressure canner. Including what you can and cannot safely can at home, even with a pressure canner.

Read on to compare Presto and All-American to learn which pressure canner you can use to meet your canning needs.

What is a Pressure Canner and How Does it Work?

If you have a garden, you have probably already ventured into different preservation methods and maybe even home canning. I use ten different methods of preservation for various foods. Learn more about each of the ten preservation methods here.

You’ve purchased your canning jars and canning lids and understand the basics of the canning process. If you don’t have the supplies you need, check out this helpful guide to home food preservation.

Most people start with water bath canning and then progress to pressure canning as they get comfortable with the process. Read through my post on canning 101 to help you feel confident in preserving your food.

Water bath canning is only safe for high acid foods. To preserve foods such as meats and low-acid vegetables, you must use a pressure canner.

Water bath canners (usually made of granite ware) and steam canners don’t reach as high of a temperature as pressure canners to kill the bacteria in low acid foods. This can lead to botulism, sickness, and even death.

And no, you can't just water bath can your food longer, it simply won't get hot enough.

Pressure canning brings the contents of your filled jars to a higher temperature, effectively killing all the bacterial contaminants. The heat inside the tightly sealed canner builds up pressure that needs to be monitored and released by the weighted gauges on the lid.

A whole raw chicken in the Instant Pot. Text overlay says, "How to Cook a Frozen Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot".

What is the Difference Between a Pressure Canner and Cooker?

Both the canner and cooker are designed to build up the pressure through steam in a sealed environment. It reaches a high temperature allowing foods to cook quickly.

The differences are basically in size and sustained pressure. Pressure cookers can heat up and pressurize containers, but they can’t maintain heat and pressure long enough to safely can food.

Pressure canners are made of heavier material and designed for prolonged heat, steam, and pressure to achieve the necessary safety in home canning.

What is the Best Pressure Canner to Buy?

This is a question I get asked a lot. There are different opinions dependent on people’s experiences with them. I believe you have to think through several different factors when choosing the very best one for you and your family.

Let me begin by telling you that when you learn how to use a pressure canner, you will love how easy it is to cook a meal from home pressure canned foods! Look through some of my canning recipes to inspire you.

Furthermore, if you'd like to get a copy of my newest book, Everything Worth Preserving, you can pre-order now. This is THE cookbook I wish I could find where I walk through every possible fruit and vegetable and list out the safe, approved methods for canning, including recipes!

Pre-order now, and they will be shipping in the fall of 2022. Plus, for those who grab their book now, I'll throw in all sorts of freebies!

I will walk you through five different areas to consider in reaching a decision.

#1 – What Size Pressure Canner to Buy

Pressure canners come in different sizes. If you have a large family and plan to exclusively eat home canned foods, then you will want to choose a larger size model. If you don’t cook for many people, you’ll be fine purchasing a smaller one.

I always recommend choosing a one that will hold both pint and quart size jars. Don’t limit yourself to only pint-sized jars.

If you are wavering between sizes, choose the larger model. It’s not much more work to put up 14 jars of beans than to do 7. If you can process them all at the same time instead of having to repeat the process, it saves you time.

Pressure canners will often be listed as holding a certain amount of liquid in quarts. Read the label to understand how many quart jars it holds. For example, my All American 21.5 quart pressure canner holds 19 pint jars or 7 quart jars. The 21.5 qt. Measurement is the liquid measurement.

#2 – Consider your Stovetop

If you have a glass stovetop, you risk breaking it using the heavier pressure canners. They are not manufactured for the weight of the canner combined with the high temperature.

This Presto pressure canner states that it is safe for use on glass stovetops.

I have an electric range, and it works great for pressure canning. If you use a gas range, be sure not to heat it on too high of a setting.

For induction stovetops, you need to use a stainless steel base canner. This Presto 23-quart induction compatible pressure canner is the only one I have found that is suitable for induction stoves.

Two old Mason jars with paper money and coins.

#3 – Finding the Best Value

The price of an item always comes into play. Don’t let the initial investment scare you away from buying a pressure canner. Save your pennies if needed because the years of use the pressure canner gives you will quickly compensate for the money spent.

If you are just getting into canning and aren’t convinced you will be doing it long-term, start with this Presto pressure canner. I have used this economic pressure canner for almost fifteen years, and it is still working wonderfully.

For a greater lifetime investment, purchase this All-American pressure canner. As its name states, this canner is made in the United States and has earned a reputation as a premier pressure canner.

#4 – Replacing Parts

A gasket-based pressure canner like the Presto model requires replacing the gasket when it begins to wear out. The gasket is the rubber seal that fits around the edge of the lid.

You will need to check it regularly for cracks or fatigue. Oiling it helps to prolong the lifespan as well. I recommend having a replacement on hand before you need it.

Depending on the model you own, you will also want to have an extra pressure release valve on hand. I have purchased both the gasket and valve at our local hardware store, but you should be able to purchase from the manufacturer as well.

The metal-on-metal seal of the All American model doesn’t require any replacement parts.

#5 – Maintenance and Care

There are two kinds of pressure gauges for these canners. One has a dialed gauge to monitor pressure, and the other has a weighted gauge.

The dialed gauge has a dial that monitors the pressure in the canner. If you purchase a dialed gauge pressure canner, you will need to have it checked at your local county extension office annually. They will make sure the dial is accurately showing the correct PSI (pounds per square inch of pressure).

A weighted gauge pressure canner does not require this (pictured above). The weighted gauge is the control that jiggles, hisses, and rocks back and forth. This is the kind of pressure canner I use and prefer.

No matter which pressure canner you end up with, I highly encourage you to invest in one. The doors this opens as far as processing food for long-term storage is fantastic. Never again will you have to buy broth from the store; you can easily pressure can bone broth at home!

New to pressure canning and want to make sure you're doing it correctly? Take my free 4-part video series where I teach you how to safely operate a pressure canner. Including what you can and cannot safely can at home, even with a pressure canner.

Canned pumpkin in quart sized Mason jars with a large pumpkin in the background.

More Canning Resources

Where to Find Morel Mushrooms

May 18, 2022 by Melissa Norris 32 Comments

Morel mushrooms are a delicacy that many of us can’t wait to hunt for every spring season. However, where to find morel mushrooms is the million-dollar question! A great morel mushroom hunter will not quickly give up his or her “spot”, but they will likely share their tips on when they grow and the best type of terrain to find them.

Morel mushrooms in a group growing in the wild.

If you are successful and find some of these coveted treasures, try cooking them up in this delicious quiche recipe.

*Disclaimer-this post is strictly for educational purposes. We are in no way liable if you pick morels or any other mushroom and become sick or suffer from any type of reaction or illness. Please pick responsibly.

Why I Love Morel Mushroom Hunting

Living off the land has been something my family has practiced for generations. Learning to forage morel mushrooms is one of those practices that has been handed down through the generations.

Hunting for morel mushrooms is one of our favorite springtime activities. Growing up, we didn’t take family vacations because my father worked all year long. However, we did go morel mushroom hunting.

Mushroom hunting season always reminded me of an Easter egg hunt. Except, we were searching for mushrooms, and it lasted longer. We searched the leaf-carpeted forest floor for signs of the mushrooms and yelled loudly when we spotted one.

Morel mushrooms in a basket on the forest floor.

Where to Find Morel Mushrooms

Morel mushrooms are fungi. Soil temperatures and moisture are determining factors for when and where they grow.

Morels won’t grow if the soil is too hot or too cold, and they thrive in a moist environment. For this reason, you will often find them growing underneath last year’s fallen leaves.

If you live near a forest that has been clear cut, the ground has been disturbed, or a wildfire has burned through, expect to find more morels in these areas.

Morel mushroom hunters should be on the lookout for recent disturbances (or even dying trees) that still have foliage growth. The morel fungus will be trying to attach to the remaining foliage so that it can disperse and reproduce.

When Can You Find Morel Mushrooms?

Morel mushrooms will start growing in the spring after a good, warm rain. If you live where stinging nettles grow, watch for them to start popping up, and you’ll know the morels will be following suit!

Morel mushrooms will grow quickly, so we check for them every three days once the signs are out. The first one is usually the hardest to spot. Once you’ve found one, your eye becomes trained and knows what it’s looking for.

How to Find Morel Mushrooms

Now that we know when and where to find morel mushrooms, let’s talk about how to find them.

Of course, this is easiest if you know that the spot you are searching already has mushrooms!

The best method I have found is to scan the ground in a grid-like pattern. Inspect the area as you would a map. Look at it from every angle, scanning the area a few feet in front of you, and then move out with your eyes while walking slowly.

Pro Tip: If you find one, look closely. They usually have a mate!

What Do I Do With Morel Mushrooms?

Soak morels overnight in salt water @MelissaKNorris

Harvest – Carefully cut or pinch off the morel leaving the stem intact. This leaves the root in the ground and allows it to produce morels again. If you pull up the stem and roots, you cut into future harvests.

Carry – I like to carry a mesh bag with me, so the spores repopulate the area while I continue searching. Be sure to not overfill whatever container you choose to place the morel mushrooms into. The weight of too many can smash the mushrooms and ruin them.
Clean – When you get the morels home, you will need to soak them overnight. Since they grow in the forest, they might have small bugs or worms on them. If you can see lots of worms or bites, it’s best to discard them. Place the mushrooms in a bowl of cold water and sprinkle them with salt. Cover them completely and store them in the fridge overnight.

Dozens of morel mushrooms laid out on a cutting board.

How Do I Identify Morel Mushrooms?

Morel mushrooms have a very distinct look and come in all sorts of colors. I have never found black morels, but I have found white and yellow morels.

Look for mushrooms that have a cone-shaped top with lots of deep crevices resembling a sponge. They will be hollow inside if they are true morel mushrooms.

What Are False Morel Mushrooms?

If you have never hunted for a wild mushroom, it is best if you find an experienced hunter or take a field guide with you. There are many poisonous mushrooms that can lead to extreme sickness and even death. Make sure you are finding edible mushrooms!

