Preserving recipe
Chicken and button mushroom soup in jars
A clear pantry soup with tender chicken and cultivated button mushrooms. Packed in pieces without thickening and preserved exclusively in a pressure canner.
30 min.
100 min.
6
6
Medium
Ingredients
400 g fresh cultivated white button mushrooms, weighed after trimming
2000 ml drinking water for the soup, plus 500 ml if needed to cover and top up
1000 ml drinking water for precooking the mushrooms
10 g salt, optional
1 g dried thyme, optional
Method
2. Remove visible fat from the chicken, cover with the 2000 ml water and cook until completely tender. Add water if needed. Cool the meat briefly, dice it and skim and retain the cooking liquid.
3. Use only fresh cultivated button mushrooms with closed caps. Trim stem ends and discoloured areas. Soak in cold water for 10 minutes, then rinse thoroughly. Leave small mushrooms whole; halve or slice larger ones. Cover with the 1000 ml water, boil for 5 minutes and drain.
4. Cover the chicken and mushrooms with the skimmed cooking liquid, adding hot water if needed. Add salt and thyme and boil for 5 minutes. Do not purée or thicken.
5. Divide the solids among the hot jars, filling each jar no more than halfway with solids. Top up with boiling liquid, leaving 25 mm headspace. Remove bubbles, adjust headspace, clean rims and close lids.
6. Put jars in the prepared pressure canner; follow the manufacturer’s water and operating instructions. Vent a continuous stream of steam through the open outlet for 10 minutes before pressurising. Dial gauge: 11 psi up to 600 m, 12 psi above 600 to 1200 m, 13 psi above 1200 to 1800 m, 14 psi above 1800 to 2400 m. Weighted gauge: 10 psi up to 300 m, 15 psi above 300 m. These values refer to the canner’s pressure scale. This procedure does not apply above 2400 m.
7. Process for 60 minutes after reaching the required pressure. Maintain pressure throughout; if it drops below the requirement, regain pressure and restart the full 60 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the canner depressurise completely on its own. Do not force-cool. Only then open the vent as instructed by the manufacturer, wait 10 minutes and carefully open the lid away from your body.
8. Lift jars upright and cool undisturbed for 12–24 hours. Check seals, remove screw bands and date the jars. Immediately refrigerate correctly processed, freshly cooled jars that failed to seal and use within 72 hours. Store only tightly sealed jars in the pantry.
Storage
Store correctly processed, tightly sealed jars in a cool, dark, dry place, preferably at 10–21 °C. Do not store above 35 °C. After opening, immediately refrigerate at 4 °C or below and use clean utensils.
Shelf life
Use unopened jars within 12 months for best quality. Use opened jars or freshly processed jars that failed to seal within 72 hours when refrigerated at 4 °C or below.
Safety note
Pressure canning is essential; a water bath, oven or hot filling alone is insufficient. Use cultivated button mushrooms only, never wild mushrooms. Do not add pasta, rice, flour, starch, milk, cream or other thickeners before canning. Fill jars no more than halfway with solids and follow the headspace and pressure-processing time. A sealed lid alone does not prove safe processing. Do not taste improperly processed jars or stored jars with failed or bulging lids, leaks, mould, gas or an unusual smell; safely discard all contents.