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CANNING CHEESE (Kathy in FL)
- 1 (3 0z.) can evaporated milk
- 1 T. vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. salt 1 lb. Velveeta cheese or any processed cheese
- 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
Melt milk and cheese in double boiler. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Fill pint jars about 3/4 full and seal. Place in Boiling Water bath for 10 minutes. These instructions yield a product that is similar to Cheese Whiz.
CHEESE, PRESERVATION (Kathy in FL)
Remove any wrapping from the cheese. Melt the paraffin in an old pan. Dip the cheese in the melted stuff or get a paint brush and paint the paraffin on the cheese. Allow the paraffin to dry completely, and dip again. After about 4 coats of paraffin, you may add a layer of cheese cloth for extra protection. Continue dipping and drying until the paraffin has formed a smooth, thick, bubble free surface. Store cheeses that have been coated in paraffin in the coolest spot you can find, as in a cellar or unheated room. Cheeses that have been stored this way will last a very long time, almost indefinitely. If the paraffin ever gets a crack or blister, re-coat it with melted paraffin.
Dehydrating Hamburger (Kim)
Buy the leanest ground beef you can find/afford. Cook it gently til just browned. You want pieces that are no larger than about 1 inch or so, but don’t mash it up too fine. Some people will cook their hamburger with onion, garlic etc but I never do. Drain off as much grease as possible. I usually balance a colander over a large bowl, spoon the cooked hamburger into the colander, then use paper towels to gently squeeze out and absorb the grease. Getting the grease out is important, as grease left in the meat can cause it to go rancid… you won’t ever get it all out, just get as much as possible out. I am lucky to have an Excalibur food dehydrator, so I spread it out with a layer of paper towels on the trays to further absorb grease, then set it at 125 degrees for 6–9 hours (drying time depends on humidity). It is done when just hard. If you dry it for TOO long it will develop a kind of flat, burnt taste, and look almost black, so check it fairly often towards the end. Once dried just pour into clean glass jars and seal with a pump-n-seal or use O2 absorbers. Keeps fine on the shelf in a cool dark place up to 2 years. Also great for use in chili, hamburger helper, sloppy joes, anything like that where you’d use cooked hamburger. It will be much more flavorful if instead of pre-soaking it in plain water that you add whatever sauce/spices you’ll be using in the dish so it can really soak into the meat. Even with pre-soaking it will take about 30 minutes of simmering to get completely tender.
You can also rinse the grease off the meat with hot water from the tap while the meat is in the colander. It works very well, then squeeze the excess moisture out. I do this for taco meat and spagetti sauce meat (Thordawggy).