There is only one type of false morel. A real morel will have a wrinkly cap, a very distinct look, and be hollow inside. False morels look the same as true morels on the outside but will not be hollow on the inside.

A closeup of a hand picking a morel mushroom.

Additional FAQs

What Is the Best Time of Day to Find Morel Mushrooms?

The best time of day is in the early morning. The angle of the sun helps to light up the mushrooms and makes them easier to find.

During the day, the warmth from the sun can also dry up the mushrooms causing them to shrivel which makes it more difficult to spot them.

What Month Can You Find Morel Mushrooms?

The best month to hunt for morel mushrooms is somewhat dependent on where you live, but the morel mushrooms season is usually from April to the middle of May.

What Is the Best State to Find Morel Mushrooms In?

There really isn’t a specific state in the US to recommend. Temperature and moisture conditions in each state are what determine when and where to find morel mushrooms.

10 Ways to Keep Warm Without Electricity

March 23, 2022 by Melissa Norris 91 Comments

No one likes to be cold, and when the power goes out, having a way to keep warm becomes a top priority. Learning lessons from our great grandparents (or my dad who also grew up without electricity), here are the best ways to keep warm without electricity.

A woman crouched by a woodstove with a fire going, holding an oil lamp.

We have a wood stove, which acts as our primary heat source during the winter. Our stove has a glass front which provides some light, and the top is designed for cooking (learn more about cooking on the woodstove here). And like any good homesteading or preparedness tool, it serves three wonderful functions.

If you have a wood stove or propane heat source, then being without power isn’t that big of a deal for you in regards to staying warm. But what if you're in a situation where you need to save your propane, or you don't have these heat sources?

This advice will serve you well not only at home without power, but if you’re out in the elements as well.

10 Ways to Stay Warm Without Electricity

Body Heat

The more body heat we can contain around us, the warmer we'll be. Put a snug-fitting wool hat on your head that fits down over your ears. You’ll instantly begin to feel warmer.

Our body will do its best to keep our internal organs protected, even at the expense of our limbs. This means if you keep your core warm, you’ll also be keeping your extremities warmer, too.

The most efficient material for warmth is wool. It can be itchy, but when it comes to keeping you warm, nothing is better than fur or wool. It was made by nature and God to keep an animal warm and safe when out in the exposed elements and it will do the same for you.

Furthermore, if you're around loved ones, cuddle up and help each other stay warm!

Layers

Layering is your best bet. You want to make sure your bottom layer (the fabric against your skin) will wick away moisture. If you sweat in cotton, and then it turns cold, the wet fabric will begin to suck all the body heat straight out of you. Not a good thing.

Many folks like these shirts as their base layer because it wicks moisture away from your body and dries quickly. A wool or wool blend long-sleeved shirt as your next layer will give you a lot of warmth.

You can then layer on a sweater, vest, or coat if needed.

Keep Your Feet Warm

Don’t forget about your toes! A pair of thick wool blend socks (can I get a prize for saying wool the most times in a single article?) will keep your feet warm, especially when paired with a pair of lined boots.

Of course, indoors, you probably won’t need the boots unless you’re in freezing conditions for a long period of time.

A woman marking branches of a fruit tree with bright orange tape.

Keep Your Hands Warm

Gloves are another must. I really like this pair of wool fingerless gloves with the mittens that flap over (similar to the ones I'm wearing in the picture above, and double bonus, they have a place for heat packets!). This way, I don’t have to take off my gloves when I need to chop wood or use my fingers for a few minutes.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to fumble everything with gloves on, my fingers just don’t work right in them, but if my hands are freezing, it's also hard to use them!

Pocket Warmers

We like to keep a box of these little handy pocket warmers. They have hand, toe, and even body warmers so you can pick the best size for your coldest parts.

There's nothing worse than needing to go check the animal's water, only to come back to a cold house! These will certainly take the edge off.

Blankets

Don't underestimate the warmth of a good blanket, especially, can you guess it? wool blankets or a nice heavy quilt. And as any good homesteader and pioneer lover, there is nothing better than a nice thick gorgeous quilt for cuddling up under. Or having on the back of your couch or even folded up on a ladder because it just looks all kind of vintage cool in your living room when you’re not using said quilt.

You'll be even warmer if you share body heat (see tip #1). So cuddle up under that blanket with your spouse or kids.

Mummy Bags

Although the though of not being able to sprawl out while sleeping makes me feel slightly claustrophobic, not freezing will get me past that pretty quickly.

The design of a mummy sleeping bag will keep you warmer as it traps body heat. This sleeping bag is rated for 0 degrees and is your best bet on cold nights when you need to hunker down.

A Hot Beverage

A hot beverage will warm up your hands and your insides, by raising your core body temperature. There's nothing like a bowl of hot homemade tomato soup and tea to keep a body warm.

This is provided you’ve been following along in our preparedness series and have a well-stocked pantry and stored purified water on hand to heat.

We purchased this little stove for under $15 and it works great for boiling water or soup.

You should never ever run an outdoor cooking stove inside a house or use charcoal to keep warm. It can be deadly. Don’t do it!

But, using one outside to boil water for hot chocolate or tea, or brewing my favorite coffee is a great idea.

Image of a woman's legs in running shoes running away from the camera.

Movement

This may seem obvious, but I can be almost shivering in our house and then do a 30-minute workout and be warm in the same clothes and temperature for over an hour.

Some jumping jacks and high knees will warm you up in as little as five minutes!

A drawing for how to build a terra cotta heater. — Image courtesy of thesimplethings.com

Terra Cotta Heaters

Another option for heat without electricity for your home is a tealight terra cotta heater. Now in full disclosure, I’ve never used one. As stated, our woodstove does a fine job of heating our home.

This is an interesting article on not only how to make a terra cotta heater, but how it held up in their home when the power was out and it was below freezing outside.

I have to state the obvious here, please be extremely careful when using any kind of open flame in your home, even a candle like a tealight. Never ever leave it burning unattended.

(Bonus) Go Out!

Last, but not least, we have a bonus tip for how to stay warm without electricity and that's to go to a friend's home, neighbor, church, or red cross shelter that has heat (as long as it's safe to travel).

Did I miss anything? Tell us how you stay warm when the power is out in the comments section below.

An outdoor thermometer with bottles of water in the background.

How to Raise Pigs: 12 Tips to Raising Pigs for Meat

January 14, 2022 by Amy Maus 58 Comments

Learning how to raise pigs for meat is a great option for any homestead or farm wanting to become more self-sustainable. But choosing the breed and tailoring the care takes a bit of know-how. Read on for 12 tips for raising pigs for meat.

This post was originally written and published in 2015 by Amy from Autumn Creek Ranch and has since been updated to include my interview with “Pork” Rhyne Cureton for even more information. Enjoy!

In previous podcasts I've discussed how I raised American Guinea Hogs and why we chose that specific breed. And in another podcast I discussed whether or not we thought the Guinea Hogs were worth it to raise for meat, including whether or not we'll raise them again.

Today's podcast guest (Pioneering Today Podcast episode #331) is “Pork” Rhyne and I was fortunate enough to have met him at the Homesteader's of America Conference. I couldn't wait to get him on the podcast to discuss all things pigs!

“Pork” Rhyne works as an international agricultural educator and niche-meat marketing expert. He's dedicated his life to training and educating experienced and beginning farmers on business and marketing. (Read to the bottom of this post on where you can find Pork online!)

If you're not at a point where you're ready to raise your own meat, namely pork since that's the topic of the day, I want to recommend Butcher Box.

Butcher Box happens to be a sponsor of the Pioneering Today Podcast and they have a special going on now through Jan 20th, 2022 called the New Year's Bundle. In this bundle, for first-time subscribers only, you will get 7 lbs of meat for FREE in your first box! Go to butcherbox.com/pioneeringtoday to sign up!

Why I Love Raising Pigs

I really think pigs are one of the easiest animals to raise on a homestead. They mature quite a bit faster than a beef cow and render way more meat (and lard) than a chicken or rabbit (and frankly pulled pork, fresh bacon, lard rendered at home, and salt-cured hams are just amazing!!!).

Other Animals to Raise

Before jumping into raising pigs, for more information on raising your own meat, be sure to check out this post on planning your livestock and raising enough meat for a year's worth of food. As well as the following for other animal-specific posts:

12 Tips for Raising Pigs

So maybe you have thought about raising a pig (or two) and don't know where to start? Here are some tips and pointers I hope will help you on your way to raising your own delicious pork.

Buy Piglets

For someone interested in just raising a few pigs a year for meat it's easier to buy piglets than raise your own breeding stock.

Piglets vary in price due to location, time of year (they are more expensive in Spring when kids in 4-H are trying to find them), and by breed.

At the original time of the writing of this post (2015) piglets were being sold for about $125/each but they could be found as low as $75 depending on market demand. (Prices are likely higher now.)

Age Matters

The industry standard for selling baby pigs is 6 weeks of age. However, we sell our piglets at 8 weeks of age because we find that piglets allowed to remain with the sow those two extra weeks have stronger immune systems and do not need to be fed starter feed.

Of course, that means we have to feed the sow extra to keep up her condition but we think healthier piglets are worth it.

If you can find piglets that have been allowed to nurse a bit longer it's worth the extra cost as it will save you in both your feed bill as well as potential health concerns for the piglet.

Space Considerations

Before you bring home piglets you need to have a pen and some sort of shelter for them. I will talk more about fencing in a minute but there are some considerations to take into account when planning your pen.

If the pen is small, the piglets will grow faster because they will not have as much room to exercise and the ground can get really destroyed.

Also, in a smaller area, parasites have more of a chance to grow. Finally, a small pen in the Spring when the weather is wet can result in a great big mud pit.

However, as Pork Rhyne discusses in the podcast interview, this doesn't mean you must have space to free-range or pasture your pigs. Raising your own pigs is a huge step up from buying commercially-raised pork products, even if you don't have the ideal living conditions for those pigs.

