Canning Herring 2023

Total newb yet doing my homework.  Seasonings, pressure canner science, jar size choices.  I left the bucket in my cooler and dumped ice on it overnight in the van.  Dumped them all out in the big cooler this morning and put salt and water to begin cleaning for some bait storage and soon to be choosing an amount to scale and gut.  Freeze until I'm ready to can em'.  Massive jiz and slime and some roe in raw product...kinda nasty yet real, I think TLA digs the jiz but he can comment on that fishy aspect if he finds this thread...stay tuned...

Nice!  Good luck on your canning adventure.  My grandma used to can albacore when I was a kid - the whole neighborhood would stink like fish for a week after that!  But, it was WAY better than the stuff you get in a can at the store.  She would do 2 or 3 whole fish at a time - would end up with several cases of the stuff.

Are you smoking it first, to get a similar product to the kippered herring in the cans at the store?  I used to eat a lot of those, but my wife complains that it stinks up the house, haha.

Let us know how it comes out, Eddie.
My brother has been doing some canning/jarring the past couple years and halibut has come out the best.
He tried herring and it turned very mushy. Could be an issue with not properly brining, not sure though.
Good luck!

I haven't had good success with herring.  Gave up on it.  Let us know how it goes, I might give it another try.

Thanks for the warnings for mushy, I’m going 10lbs of pressure for 100 minutes.  Andrew, can you get Alistar’s timing or pressure lbs. measurement if he recorded it?  Seasonings look like a hot sauce flavoring, mustard, shoyu lemon, smoked, salt, and tomato based, stay tuned…

I haven't had good success with herring.  Gave up on it.  Let us know how it goes, I might give it another try.

What happened?

Guideline is 110 minutes for smoked
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/smoked_fish.html

Thanks for the warnings for mushy, I’m going 10lbs of pressure for 100 minutes.  Andrew, can you get Alistar’s timing or pressure lbs. measurement if he recorded it?  Seasonings look like a hot sauce flavoring, mustard, shoyu lemon, smoked, salt, and tomato based, stay tuned…

I'll ask him and get back to you!

Guideline is 110 minutes for smoked
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/smoked_fish.html

Thanks, I love that page.  Not sure yet what would make herring mushy...

Nice!  Good luck on your canning adventure.  My grandma used to can albacore when I was a kid - the whole neighborhood would stink like fish for a week after that!  But, it was WAY better than the stuff you get in a can at the store.  She would do 2 or 3 whole fish at a time - would end up with several cases of the stuff.

Are you smoking it first, to get a similar product to the kippered herring in the cans at the store?  I used to eat a lot of those, but my wife complains that it stinks up the house, haha.

Thanks for the smell warning, I might have to do it and ask for forgiveness or include her in the dialogue and contend with objection cuz it's a touch cold for an outdoor process in my opinion...

Thanks for the warnings for mushy, I’m going 10lbs of pressure for 100 minutes.  Andrew, can you get Alistar’s timing or pressure lbs. measurement if he recorded it?  Seasonings look like a hot sauce flavoring, mustard, shoyu lemon, smoked, salt, and tomato based, stay tuned…

For smoked fish it should be 110min at 10psi.  This is a good resource

https://ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk7366/files/inline-files/208607.pdf

You want a light smoke as the smoke intensifies during the canning process.  When I can smoked salmon it's not fully cooked prior to canning usually I pull it around 110 degrees.  When I did fully smoked herring it came out really dark and really intense.  The lightly smoked herring was better.

With herring it really comes done to mushiness which I just haven't been able to fix.   The trick should be removing as much water as you can, but not too much that it turns to jerky.

I think brining and having a long drying time followed by a cold smoke could help, but I've also been buying lots of canned herring/sardines to research and I've found that some brands are just mushy and maybe that's just how some species are.  Pacific herring from my understanding have less fat than other species so that could be a factor.

I prefer salting herring over freezing them as I find the texture much better.

I hope you find a way to firm them up, at this point I've given up and either smoke and freeze or salt them for use throughout the year. 

Edit: One other thing is that if you are not smoking prior it's probably a good idea to cook the fish prior to canning.

This video goes into the process



I think this helps with taste and texture. 

Thanks for the warnings for mushy, I’m going 10lbs of pressure for 100 minutes.  Andrew, can you get Alistar’s timing or pressure lbs. measurement if he recorded it?  Seasonings look like a hot sauce flavoring, mustard, shoyu lemon, smoked, salt, and tomato based, stay tuned…

For smoked fish it should be 110min at 10psi.  This is a good resource

https://ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk7366/files/inline-files/208607.pdf

You want a light smoke as the smoke intensifies during the canning process.  When I can smoked salmon it's not fully cooked prior to canning usually I pull it around 110 degrees.  When I did fully smoked herring it came out really dark and really intense.  The lightly smoked herring was better.

With herring it really comes done to mushiness which I just haven't been able to fix.   The trick should be removing as much water as you can, but not too much that it turns to jerky.

I think brining and having a long drying time followed by a cold smoke could help, but I've also been buying lots of canned herring/sardines to research and I've found that some brands are just mushy and maybe that's just how some species are.  Pacific herring from my understanding have less fat than other species so that could be a factor.

I prefer salting herring over freezing them as I find the texture much better.

I hope you find a way to firm them up, at this point I've given up and either smoke and freeze or salt them for use throughout the year.

Interesting and thank you, fillets or whole, in the canning process?  I get the light smoke...thanks, my wife hates smoke or too much at least...

I've done both scaled/headed/gutted and scaled/fillets and prefer fillets.  It's actually much faster for me to fillet the fish than to gut and clean.

I've done both scaled/headed/gutted and scaled/fillets and prefer fillets.  It's actually much faster for me to fillet the fish than to gut and clean.

Copy on the fillets...you didn't find whole, no guts or head, to stay firmer?

Gourmet Tuyo. That’s all you need to do Eddie😂