Pressure Canning Split Pea and Ham Soup in Weck Jars
Christmas of 2008 my Mother in Law gifted me anAll American 21-1/2-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner. And while I’ve stuck to mostly water bath canning over the past few years, I figured with my recent purchase of 556 Weck canning jars, it was time to dust it off and can a few different varieties of soup for this winter.
Homemade soup and a hunk of bread on a cold winter’s day… Does it get any better than that? I don’t think so. Well, actually now that I think about it, if I should get said soup served to me on a tray while I was sitting in bed watching a movie in my flannel jammies… I think that would be pretty ideal. But lets not get ahead of ourselves here.
Yada Yada Yada.
This time around I made a batch {2 batches actually} of one of my all time favorite soups, split pea and ham. This recipe is quick, easy, straight forward and a great one to try if you’re just getting into pressure canning.
I canned my soup in quart sized jars, but pints work really well too, especially if you’re looking for something simple to pack in a lunch, or to just feed 1 person. Below you’ll find the photos and recipe for pressure canning split pea and ham soup.
This soup is hearty and satisfying and all the things you want a soup to be pretty much any time of the year.
So there you have it. That’s what pressure canning split pea and ham soup in Weck jars is all about.
I love this recipe. And I hope you will too.
Happy Canning,
~ Mavis
Split Pea and Ham Soup – Pressure Canner Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dried split peas, rinsed
- 2 quarts water
- 1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup diced, cooked ham
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 ground pepper
Instructions
Combine split peas and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered for 45 minutes or until the peas are soft.
Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Add a little boiling water if the soup is too thick.
Remove bay leaves.
Ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.
Pressure Canning Split Pea and Ham Soup in Weck Jars
Remove any air bubbles. Wipe the jar rims and threads clean if needed. If using traditional canning jars, cover with 2-piece lids. Screw bands on.
If using Weck jars, carefully place the Weck rubber gasket on the lid of the jars. Place the lid on the jar and secure the lid with 3 evenly spaced Weck clamps.
Place jars on the rack in the pressure canner. Add 2 inches of simmering water to canner.
Place the lid on the canner and turn to a locked position. Tighten clamps. Adjust heat to medium high and vent steam for 10 minutes.
Put the weighted gauge on the vent and bring the pressure in the canner to 10 pounds {PSI}.
Process pint jars for 1 hour and 15 minutes or quart jars for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Turn off heat and let your canner cool to zero pressure.
After 10 minutes, carefully remove the lid of the canner and let the jars cool an additional 10 minutes before removing.
Cool jars for 12-24 hours. Remove rings or clamps. Check seals, label and store jars in a cool dark place.
This recipe makes about 5 pint jars or 2 quart jars.
Notes
This recipe was canned at sea level. If you need to make altitude adjustments for home canning you can find directions here: https://extension.sdstate.edu/altitude-adjustments-home-canning
How to Use a Pressure Canner – https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/tutorial-how-to-use-a-pressure-canner/
How to Use Weck Jars – https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/how-to-use-weck-canning-jars/
More Canning Recipes – 80+ Canning Recipes
Julie says
Just 2 inches of simmering water? It’s not needed to cover the jars with an inch or two of water?
Denise W. says
You only cover the jars when you are water bath canning. She has pressure canned the soup so it takes a smaller amount of water.
KC says
Pressure canning is really different from water bath canning (in which you do have to cover the jars). If you already know that, skip the rest of this. 🙂 But in case anyone’s assuming that pressure canning is the same as putting jars in a normal pot of boiling water for the listed period of time, information is below.
DO NOT can this recipe with water bath canning; the pressure is necessary to bring the temperature inside the pressure canner up to a point that kills botulism, etc. Normally water doesn’t get above around 212F, but if you put it under pressure, it remains in a liquid form well above that for sciencey reasons I do not presently remember but am sure the internet could explain.
Things that have enough sugar/acid/salt in them (most pickles, jams, etc.) can be water-bath canned because adequate acid levels *also* kill botulism spores, but you need a pressure canner to safely can things like soup or meat or non-pickled veggies. (tomatoes are acidic, but vary in acidity, which is why recipes for water-bath canning them include a bit of additional acid to tip the less-acidic tomatoes over into adequately-acidic territory)
There’s lots of interesting (and good) info on the FDA’s canning website (https://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/blogs/usdas-complete-guide-home-canning ) – the Ball Blue Book is another reliable source for Canning That Won’t Kill You. Botulism fatalities have dropped enormously since the 1950s, partly because of improvements in home canning safety and partly because we now have ICUs that can keep people alive during botulism paralysis, but I think it’s better to just plain not need positive-pressure ventilators due to canned goods.
Julie says
Thank you! This was very helpful!
Kath says
Curious to learn how you organize your canning area around the camp stove. Is it a 2 or 3 burner unit? I’ve always canned inside, but I’d like to switch to outside so as not to heat up the house in summer. Would you be willing to share more on how you manage it outside?
Rosaleen says
This soup probably would work well as a dehydrated soup mix. Maybe use less water to reduce dehydration time and skip the ham, which could turn rancid. Add some ham or bacon bits when reconstituting the soup at a later time. Hmm!
Thanks, Mavis!
A says
Rosaleen, if you do that, would you mind reporting back on your method and outcome?
Thanks!
Mary says
What a fabulous gift. My goodness. I love my All American Canner. I have the one that holds two levels of pints/one level of quarts (wish I had the one that holds two levels of quarts, but it must be so huge to store). I bought mine used for $50 about 35 years ago. I take it in to the extension and have it tested each year and it hasn’t failed yet. It has seen a lot of jars.
Your soup recipe is the same as my tried and true. I used yellow split peas because I like their flavor better. It will be so great for you to pull those jars out next Winter to eat with your homemade bread from your Aga.
Linda Practical Parsimony says
The instructions for using Weck said to sterilize in hot soapy water. Really, sterilizing in soapy water? How do you get the soap off and still have sterilized items?
Thanks for explaining these. I sort of knew how, but needed it explained one. more. time.
Mary Lee says
Have a double batch in the pressure canner right now. Later this week I plan to make the pressure canned stew. I shopped at a Save a Lot store for the first time for these ingredients and for the stew ingredients because eye of round roast was 3.75 a pound! Was able to get everything I needed for this double batch and the stew for around 35 dollars! Will be great just heating up a jar this winter. Mavis could you please post more pressure canned meals!
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m working on it Mary. 🙂