We prefer to use rotating areas in the warmer months and really large areas closer to the house in the colder months (we actually put pigs on our garden areas during the winter so they can till them up and fertilize them in preparation for Spring planting).

A baby pig sticking its snout through a fence.

Fencing

When piglets are young, it's better for them to be in a cattle panel, hog panel, or pallet pen.

Electric netting, string, or wire don't work well with small piglets because they can get out (spoken from lots of experience and a piglet that took off for two weeks in the surrounding woods of our property).

We keep piglets in a small cattle panel pen with electric wire on the bottom until they are about 12-15 weeks old and then we transfer them into pens made with electric string or wire until they reach butchering weight.

Usually, by 12-15 weeks they are trained to the electric and are large enough not to mess with going through it. It's good to have an exit way or gate that is not electric, however. Pigs can be so well trained to electric fencing that when we want to move them they will not go near a place that there USED to be electric fencing.

Feeding Pigs

There are lots of possible ways to feed your pig. The easiest is to buy a commercial hog grower. Pigs grow fastest on this type of ration. Unfortunately, most commercial hog grower formulas contain corn and soy which is likely GMO.

A lot of commercial feeds also contain medications which may nor may not be needed for your particular animal.

Since we don't like giving medication unnecessarily to our animals, another option is to make your own feed from a grain and protein source or find a natural pre-made feed in your area.

Here's what Pork Rhyne has to say about feeding pigs… There's so much controversy on what to feed your pigs, everything from going to your local bakery and feeding pigs day old bread, to only buying the best, organic, non-GMO feed.

There are so many people who are just starting to raise pigs who don't actually know what a healthy pig looks like. So he recommends spending time with someone else who raises pigs to learn and get acclimated to how much pigs should eat, how their appetites vary based on the seasons, and what a healthy pig looks like.

We homesteaders love the alternative route, anytime we can DIY or have an alternative way of doing something, we'll jump on it! I think it's in our nature. But before diving into making your own pig feed, it's important to understand the components of feed to know how to feed a pig in order to get a product with a fat:meat ratio you're happy with when it comes time to butcher.

Carbs – energy source, oftentimes corn or grain
Protein source – soy beans, field beans, etc.
Fiber/Minerals/etc – these will make up the rest of the feed to help keep the pigs healthy

Once you have the basic components of the feed down, it's also important to know about your specific breed because each breed will have different carbohydrate and protein needs.

When it comes to American Guinea Hogs, they're obesity prone so they need a lower carbohydrate diet to avoid getting too much fat on the hogs.

Pork Rhyne had a friend who was really disappointed with the amount of meat to fat ratio he got after butchering his pigs, but it turns out that he was feeding his pigs 16% crude protein throughout their whole life instead of reducing the protein prior to butchering.

Typically, about 2-3 months before slaughter, Pork Rhyne recommends reducing the amount of protein down to 12-14% and increasing the amount of carbohydrates to turn that energy into fat.

As I said above, this all varies between breeds and is different for herefords, heritage breeds, commercial breeds, etc.

In addition to pre-made feed, pigs love all types of produce. You can even grow crops specifically for your pigs like mangels, forage turnips, beets, and pumpkin.

On our farm, we feed a locally sourced barley and peas combination with added swine minerals. Our pigs also get lots of fresh milk, table scraps, local apples and pumpkins.

Please do not feed your pigs bakery scraps and the like and expect a healthy pig with great tasting meat. You eat what your pig eats so quality matters.

Another example of ways to feed pigs is that Pork Rhyne has a friend who has gone to Chipotle (the fast-food restaurant chain) and picked up beans that weren't sold to consumers to feed his pigs.

I'm all for being resourceful! Just be sure the food you're getting is not post-consumer (meaning it wasn't served first to a customer, then thrown in the trash because that will spread diseases to your pigs) and be sure there's no pork in the product.

One thing I love to do is to source my feed as locally as possible. We have a granary that's about an hour away that has a non-GMO stance, and also tries to source their grain as locally as possible as well. For money saving tips on purchasing from your local granary, check out Stocking Up on Animal Feed (+ How Much to Feed Animals).

Also know, if you're feeding your pigs spent grain (like brewers grain you might get from a brewery), about 80% of it is water. For example, if that grain was dry, it would contain about 29% protein, whereas once the grain is wet (or spent), it only contains only 7.7% crude protein.

Spent grain also gets moldy very quickly, so Pork Rhyne recommends this as an addition to a diet, not the primary source.

Demand vs. Measured Feeding

Another thing to consider when raising pigs is whether to set up a self-feeder and let the pigs eat whenever they want or feed them a set amount each day.

There are pros and cons for both. Demand feeding makes the daily workload smaller except on the day when you have to fill the pig feeder. Also, if pigs always have food available they will be less likely to root as much and so your ground stays in better shape. Pigs who are demand-fed also tend to grow faster so your time to maturity is less.

The problem with demand feeding is that pigs can eat a LOT of food and this can get expensive, especially as the pigs get older.

We have found that if you are only raising one or two pigs demand feeding is the way to go. When you are raising 10 or more is when it can become cost-prohibitive.

We give each of our piglets 5 lbs of their grain mixture each day. In addition to this, they get milk, table scraps, and produce.

This allows us to have market weight pigs at around 8 months or so.

Medicines & De-Worming (DIY De-Wormer)

I am not a fan of chemical de-wormers because of the mutations and resistances they create.

On our farm, we have found garlic to be a much more effective de-wormer anyway.

We add approximately 1 lb of garlic granules to one ton of feed.

In addition, oregano oil is also superb at fighting parasites and infection.

Finally, we keep geranium essential oil handy for bleeding (pigs can get in scuffles) and tea tree oil for cuts and scrapes.

To Castrate or Not?

Castrating pigs is a controversial issue. There are many who find the practice cruel and unnecessary but others who say it needs to be done to prevent boar taint.

If you are raising two male pigs you will need to determine whether you want to have this procedure done.

However, when you are raising piglets of the opposite sex it's wise to go ahead and castrate. When we first started raising piglets we were told they wouldn’t start to breed until they were 9 months old. Since we butcher at 8 months we didn’t think we needed to castrate.

Bad advice and we ended up with pregnant market pigs. We now castrate all male piglets raised for meat. We have found Bach’s Rescue Remedy very helpful in the process – it keeps both pigs and the person doing the castration calm.

Breeds Matter

Different breeds of pigs have different qualities, including differences in size, meat quality, and temperament.

These are things you will want to investigate when choosing your piglets prior to bringing them home.

We raise heritage breeds of pigs (Gloucester Old Spot, American Guinea Hog, Tamworth) because of their docile and friendly temperaments and excellent meat quality.

The American Guinea hog is a much smaller breed of pig and will not yield a conventional carcass weight but because of their easy handling ability and chef-quality meat, it’s a tradeoff we are willing to make.

Pork Rhyne's first pigs were actually a heritage breed called “large blacks” and “red wobble”, he's also raised some crosses and commercial pigs.

200 years ago pigs weren't getting fed the diets they now get. They were low-input animals, just like chickens, where they were getting fed scraps from the kitchen or garden, free-ranging and ruminating, etc.

For many years, pigs were the “fail-safe”. If a crop had a bad harvest one year, families would always have pigs to sell to make ends meet.

Butcher Weight & Hanging Weight

Most heritage pigs are butchered when they weigh around 180-250 lbs live. This will result in a hanging weight (meat and bones minus the head, feet and organs) ranging from 160-225 lbs.

How much meat you end up with in your freezer is totally dependent on the types of cuts you choose during processing.

It's important to understand that heritage breed pigs grow slower than commercial pigs.

Usually heritage breeds take approximately 8 months to reach approximately 280lbs. The lard pigs take up to a year or a year and a half to reach butchering weight (which sometimes, depending on the breed, won't be as heavy).

But commercial hogs reach 280-300lbs in just 6 months. So you can see why commercial hogs have become more popular with large farms.

For more exact information on each individual breed, download this chart from the Livestock Conservancy Organization.

Know what you want to raise pork for before choosing your breed. Many breeds are much better for things like bratwursts, sausage, charcuertery, etc. whereas other breeds are going to give you your hams, pork chops, and large roasts.

smoked sausages and meat on wooden table

Should You Hire a Butcher?

We have butchered many a pig on our farm. Once you learn to do it its not that hard, but the first time can be a bit intimidating.

The whole process takes about 3 days. The first day is the kill and hang, the second is skinning and cutting up the pieces, the third is usually sausage processing.

A downside to butchering yourself is that unless you know how to cure bacon and ham you won’t end up with those cuts (you will have fresh ham which is really good but not like traditional cured ham).

The benefits of butchering yourself is the know-how and the cost savings. Traditionally, having a hog butchered costs anywhere from $150-$250 depending on processing and curing.

Taste is Superior

By raising your own pigs you control what they eat which makes for a healthier product for your family.

Also, raising pigs is a lot of fun and I love to watch their antics. However, I find the best reason for raising pork is the taste. Once you try it you will never want supermarket pork again.

More About Amy

Amy is is a wife and mother of 18 children. In addition to parenting and homeschooling their mega family, they also run a small family farm, which they affectionately call “Autumn Creek Ranch.” They love the work of Joel Salatin (me, too!) and have patterned much of what they do by his example.

Do you have a question about raising pigs? You can email Amy at [email protected]

More About “Pork” Rhyne Cureton

Be sure to listen to the podcast (starting at minute 41) to hear about Pork Rhyne's work in third world countries through the company EATBETA – Evangelizing Africa Through Business Empowerement in a Transformation of Agriculture.

Transcript

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Melissa K Norris: Hey, pioneers. Welcome to episode number 331 of the Pioneering Today Podcast ... Today we're going to be talking about one of my favorite topics. I feel like they're all my favorite, but this is definitely high up there, and that is on raising pigs. We've covered raising pigs before in different episodes of the podcast. We've talked about the Heritage American Guinea Hog breed known ... I'm using quotation marks, even though you can't see them ... kind of as, AKA, "the homesteader's pig." My experience, in the show notes, we will link to those if you want to check out some of those prior episodes, my experience with them.

