How to Can Salmon

Canning food can ensure you have all your favorite foods available all year-round. If you have a good day fishing and catch a lot of salmon, you don't have to eat all of it right way. Simply canning it is a good way to save it so you don't have to eat it every day. Follow these steps and you can enjoy delicious salmon whenever you want.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• 1 tsp. Morton's salt
• 1 tsp. Brown sugar
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• Smoker
• Clean glass jars with lids
• Salted pork fatback
• Tongs
• Pressure canner

1. Brine the fish overnight. Cover the salmon with 1 tsp. of salt and 1 tsp. of brown sugar. Rinse the fish off before you smoke it.
2. Cut the salmon into small pieces and scale it. Leaving the skin but removing the scales ensures that your salmon will stay moist throughout the canning process.
3. Smoke the fish for two hours. Place the firebox off to the side so you're using cold smoke. The temperature of the smoker should be about 100 degrees.
4. Clean the glass jars you're using to can the fish. Boil the lids for at least 15 minutes before beginning the canning process.
5. Put the salmon into the jars with a chunk of salted pork fatback, sized about 1 inch by 1 inch. Leave about a half an inch of space at the top of the jar.
6. Clean the outside edges of the jars after you've placed the fish inside. Use a clean rag and very hot water. You don't want any errant fish pieces contaminating the outside of the jar.
7. Use tongs to grab a lid out of the boiling water. Screw the lid onto the jar as tightly as you can.
8. Put all of your jars of canned salmon into your pressure canner. Pour half an inch of water into the pressure canner as well. Apply 15 lb. of pressure for about an hour and a half. Remove the pressure canner from the heat and let the jars cool for 10 minutes.