I had a large block of time on Thursday morning.  I decided to use it to deal with some packages of beef soup bones that have been in my freezer for a while.  Every fall, we get beef from a farmer friend of my sister.  Every year, there are packages of beef soup bones.  They were stacking up.  I am determined to make room in my freezers and use things that have been there for a while.

I got out 5 packages marked “soup bones.”  They had varying amounts of meat on them.  Some were quite meaty, some were more bony.  I got out my largest pot and one of my every-day large soup pots.  The large pot stays in the garage, and I only use it when I have a lot of something to preserve.  It makes my normal soup pot look like a dwarf pot:)

I then divided the bones, and filled both pots with water.  I added salt and boiled, then simmered the broth for about 3-4 hours.  A scum rose on top of the broth and bone mixture.  I skimmed it off and fed it to the cats.  In the meanwhile, I washed my jars.

I partially filled the empty jars with extremely hot water, to avoid breaking them.   You do not ever want to put hot liquid into a cold jar.  Then, I put the broth in the jars, put on the lids and screw tops, and put into my pressure canner.  I pressured-canned the broth for 20 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure, following the directions in my brochure from the OSU Extension office.  When done, according to directions, I cooled them on a towel on the counter.

My yield was 7 quarts, and 15 pints of broth.  I also got a large bowl full of beef chunks that I froze for future meals.  Now my freezer is a little emptier, and the broth is in a form where I can use it quickly and easily.