In today's episode, I'm really excited, because we're going to be diving into pigs, but we're going to be talking about a lot of common or often seen advice when it comes to raising pigs, specifically on the feed, what you are feeding your pigs, pasture management, and some other things like that that are often inaccurate, or not necessarily serving the pig and the farmer the best. Today's episode, we are going to be diving into with today's guest. I'm really excited. You'll hear, as soon as we start the interview, how I met them, a bit of the backstory. I'm going to forewarn you that, when I introduce him, don't have your volume up too loud. It's just for the first little minute. You'll get why I say that when you get there. It's all in a lot of good fun, and I think you'll actually really enjoy it and his enthusiasm about the topic.

Before I get there, today's episode is sponsored by ButcherBox, which is quite fitting, as we are talking about meat. If you're not at a point on your homestead journey yet, or you don't have a local farmer where you can purchase your meat from, then ButcherBox makes it easy to get high quality, humanely raised meat that you can trust. They deliver 100% grass fed and grass finished beef, free range organic chicken, and heritage bred pork, along with wild caught seafood, directly to your door. We have actually sampled all of the above. It has always came and been completely frozen, even when it was at the very end of the day, and the very end of the rural route that we're on for a delivery driver. We have not had any that we haven't liked. I've been very impressed with the quality, the flavor, the way that it cooks. All above the above, if it's not something that you're able to raise yourself.

One of the great things is, because you are a Pioneering Today Podcast listener, there is a special going on through January 20th. It is the New Years Bundle. You can get seven pounds of meet free in your very first box when you sign up as a new customer with ButcherBox. To snag that, go to ButcherBox.com/PioneeringToday. That is ButcherBox.com/PioneeringToday. Get your seven pounds of meat free in your first box. Thank you so much, ButcherBox, for being a sponsor of the Pioneering Today Podcast.

If you are a new listener to the podcast, welcome. A long time listener, high five. Welcome back, my friend. My name is Melissa K Norris. I'm a fifth generation homesteader, and I help thousands of people, every single month, learn how to live a homegrown and handmade life using simple modern homesteading, no matter where you're at. Today's guest is known as Pork Rhyne. His real name is actually Rhyne Cureton. I believe that's how you say it. He is known as a pork evangelist across the country, and even overseas in East Africa, which we are going to get to talk about that some. I find it very interesting and fascinating. He works as an international agricultural educator and niche meat marketing expert. For over five years, Rhyne has dedicated his life to training and educating experienced and beginning farmers, primarily on small scale livestock production, business, and marketing. We are definitely going to be talking about raising pork on a smaller livestock homestead environment, so I'm really, really excited to welcome him onto the podcast, and to talk about this.

To get links to some of the previous episodes that I mention to, and some of the things that we will be talking about, you can grab all of that at MelissaKNorris.com/331. That's just the number 331, because this is episode 331. Again, MelissaKNorris.com/331. Let's get to today's episode.

Well, I am super excited for this episode. I'm going to warn y'all. It's going to be high energy, because very few people do I meet that tend to have the energy level that I do. Without further ado, Pork Rhyne, welcome to the Pioneering Today Podcast.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: I'm excited. I'm excited. You brought the wrong person here.

Melissa K Norris: I don't think about wrong. I'm thinking about right. I loved your energy at HOA, so I was really glad. We were chatting a little bit before we started recording, guys, and I basically sent him an invite to the podcast that gave him no opportunity to bow out, or to say no. I basically said, "Hey, what's the date and time you want to come out to?" I'm really glad that he took my strong armed invitation and accepted. I'm really excited. I have a feeling we're going to be covering a lot in this episode, so we're just going to dive right into it.

One of the things, when we were chatting, that really [inaudible 00:06:06]. You said that you see a lot of things offered online. I'm going to assume, because I like to assume the best about everybody, that a lot of this stuff is offered with good intentions, but you see a lot of things when it comes to raising pigs online, or often, I should say, that causes problems or can be problematic. I'd love for you to dive into that a little bit more.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Let's get into this. Background about me. I used to farm. Will go back into farming. Worked with the National Pork Board in Pork Checkoff. Raised heritage breeds when I farmed. Will go back into heritage breeds. I've been teaching folks how to raise pigs, both across the country, as well as overseas, over the last five years. I'm using that experience as I'm going to talk about this.

One of the things I've noticed with people who are getting into pig farming, and they've never raised pigs before in their entire life, they're most likely not even coming from a farming background, is there are a lot of problematic issues in terms of feed, in terms of land practices, in terms of animal welfare, and I daresay legalism, when we get into homesteading groups, groups that are alternative to the conventional standards and models with the pork industry. I've seen a lot of misinformation in terms of how much you should feed your pig.

Oh, man. Melissa, there is so much conflicting information. It should drive one crazy, honestly. I feel for people who are getting into raising pigs and have no idea where to start, or they go to one blog post, and then they go to a couple YouTube videos. They're getting completely different information. There's not really any consistency or continuity. Most people are looking for a formula, like, "What's a formula that I can use and be successful with?" The one myth that I want to dispel, one of the biggest myths I've ever seen, hog wash, is that there is no formula for this.

Melissa K Norris: Amen. Amen.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: There is absolutely no formula. Now, when you get into commercial conventional farming, there actually is a formula. If you follow it, you'll do just fine. For the heritage breeds, for people who are raising pigs outdoors, or out in pasture, or in barns, it's a lot different. There's not that consistency because, A, you've got the elements that affect how much a pig will eat. For example, when it's hotter, pigs do not like eating when they're hot. They just don't. They don't one bit. Then their ability to gain muscle mass and fat goes down because they're not eating as much. Right? When it's cold, they eat far more, because they're trying to use grain, or whatever you're feeding them, as a way of generating heat for them to stay warm. There's not really any consistency because we're not raising pigs in lab rat environments. We're just not.

One thing that I really promote is having a farmer's eye. What I mean by that is not just feeding an animal, giving it water and shelter. Not just those things, but all the contents in between that. Right? What that really requires is observational skills. You're going to make mistakes. Well, not you, Melissa, but the audience. [crosstalk 00:09:44]

Melissa K Norris: Oh, no. I make plenty of mistakes, but thank you for that.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Trying not to throw you under the bus ... If you're farming and you're getting started, you're going to make a lot of mistakes, in terms of feed, in terms of housing, in terms of animal welfare, and that's fine. There's a lot of conflicting information out there, and a lot of people that are doing videos or blogs that don't have, necessarily, the background that I have, or the background that conventional pig farmer would have. A lot of people are learning from people who are just now getting started. There are a lot of people who are learning about how to raise pigs from people who have been raising pigs for one year or less. Right? The people who have been raising pigs, and even outdoors, for multiple years, five years, 10 years, 20 years, they're not online, because they're too busy making money raising pigs. That can be problematic in a lot of cases.

One thing I want to say is have grace with yourself as you're starting out and figuring stuff out. Just understand that there is no formula, and that that formula changes with the breed, with the particular type of pigs that you get. Even within a breed, there are different variations of sizes. Melissa, you raise American Guinea Hogs. There's a big [inaudible 00:11:01] riding, and there's ones that were made really small. The difference in grow out can be very drastic between those two different types within that one breed. There are a lot of nuances with breeding pigs.

Part of me now eventually starting Pork Rhyne TV is being able to have people understand that you can be successful in raising pigs within your particular context. The important thing is being flexible, being able to take constructive criticism, and being able to have observation skills, and utilize those observational skills with better practices. I've seen a lot of people that end up unfortunately falling into legalism. They're saying, "Well, this person raises pigs this way, so if you're not raising pigs this way, then you're not a good farmer." I hear that a lot. I hear a lot of people, like, "Well, if you're not raising your pigs on pasture, then you're not a good farmer." Well, I believe that just about everyone can raise pigs, and I believe that I might get some hate mail for this. I don't believe that pasture production for pigs is the only way. Right?

Melissa K Norris: Right.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: I've been to Africa. They've got prairies. They've got savannas. They ain't got pasture. If they have pasture, they're not putting pigs on it. They're putting cows. They're putting goats, and they're putting sheep on there. Pigs are the last thing they're going to put on pasture. That makes absolutely no sense. Also, they have two legged predators. Right? Not only do they have the four legged wild animals. They've got two legged predators, AKA humans, who actually come and steal their pigs. There is no electric netting when there are electric brownouts every day, or a couple times a day. Right? I like to look at, what's the context? What are your limited resources? What do you have? What's your experience? How much time do you have to do this?

Then, when I'm working with farmers, I just help them create their own plan within their given limitations, their given time management, their given lifestyle, and the way that still allows for proper animal welfare. There are some people who are very legalistic, within our particular sector of homesteading and farming, that end up really bashing commercial farms. Then the issue that I see is when I go to these homesteading farms. I see animals in more deplorable situations than when I see when I go into a commercial hog situation, or even when I see when I go to East Africa. Explain that to me. How can one person be bashing and sense some, yet not have proper animal welfare? That makes absolutely no sense, but this is something that I see a lot in common with people who want to have a formula for how they be successful, or want to be in legalism on there's only one way of doing something right. I truly don't believe that. I think there are multiple ways of having healthy hogs, and even a healthy family with those hogs.

Melissa K Norris: Yeah. I completely agree with you on so many things, especially with the context in looking with where you at and working within the resources, and also understanding climate, as well as workload. Until very recently, actually, I worked a day job where I was commuting. I was a pharmacy tech and was commuting 18 miles one way. My husband still works off of our homestead and farm, so he still has a day job. For us, we do have our pigs on pasture, but we don't rotate them. They're not on fresh grass every day, simply because when you leave at 5:00 AM in the morning, and it's dark, and you're not getting home until sometimes 6:00 at night, if not later, there's only so many hours in the day. I think, just like you said, that that legalistic part ... Yes, no matter what method you choose to raise your pigs, you're going to want to make sure that you are raising them as ethically and as humanely as possible, but there's more than one way to do that.

I'm really happy that you're talking about that, and also looking at your climate, because, from our experience, the American Guinea Hogs that we had, it overall was a very pleasant experience that I have. Were They Worth It?: a different episode you guys can all go and listen to on that in drawing the difference between raising the Hereford versus the American Guinea Hogs. You really need to dig into your climate with the different breeds, as well as expectations.

I wanted to circle back to one of the things, and that is feed. Feed, not only how much, as you said, and definitely your climate, and the time of year, and so many things we're going to determine. The best thing is looking at the animal. Does it look healthy? Does it look underweight? Is it looking too fat, and [inaudible 00:15:45] ... but types of feed, because, as you know, that is also controversial. Who knew homesteading could be so controversial? I swear, every aspect of homesteading I talk about, there's controversy somewhere or another. I'd love to address that, because I know this is a thing where some people are like, "Well, just go. Go to the bakery and get day old bread that they're getting rid of." Then you've got your purists. Right? There's all these things. Let's talk about them. Why is that a good idea? Why is that not a good idea? All the things. Let's dive into feeding pigs.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Oh, man. You mentioned earlier of what does a healthy a pig look like? I think part of the issue is a lot of people who are starting raising pigs doesn't know what a healthy pig looks like.

Melissa K Norris: Yeah.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Or how a healthy pig behaves, so that's part of the reason why I'd say, before you get your pigs, spend some time volunteering on a local farm that has the practices that you want to have, if possible. That's not for everybody. Not everyone has the time or energy. Even if it's just like, "You know what? I'm just going to spend a weekend once a month going to a farm. They might be a couple of miles away, several miles away, but I want to learn how they're doing things and get acclimated," because when you're starting out with no understanding of a strong foundation of what a good animal looks like, of what good proper feed management looks like, then you're just shooting in the dark hoping that you hit something. Sometimes that might be at the detriment of your hogs. I've heard plenty of stories. Pigs die. Let me tell you something. It's hard to kill pigs. You have to really try hard to kill pigs, but I've heard plenty of stories of homesteaders that had mismanaged their pigs so poorly that they end up passing away.

Melissa K Norris: Wow.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: That's extraordinarily unfortunate. That's why I say get under somebody who knows what they're talking about, not just these people on YouTube or on the blog posts, but someone who's got five years of experience, even three years of experience raising pigs, and can give you a little bit of advice and guidance. If we're starting to talk about feed, one thing, at the HOA conference, I did a whole thing about alternative feed, because I know that's what homesteaders love to talk about. They love to talk about how they're getting alternative this and alternative that, and saving money here and there. Oftentimes I've seen pigs who are emaciated, or pigs who are obese, pigs who have carcass qualities that aren't what the homesteader intended them to have. Right?

Melissa K Norris: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: If you're expecting the meaty hog but you're feeding it nothing but carbohydrates, when it's time to process it, all you're getting is a really fat, obese pig. You're getting more lard than you probably know what to do with. Now, with homesteaders it's not as much of a problem, because a lot of homesteaders like to use lard.

Melissa K Norris: Amen.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Amen. Thank the lard. Praise the lard.

Melissa K Norris: Yes. Yep.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Praise the lard. Praise the lard. Hallelujah ... A lot of times it's like, "Oh, but I wanted more weeks. Oh, but my bacon, it's 90% fat and 2% actual muscle meat. Why is that?" I think the biggest thing is understanding what is feed? What are the components of feed? At the conference, I talked about how very simply, and I teach this in East Africa where I'm not speaking their language. I have to have a translator to do that, so I have to speak very simply. What I normally will say is feed is made out of carbohydrates. Examples of carbohydrates using feed, would be things like corn. Right? Energy source. Right? Think of carbs as energy sources. Then you have your protein source. Oftentimes a conventional feed will use soybeans as a protein source. Right? Then you're thinking about fiber, minerals, other different aspects about feed that really go a long way in terms of having a healthy quality hog.

I can say, "Oh, well, just feed 16% protein, for protein feed, that's already been milled, and feed that to your pigs." Well, that's not completely accurate because, for American Guinea Hogs, they're so obesity prone that they really need to be on an extraordinarily limited grain diet. Right? More opportunity for forage, so don't feed them a whole bunch of bread if you have lardy based pigs, unless you want a lot of fat and not a lot of meat. If that's what you want, perfect. Fine. You're doing a great job. If you're wanting more meat on your hog, but you're raising heritage, more lardier breeds, then you want to be really consistent and conscious about how much carbohydrates they're eating.

Let's say you have a meatier pig, like I would at Jason at [inaudible 00:20:44]. We had butchered a hog, and I was examining the meat quality. We talked about it, because he was really disappointed that he didn't get a lot of meat. I asked him, "Pick nine million questions." At the end of it, it came out to the fact that, potentially, his pigs were being fed organic 16% crude protein feed all the way throughout their entire life. Right? Oftentimes, when we start practicing more proficient swine husbandry, around two months to three months before the pig is going to be slaughtered, we actually reduce the amount of crude protein down to 14%. Maybe even 12%, depending on the breed. The reason why we will do that is because we want to reduce the amount of protein and increase the amount of carbohydrates, because if you increase the amount of carbohydrates, what that means is you get more fat. They'll going to store all that energy into fat. Right? If you think about people who eat meat, versus people who eat nothing but bread. One of these is going to get fatter than the other. Right?

Melissa K Norris: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: That's one way of really looking at it is from that aspect, but it depends on your breed. For people who are raising, again, larder based breeds, you've got to be really mindful about how much to feed your pig grain, or anything that's floured, or baked goods. That, too. Otherwise, you'll get a lardy pig and not a lot of meat. If you have more muscular pigs like the Herberts ... I dare even say Gloucestershire Old Spots, Tamworths, Durocs, then that's not going to be a huge concern. You actually want to make sure that your pigs do gain fat before processing, so you want to actually increase your carbohydrate load before their processing date by two months. I would have enough fat cap on them to where you get flavorful, delicious pork, because fat is where the flavor is at.

Melissa K Norris: That's why we like bacon.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Bacon, yes.

Melissa K Norris: Yes. That's fascinating. Speaking of the timing and the climate, as you were talking, with our Herefords, when we raise and butcher them we typically butcher in October, which means from August on we've got tons of apples around here. We actually make up an apple mash that we feed them in order to supplement the organic food that we're buying for them, and because we're butchering them in October, we've got apples all the way out to finish them. They're not a lardier breed, like you said. As you were talking, I was going back over it. With the American Guinea Hogs, we actually kind of reversed that, because we butchered them the end of January. The last two months before butcher date, we didn't have any apples left, because obviously by then we'd went through all that we had, just because of the time of year. Their carbohydrates actually got reduced the last two months before butcher. Of course, I still got massive amounts of lard.

Talking about feed and the carbohydrates, as well as their protein sources. As I said, we like to supplement with apples when we can, which is a fruit. There's fiber in there, but obviously [inaudible 00:23:58] vegetables from the garden, and all of that. When you're looking at specific protein sources other than soy, and I personally try to avoid soy. With every study under the sun, you're going to find a study that can kind of back you up one way or the other, it seems. I personally try to avoid soy, especially conventional soy, because of GMOs.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Wow, you sound like you're from the Midwest. GMOs.

Melissa K Norris: Right? I can adapt accents here. When you're looking at protein sources, if you're trying to go the route of producing more of the pigs' feed on your homestead, what would be some other protein sources that one could look at?

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Good question. Before I even talk about, I have to say that the source of protein, if you're buying feed, is generally the most expensive ingredient in your feed bill. A, that's why when you reduce your crude protein from 16 to 14, you note that there's a significant difference in cost. It is important to figure out, what are some other ways of finding something other than soybeans? Cool fun fact about soybeans. The reason why it's so popularly used globally has nothing to do other than the fact that they were able to market the soybeans very well on the global level. That's all it had to do. There are alternatives such as rapeseed, pearl millet, the grain variety, sunflower seeds, and even field peas, that equival, if not exceed, soybeans in terms of crude protein. I think field peas are a really good way of either having food plots up for your pigs and allowing that being a source of protein. The trade off would be that you have to be really mindful of timing when your pigs enter into that food plot. I know some farmers will actually grow several acres of their local variety of field peas.

Some work better in different climates. In the Georgia, North Carolina area, iron clay peas work very well. Iron clay peas probably wouldn't work well where you're at, Melissa. They'll bale those fresh peas. They'll bale it all, and they'll make it into a silage, or something like that, that they'll feed throughout the year. That's one way that people get around that. If you're not at an efficient economy of scale, meaning that you don't have a lot of acres, you don't have a lot of machinery, it can be really challenging.

I've got one friend. He'd go to Chipotle, and he gets beans from Chipotle. That's what he does, is he gets the beans from Chipotle. Actually, he gets the beans, the chips, all the things from Chipotle, and he feeds that to his hogs. He also raised American Guinea Hogs. He never really spent a dime on actual feed. Do I recommend that? I only recommend that if it is not post-consumer. I repeat, not post-consumer. I do not recommend post-consumer restaurant scraps. What I mean by that is someone ate it, took a bite into it, threw it in the trash, and then that restaurant collected that food scraps and then gave it to the farmer. That farmer gave it to the pigs. That's a good way of spreading diseases. I don't recommend that.

Restaurants will have scraps or leftover food that didn't go to the consumer, because it's still sitting on the bar. Then what they'll do is, if you're working with a farmer, the farmer will say, "Hey, just put it in a bucket, or put it in a trash container. I'll provide the trash container for you. You just dump it out. Just make sure that there's no pork in it." Do not feed your pigs pork.

Melissa K Norris: Yes. Yes, for the love.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: They might give them $20 for a couple of trash cans, or something like that. Something people, they're like, "Don't even pay us. We're just glad that this waste is going towards something good and meaningful." That's a way that you can kind of do it. If you're trying to grow your own grain, your own protein source, it's going to be really challenging. That's why a lot of people just go to buy bagged feed anyway. Again, bag feed is more expensive, unless you have the acreage, or, I daresay, unless you work with farmers who have the acreage. You don't have to do everything on your own. I talk to plenty of farmers who don't have the same amount acreage that they would like to have, but they're still getting field peas, sunflower seeds, pearl millet, rapeseed, from other farmers who are nearby, and just partnering with them. That way it's more of a cooperative effort, rather than, "I have to figure this out all by myself and all on my own."

Melissa K Norris: Yeah. That's why, really, with our climate and the amount of acreage that we do have, we have purchased supplemental organic pig feed mix. We actually have a local granary mill that's about an hour away from us. That feels good because they try to source from as many local farmers as they can, and it is certified organic, which is important to me. I know that's not important to everyone, and that doesn't mean that everybody has to go that route. We do pay more for that feed. Again, that's a personal choice.

I love the suggestion of Chipotle, and the reason I love that is because they actually have a non-GMO stance, and have for a really long time. As far as looking at getting food sources outside of from a farmer, but a restaurant, even though it is a chain, that's probably one of the best ones that you could pick. I love that you gave that suggestion.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Oh, great. Also, a pro tip. If you're using spent grain, just understand that 80% of spent grain is actually water. You're not getting the nutritional value out it. Spent grain, if it was dried, would have 26% crude protein. No, actually, I take that back. 29% crude protein. If it's wet, which is what people mostly get spent grain, it's only 7.7% crude protein, so misconceptions with that. Also, spent grain gets moldy very quick. I don't recommend spent grain as a primary feed source. I recommend it as an add on to an already complete diet [crosstalk 00:30:46]

Melissa K Norris: Wait. I don't even know that terminology. What does spent grain mean?

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: You think of brewer's grain.

Melissa K Norris: Oh, okay.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Brewer's grain.

Melissa K Norris: Okay. I had never even thought of going that route, but I'm glad that you made that distinction for us. I'm learning all kinds of new things. I love this. We might just have to have a part two and have you back on. See, I think that-

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Yes. Yes.

Melissa K Norris: Yeah, because I've got so many more things that I want to ask, but I want to try to keep this somewhat concise. My listeners know conciseness is really not a skillset that I have developed, though I am working on it. Going back to a little bit of the breeds, because I think that's where we get enamored with heritage breeds. I get it. I love heritous way. I grow an all heirloom seed garden. I love heritage, and I love being able to protect them. There's also a reason that hybrids, both in breeding programs, as well as garden seeds, have been developed. Can you talk a little bit to picking heritage versus other breeds, and then within heritage breeds? I know this could be an entire complete episode all on its own, getting into this. Within the heritage breeds, certain things to consider when you are picking a heritage breed, if that's the route you choose to go.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: I love it. Yeah, let's get into that. With heritage breed pigs, some background on me, my first pigs were heritage breed. They were English Large Blacks. There's something about those Large Blacks. They're the black pigs with the super floppy ears. They look extraordinarily adorable. You can't see their eyes because their ears are covering it. Then Red Wattle. Then I've raised crosses, some of them heritage variety, the Hampshire and Duroc, as well as commercial Yorkshire. I'm grateful that I've had those different experiences. I've even bred, both purebred, as well as hybrids.

One thing that I'll say with heritage is that there's a reason why they're heritage. They do extraordinarily well in low input situations. What I mean by that is 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 300 years ago, these pigs were not being fed a strict grain diet. I'll repeat that one more time. They were not pampered. They were not pampered pigs that got fed a strict grain diet. They just weren't. They were getting fed any old kind of thing, from house scraps, slaughter waste. Then, once fields were harvested, they'll send the pigs out to clean up the fields. Right? Pigs were low input animals, just like chickens. That allowed for a lot of people to be able to have a meat source that was low input, meaning that that was saving them money. In fact, pigs used to be able to ... We can't say this so much today, but they used to be able to really be a life saver for a lot of families when crops failed that year. At least they had pigs to pay off any bills, their mortgage. Whatever it might've been.

One of the issues that we have today is that we have switched more to a commercial hog. Part of the reason of that is because somewhere around the, I believe, 40s, 50s, or 60s, somewhere in between there, there was a crisis on heart disease. People were trying to out what's causing heart disease. It came down to two things: sugar related products, and fat related products, including fat industries. Unfortunately, there was some falsified information, and sugar ended up winning. Fat ended up being the blame for heart disease. What ended up happening with that was ... That's why you have yogurt that's low fat. It literally says low fat, but like 12 grams of sugar in a cup. People don't understand that sugar, when not utilized properly, converts to what? Fat.

Melissa K Norris: Yes, and insulin resistance issues, and so many different things.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Keep preaching, Melissa. Keep preaching. That's part of the reason why a lot of these animals went out of favor. They also went out of favor because, around the Industrial Revolution in this country, we realized that we can produce synthetic oils, cheaper vegetable oils, as a way of machinery. We were using whale blubber to oil trains. Now we're using more synthetic oils to be able to use machinery. That's another reason why pigs also went out of favor. Also, these pigs grow very slow. In terms of homesteaders, if you're getting heritage breed pigs, they will grow slower than your commercial pigs. Usually commercial hogs are ready at around six months, and they weigh somewhere between 280 pounds to 300 pounds. Usually around 280 at six months. Those are for your commercial hogs. Now, when you get a heritage breed, you do have some variation. Your Herefords ... What other breeds are there other than Herefords? Your Tamworths. Other more meatier breeds. Usually they're at 680. Sorry, 280, if not 300 by eight months. Right?

Melissa K Norris: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Usually I'll say grow them out for an additional two months to get more back fat on them. Then you have your lard pig like your American Guinea Hogs. That can take a year to a year and a half, depending on the particular type of American Guinea Hog. English Large Blacks can take 10 years. Sorry, 10 months, to a year, a year and a half, to reach around 260. Right? There are a lot of different variations with the breeds. I highly recommend, if you want more information on the comparisons, just look up heritage hog breed comparisons chart. You should be able to find that at the LivestockConservancy.com. Sorry, .org. That'll give you way more information than you probably want to know on each individual breed from that standpoint.

Another thing to consider is, with heritage breeds, the medium breeds do very well with retail cuts. However, that's where they shine, because they provide more muscle mass. That's great. With your lard based pigs, like your Mulefoot, your English Large Black, your Kunekunes, your American Guinea Hogs, they weren't made for, necessarily, meat production. They're made really more for fat production, with fat actual more valuable than the pork itself. They really shine in sausages and ground pork. They shine very well in charcuterie. Part of the reason why a lot of people who are raising lard based pigs are having issues with marketing their pigs is because they're marketing as if they're retail hogs, and they're not. They're absolutely not. They need to be marketed and treated a lot differently.

Again, fat is where the flavor is at. When you're doing bratwurst, no better bratwurst than a lard pig bratwurst. That's the best bratwurst you'll ever have. Best sausage you will ever have. Best charcuterie you're going to ever have compared to your more leaner breeds, even on the heritage side. If you're raising these heritage breeds, especially the large ones, start thinking outside of the box from retail cuts, because if you try to make pork chops out of an American Guinea Hog, your pork chops are going to be small. Your-

Melissa K Norris: You got sent lots of fat.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: A lot of fat. [inaudible 00:38:51] going to be extremely tiny. You can probably put a pencil through that. Think about it from the standpoint of I can sell these pigs, wholes and halves. I can turn them into charcuterie. I can turn them into ground pork and sausage, and maybe keep the bacon, depending, and hams. Hams, if you're going to use ham charcuterie as well. They don't shine well with pork chops. They don't shine very well with leg roasts, or Boston butts, or sometimes even bacon, or pork chops. They don't shine well doing those things, so stick to the shrimp of the pigs.

When I used to work for the Livestock Conservancy, I did change some of the utilization descriptions for the breeds. If you go on their website, LivestockConservancy.org, and look at the breed profiles, on the side you should be able to see the utilizations for those breeds. They should be up to date, because I did update them before I resigned from there. Those are my thoughts on that.

Melissa K Norris: Okay. Awesome. I love that, because the American Guinea Hog was the best bacon we've ever had, bar none. The ham was fatty, but when I cooked it in the slow cooker, and then shredded it. Oh my gosh. It was amazing, but it's not like a spiral cut, when you think of spiral cut hams. That is not what you were getting. I'm with you there, definitely. If you we raise the American Guinea Hogs again, I probably will just raise them for the bacon, and the sausage, and a couple of the ham cuts. We won't even bother with the pork chops. I have to say, the pork chops were delicious because of the fat, and quite moist, but yet you're getting such little meat per pork chop cut. I almost have to cook six for our family of four just to barely get enough meat for everybody. I'm really glad that you brought those points up. It's kind of like, do we get a couple of American Guinea Hogs just for the bacon and sausage, and then raise the Herefords? I don't know. We'll see what we end up doing.

Some amazing resources in today's blog post that accompanies this episode. We will provide all of the links and different things that Rhyne has been so gracious to point us in the direction of. One of the things you had mentioned that I wanted to talk about and just, myself, learn more about, is your work in Uganda with raising pork. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? I find that fascinating.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Yeah. Yeah, definitely ... I lost my train of thought.

Melissa K Norris: It happens.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: I go overseas to East Africa, Uganda, as well as Tanzania, or Tanzania if you've got a country accent. I teach people, basically, in very simple manners, how to raise pigs within their context. I'm really blessed by that experience, because it allowed for me to really look at farming more contextually ... I made a rookie mistake. I remember my first year going. I go into an organization called EATBETA. It's E-A-T-B-E-T-A. It stands for evangelizing Africa through business empowerment and the transformation of agriculture. We're not simply about giving money to people. We're about how do we train and educate people on best practices with their business and with their farm.

One slogan that I use when I go over there is farming is business. Farming is business. I don't care if you're in it from subsistence living, or if you're trying to make money off of it. It's always a business, because you're having inputs, and there are outputs. Right? Usually that requires some type of economic or capital to be able to make that thrive. When I go over there, I'm working within their context. They don't say soybeans. They say soya. They don't say corn. They say maize bran. They're having limited ingredients and limited resources. They're using different even feed additives like sunflower seed cake, and fish meal, and all these other things. Being able to understand that not all of them are at a place where they can raise healthy pigs, it's really important. It's even sad sometimes when I have to recommend that they not raise pigs, because they're not at that scale.

I daresay, even to your audience, you might not be at a scale where it's economically viable for you to raise pigs. I want to let you know there is no shame in that. Absolutely no shame in that. Stick to chickens. Grow that chicken operation out a little bit more, whether it's egg production or meat birds. I recommend meat birds, and scale up from there. That's what a lot of people have done to really be successful with raising pigs. They start out small. They start out with chickens, and then they build up to pigs, and then they'll build up to cattle, or maybe the goats and sheep. That's probably a really good model for East Africa is showing people that you can scale up your farming operation. You have to do it incrementally. A lot of people who are philanthropists will just donate tractors to East Africa. Right? These people don't know how to use a tractor. Most of them don't. When something breaks down, they can't fix it.

When my team goes down there, we're not teaching how to use a tractor. We're teaching, how do you hand plow? How do we get you from a hand plow, or hand hoe, to a hand plow, where you're actually tilling the Earth through a hand mechanized plow? We're doing funding for that, and we're giving those out. It's appropriate technology, appropriate training and education, rather than we're just going to give money, rather than we're just going to fix all your problems. No. We're going to teach, how do you run a business? When I go over there, I teach farming is a business, and I teach people that animal welfare, because there are a lot of issues with animal welfare in countries that would be deemed third world or developing. People over there don't treat pigs like pets. They treat pigs like stupid dirty animals.

Part of what I do is I teach animal welfare is not necessarily the primary goal. The primary goal is economics. The primary goal is making money. Well, if I know that their real issue is they want to make money, then I equate proper animal welfare with higher profitability. For example, if you are putting your pig on a more standardized feed ration, your pigs grow out faster, meaning you get your money quicker. Very simple and easy. Right? If I talk about how reducing your herd if your herd is unmanageable, you have too many pigs, and you can't afford to have too many pigs, by reducing your herd and just sticking to a few and feeding those well, it increases your reputation. Now, you're having pigs that are actually at weight. People are getting that pork, and they're getting the quality pork that they're wanting, rather than emaciated pigs. Right? That increases reputation. That means comeback customers.

When you're dealing with breeding, thinking about when you're really treating your sow with respect. Not beating it. When you're really giving your sow enough water, enough feed rationing, then that allows for you to have healthier piglets. That allows for your piglets to be weaned to survival, and then that means more profit per pig. Right? Everything really can boil down to economics when I go over there, and that's allowed for me to translate that back to the states, and really show people that every decision that you make as a farmer has an economic impact. It will always have an economic impact, whether big or great, or small or great, small or great.

That allows for a lot of people to see that their decision to switch feeds, that's an economic decision. Can you afford to do that? If not, that's okay. There's no shame. Or I want to do this opportunity with sausage, or opportunity with a live event. Okay, cool. What's the economic impact on your farm, and how much money will it cost? That really gets people thinking about, "How do I save money, or how do I reduce my costs, or how do I become more profitable in the enterprise I already have?"

Melissa K Norris: Wow. I love all of that. That, again, is an entire 'nother episode. We could probably talk for hours and hours and not get through everything, but this was great. I really enjoyed it. Would love to have you come back on. For those who are wanting to learn more about you, learn from you, check out more about your farm and the work that you're doing, what's the best place for people to connect with you?

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: People can connect with me on ... People have been begging me to start a YouTube channel, and I resisted it for, I think, about a year. I recently have made a channel, and I'll be posting videos on it by the end of this week. Whenever you have this recording out, I will have already posted videos. That's the best way.

Melissa K Norris: Okay.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: I am considering leaving Instagram, so I won't be on Instagram. Then, for emails, you can email me at Rhyne, R-H-Y-N-E, @PorkRhyne, P-O-R-K, R-H-Y-N-E, .com.

Melissa K Norris: Awesome. Now, I know Rhyne is your first name, but my great grandmother's last name was Rhyne. I just had to throw that fun little tidbit out there. Spelled exactly like yours.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Cool. We're long lost cousins. That's all it is.

Melissa K Norris: Yeah, I agree. This has been a blast. I can't wait to learn more from you, and just be able to share that knowledge to get more people raising more of their own food, and taking control of their food source. Thank you so much for coming on today.

"Pork" Rhyne Cureton: Amen. Amen. Glad to be here, and I appreciate what you're doing with your podcast and your YouTube channel. You're one of the few folks in that space where I don't cringe when I watch a video, so just thank you for the good work that you're doing, and the honesty that you have behind it. It really means a lot to me.

Melissa K Norris: Aw, thank you. I hope you had as much fun as I did with today's episode and picked up some tips if you are planning on raising your own pork, or maybe you already have pork, but you were able to glean some tips and some ideas on where you could get some extra feed without a bunch of extra expense, which I know that always gets me super excited when it comes to our homestead endeavors. Well, this episode was all about raising pork, or mainly about raising pork.

Next week, I have another really fun episode for you where we will be having a guest, and we will be talking about homesteading, but, in particular, gardening. Especially if you have young children, or children at home, how to get them incorporated, but also still how to have a garden and try to stay sane. If you have infants, or toddlers, or really young children, it can often be hard trying to juggle it all. We are going to dive into this. I had so much fun doing these episodes. I know you're going to enjoy them just as much as I do. That is coming up for you next week. Blessings and mason jars for now.

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Salt Cured Ham: Old-Fashioned Preserving

January 28, 2020 by Lee Totten 84 Comments

How to salt cure ham at home has been on my homesteading bucket list for a few years now. Being able to preserve food with old-fashioned techniques, like salt curing pork, is a skill I find as fascinating as I do yummy. Bring me the bacon! And ham!

When Lee from Tennessee Homestead offered to teach me and you how to salt cure a ham I got all kinds of excited. Lee, teach away!

What is Salt Curing?

Salt curing ham is an age-old tradition on our homestead. We use a dry rub cure to make the best-tasting hams possible. The salt/sugar mix adds color and flavor to the meat. Additionally, some of our hams will also go into the smoker. But, today I will discuss with you the first part of the process, how to cure pork with a salt dry rub.

Before reliable refrigeration, people would salt cure meat the old fashioned way because it was the best way to preserve pork. Curing and smoking pulls the moisture from the ham to make it safe to store at room temperature. We don’t cure for this purpose anymore, but rather to give the ham a great flavor and color.

Where can I buy a fresh ham to cure?

If you don’t have a fresh ham from your own hog you can find fresh ham at a meat market or packing house. Remember the ham you buy at the grocery has already been cured and/or smoked. A fresh ham is exactly that, a ham fresh from the hog.

You can also ask around in rural areas to see if you can find someone raising their own hogs. Many times families will raise extra hogs to sell in order to offset the cost of raising them.

Is Salt Curing the Same as Dry Curing a Ham?

Yes, salt curing is simply another term for dry curing. This is a process of coating the meat with a salt cure rub which draws out the moisture. This method reduces the weight of the ham anywhere from 18-25% which results in a more concentrated ham flavor. Many people prefer dry curing as opposed to injecting or immersing the ham with a curing solution. Once the ham is cured, it can be smoked, cooked or frozen for later cooking. Because dry hams are typically saltier than other products, they benefit from soaking in water for 1-12 hours (in the refrigerator) before cooking.

Supplies Needed for Dry Curing a Ham

Fresh Ham
Curing mix – you must use a curing salt to make this mix, not regular salt. (Salt used to cure meat has to be non-iodized. If you use iodized salt it will make the meat have a metallic flavor.)
Plastic tray – to use during the curing process. (Do not use metal)
Sharp knife to cut in around joints
Refrigerator (preferably an old refrigerator that can be sacrificed to the salt curing process. The salt will ruin the metal parts inside of the unit including the gills that disperse the cool air.)
The Joy of Smoking and Salt Curing The Complete Guide to Smoking and Curing Meat, Fish, Game, and More (optional)

Homemade Salt Curing Mix

This dry rub mix recipe has been in my family and handed down for generations. It's a simple combination of four ingredients.

Does anyone else get giddy over these kinds of things? I may be a family recipe addict, it doesn't matter from whose family either. I know those recipes that get handed down are because they're just that good. ~Melissa

2 cups Curing Salt
1 Tbs Red pepper
1 Tbs Black pepper
1 cup Brown sugar

Most fresh hams will need a minimum of a triple batch, the recipe can be scaled up or down as needed, depending on size of the ham.

How to Salt Cure Ham at Home

For one ham start with 6-8 cups of mix.
The temperature will need to be between 36 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take a fresh ham with skin on, wash off in water and pat dry.
Put a layer of curing mix on the tray to act as a bed for the ham. This bed of curing mix should be ¼” – ½” deep.
Place the ham on top of the layer of mix.
At each joint, cut slits down to the bone. These slits are needed because you have to pack extra salt around the joint so the fluid will draw out. Otherwise, you could spoil the ham. There are two joints, the H-bone (hip) and the hock.
Pack the slits you made at the joints with the curing mix.
Rub and cover the rest of the ham with the curing mix.
Leave the tray in a cool place (such as a refrigerator or a cooler packed with ice) for 18 days at 36-40 degrees. If using a cooler, be sure to check your ice daily and replenish it as needed.
After 18 days check the ham.
If you are going to put this ham in the smoker it has to be firm to the touch. If not firm to the touch it is not ready to come out of the curing mix. (If it is not firm it is because there is still too much fluid left in the ham.)
If ham is ready to be smoked, thoroughly rinse off the salt and pat dry before smoking.
If you are freezing then firmness does not matter. You can go on to the next step.
If freezing, slice the ham and freeze or freeze whole.
If ready to eat, you can bake the whole ham. Alternatively, you can slice the ham, soak the ham slices in cold water for up to an hour, then cook. Or, simmer the ham slice in a little water in the frying pan and then remove the water and continue cooking.

Salt Cured Ham: Old-Fashioned Preserving

Lee Totten

Salt cured ham has been around for centuries as an old-fashioned preservation method. It's simple to cure your own ham at home with this easy recipe.

4 from 69 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 18 d

Course Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine American

Servings ham

Calories 69.7 kcal

Ingredients

6 cups Curing Salt
3 Tbs Red pepper
3 Tbs Black pepper
3 cup Brown sugar
1 Fresh Ham

Instructions

Mix salt, red pepper, black pepper and brown sugar in a bowl and set aside, this is your curing mix.
With a ham that's between 36 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit, rinse in cold water and pat dry.
Put a layer of curing mix ¼” – ½” deep on a tray to act as a bed for the ham.
Place the ham on top of the layer of curing mix.
At the H-bone (hip) and the hock joints, cut slits down to the bone then pack with as much of the salt mixture as possible.
Rub and cover the rest of the ham with the curing mix.
Leave the tray in a cool place (such as a refrigerator or a cooler packed with ice) for 18 days at 36-40 degrees.
Cure for 18 days (or more – see recipe notes).
Once the ham is cured, rinse well with cool water then smoke it, cook it or freeze it for later (see recipe notes for cooking tips).

Notes

If using a cooler, be sure to check your ice daily and replenish it as needed.
If you are going to smoke your ham, it has to be firm to the touch. If it's not firm to the touch, continue curing and checking it daily.
If ham is ready to be smoked, thoroughly rinse off the salt and pat dry before smoking.
If you are freezing then firmness does not matter. Slice the ham and freeze or freeze whole.
When ready to eat, you can bake the whole ham.
If you'd like to serve the ham in slices, we recommend soaking the slices in cold water for an hour up to 12 hours in the refrigerator. Then cook up in a frying pan. (You can also simmer the ham slice in a little water in the frying pan, remove the water, then continue cooking.

Nutrition

Serving: 1oz.Calories: 69.7kcalProtein: 5.2gFat: 5.3gSaturated Fat: 1.9gCholesterol: 15.9mgSodium: 364mg

Keyword Cured Ham, Dry Cured Ham, Salt Cured Ham

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Here on the homestead, cured hams are just one of the products we make from our own hogs. Other products include lard, bacon, ham, ham hocks, sausage and souse meat. If you are unable to raise your own hog many local custom slaughterhouses can help you find a producer you can purchase a hog from so you too can have your own fresh pork and enjoy the process of curing your own meat.

Lee is a writer/blogger who is also a self-reliance promoter. They call her chicken “Mama” at home where she considers herself an expert pitchfork operator. For more self-reliance and homesteading tips from Lee go to Tennessee-Homestead.com

7 Ways to Use Medicinal Herbs at Home

September 28, 2015 by Melissa Norris 21 Comments

Learning how to use herbs in your home medicine kit is an age-old tradition our forefathers and mothers knew. Seeing a resurgence in folks like you and me who want to preserve these old-time remedies makes my heart warm like a hearthstone near a crackling fire.

7 ways to use medicinal herbs in your natural, preparedness, and survival medicine chest! Great list of herbs and the ways to prepare them for different ailments. Grab this now so you're ready before you need it!

If you missed parts 1 and 2 of this series, you'll want to catch yourself up with 6 Old-Time Natural Remedies that Work and 7 Herbs for Natural Remedies Your Grandparents Used

It's one thing to know which herbs are good ones to start with and work well for different ailments (see posts above), but we need to know the different ways to actually use our herbs once we've identified them.

I am not a medical doctor or professional, this is not meant to treat or diagnose, it is for educational and entertainment purposes only. If you or your loved one is sick, always seek medical care and advice from a trained medical practitioner of your choice. Never use herbs or herbal treatments without first doing research on that herb and its effects by a trusted source.

Resources for Using Medicinal Herbs at Home

No doubt about it you need a good reference guide for knowing how to use which herbs for what, the ways to prepare them, and how to dry fresh herbs at home.

Interested in learning more about herbs and home remedies, especially concerning safety and dosing, be sure to sign up for my free herb class where we'll go into more depth about using herbs medicinally for you and your family.

Learn how to nourish your body with a natural medicine cabinet with items already in your spice and herb cabinet.

Grow your own culinary and medicinal herbs and learn how to easily preserve them to stock your pantry and medicine chest.

Easy guides and recipes to use your herbs in your own:

homemade soaps
herbal tinctures
nourishing lotions and soothing salves
tea

Plus our full herbal use medicinal chart. Get your copy of Hand Made: the Modern Guide to Made-from-Scratch Living by clicking here

Beginner's Herb Guide–> Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbal Guide

Home Manual–> The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook

7 Ways to Use Medicinal Herbs at Home

1. Herbal Tea. Some herbs are meant to be ingested and brewing a strong tea is a good way to do this, especially for cough and colds as a warm tea will help soothe an irritated throat like little else. Some of our favorite medicinal herbs and those recommended by readers for this method include echinacea, licorice root (7 herbs for natural remedies for the cautions of this herb), ginger, lemon, and sage.

There are a few ways to make your tea, you can use fresh or dried leaves.

How to prepare herbal tea at home

Fresh leaves: Rinse fresh herb leaves under cold running water and place about three large leaves in the bottom of a cup. Pour hot water over and allow to seep for up to 7 minutes.

Dried leaves: A tea ball (I use this stainless steel tea ball all the time and even have put spices in it when making jams or brines) or infuser works the best when using dried leaves. Fill your tea ball with dried leaves and pour hot water over and allow to steep for about 7 minutes, or to your desired strength.

Many people like a cup of chamomile tea at bedtime.

Flavoring options:

For therapeutic use I'll put some raw honey in my warm tea if I have a cough, otherwise, I prefer not to add sugar, but if it needs some sweetness, then I use a few drops of this Stevia Extract. I don't detect any bitter or weird after taste and have been using it for over a year now, I even use it when making sauces… shhh, don't tell my kids, they can't tell the difference.

2. Herbal Poultice. This is where you take the leaves (or sometimes root of the plant) and place them into a piece of gauze or muslin, apply to the affected area (feel like I'm at work typing out prescription instructions with that one), and leave it on for the preferred duration of time.

How to Prepare an Herbal Poultice

There are two ways to make a poultice, one is using the leaves and roots raw and the other is heating them.

For the raw poultice: finely chop up the leaves/roots or use your blender and make a puree. Place this into your gauze or muslin. For a case study and more in-depth look at using comfrey for this method go here.

For a hot poultice: Take the leaves/roots and place them in a saucepan with a double ratio of water to the herb (example 1/4 cup herbs to 1/2 cup water), bring to a simmer, and cook for a couple of minutes. For more information on this method check out how to make an herbal poultice and compress tutorial here.

How long to leave the poultice on- the time will vary depending upon the ailment and the herb, for example, mustard poultice would not be left on for a long period of time due to its hot burning nature, whereas a comfrey poultice might be left on for up to 24 hours. You need to replace your poultice regularly.

You'll want to use gauze or a breathable fabric over your poultice to keep the poultice in place and to help protect your clothing.

3. Infusion or Decoction. An herbal infusion is simply an herbal tea fully matured… instead of allowing the herbs to seep for minutes, you let the tea seep for an hour, putting it on super strength. Confession: I've done this with tea simply because I forgot about it.

A decoction is when you boil the smashed or chopped herb, root, or sometimes bark in water and allow it to boil and seep for some time, so basically, the extended hot water bath version of an infusion.

Dried elderberries in a jar and two small jars of elderberry syrup sitting on a counter.

4. Syrup. I have to say if you have children or picky finicky people in your household, then a syrup will probably be your easiest option as far as compliance goes. Medicinal syrups are shelf-stable and last longer than infusions or decoctions, which means you can make them ahead of time so when you're not feeling up to par, you don't have to deal with making something, it'll be ready to go.

To make the syrup you'll start out making a decoction and then add in your sweetener. Here's how to make elderberry syrup

Echinacea flowers and a tincture bottle sitting on a wooden counter top.

5. Tincture. A tincture is basically making a homemade extract, in fact, that's exactly what it is. You can use either alcohol or apple cider vinegar, though your shelf life is better with alcohol, and less chance of mold. Here's how to make an echinacea tincture (the same principles apply to other fresh herbs)

Tinctures can be taken by themselves, added into syrups or salves and lotions.

6. Salves, balms, creams, and lotions. Many homemade salves, balms, creams and lotions, even lip balms will benefit from the addition of medicinal herbs. Usually this is done by infusing your oil with the herbs of your choice. This is a really simple procedure but takes a bit of planning ahead.

To infuse oil with herbs watch our totally FREE video training with both the traditional method and the fast I need it now method, both are easy click here to make your own herbal infused oil.

Place jar in a sunny windowsill and allow it to seep for 6 to 8 weeks, shaking every few days or so. After 8 weeks, strain herbs and keep infused oil in the recipe of your choice.

Tip: Olive oil works well for this as coconut oil solidifies at 76 degrees. I love to do this with calendula blossoms and it's the base for my wound healing salve recipe.

Another favorite is this homemade peppermint salve for dry skin.

7. Herbal Steams. Herbal steam not only makes your house smell wonderful while eliminating those fake chemicals in other scented options, but it has therapeutic benefits as well. I enjoy cooking on our wood stove during the winter months and also like to put a kettle of water on to act as a humidifier, but adding some medicinal herbs to the mixture will punch things up even further.

You can use any herbs you like, but for congestion both peppermint and eucalyptus are favorites, however, people who are sensitive to seizures should proceed with caution and peppermint should be used with children under 6 years of age and eucalyptus, not with children under 12 years of age.

Add herbs to a pot of water and allow to lightly simmer. Or, you can add herbs to a heat-proof bowl and pour just simmered hot water over it.

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