Discover the best Methods and Retort Time Tables for Home Retort in Pouches

 CHEFTALK

Discover the best methods for home retort in pouches

The best time of the year to start your retort activities is here. Products are in abundance and at its lowest prices. Time therefore to get started.

Several request for a chart of retort times for various products has prompted us to publish information about retort times for pouch retort.

Pouch retort has a significant advantage over retort in cans and jars for quality and convenience reasons. Pouch retort times are 10% to 25% higher than can or jar retort, moist content in finished pouch retort products have been proven to be 10% to 15% higher compared to can and jar retort. Overall quality and consumer acceptance of pouch retort products have been found to be of higher levels during sensory evaluation tests.

In addition are retort pouches environmental friendlier, take up less storage space and are easy to purchase compared to cans and jars. www.vacupack.com  for USA and www.vacupack.ca for Canada.

Starting the retort process

Storage Saver

Pre-preparing products for retort is the key to a good finished product. Ensure all working surfaces and utensils are clean. The products to be retorted must be as fresh as possible. When food is pre-cooked before the retort process ensure that is has cooled down preferably to refrigeration temperatures prior to retorting.

Ensure that sharp objects (bones) that may be present in food are removed or positioned such that they pose no danger to damaging the pouches.

Preparing your pressure canner

You will need 2 quarts of water in your pressure cooker for all retort products.

Pressure and retort times are important, pressure and times given below are meant for an altitude of 2000 ft or less, if you happen to live at an higher altitude you need to apply one (1) pound of pressure  for each additional 2000 ft. The cooking times remain the same!

Retort & Vacuum Sealing
The retort canning bags must be vacuum sealed before attempting to can.  The air evacuation keeps the bags from blowing out the side seams while canning.  A commercial chamber vacuum sealer with retort capability is required.  http://vacupack.com/commercial-vacuum-sealers-packers

Meat:

For all beef, poultry, pork, lamb, veal, venison, other game meat, (four legged or birds), offal’s (liver, heart, tongue) raw or pre-cooked (stews, boiled meats, sausages, cold cuts), follow the guide below: This is a personal guide, the official time and temperatures have not been published by the FDA. Can at your own risk. 

Meats can be pre-prepared seasoned or marinated before retort, ensure to allow cooling before retort.

Pressure Pounds:	½ pt< = (2 or 4 oz retort)	pint = (8 oz retort)	Quart = (16 oz retort)
Canner Pressure 10 LBS	65 min.	75 min.	90 min.

       

This pressure and timing guide ensures that you have reached a core temperature of 121 Celsius or 249.8 F at the coldest point inside the product as per the schematic picture below for the time period necessary to eliminate all contaminating bacteria including their spores.

           Solids only                               with liquid content

Seafood:

Retort times for different types of seafood vary even though the pressure remains consistent with meat retort at 10 Lbs.

Seafood can be seasoned and fried before retort to add extra flavor. Do not cook the product all the way through, the retort process takes care of that. Add sauce or other additives e.g. herbs and spices to the pouch to your liking. 

Pressure pounds:	½ pt< = (2 or 4 oz retort)	pint = (8 oz retort)	Quart = (16 oz retort)
Canner pressure 10 LBS
Clams and oysters	85 min	95 min	110 min
Crab meat	95 min	105 min	120 min
Fish (General)	100 min	110 min	125 min
Lobster	100 min	110 min	125 min
Salmon	110 mi	120 min	130 min
Shrimp (wet pack)	60 min	75 min	100 min
Shrimp (dry pack)	110 min	120min	130 min
Tuna	110 min	120 min	140 min

                                                   

Vegetables

Vegetable retort times vary quite significant based on the nature of the vegetable (hard, semi-hard or soft) the guide below is based on raw vegetables. Season before retort, salt serves as a preservative and flavor.

Pressure pounds:	½ pt< = (2 or 4 oz retort)	pint = (8 oz retort)	Quart = (16 oz retort)
Canner Pressure 10 LBS
Asparagus	20 min	25 min	55 min
Baked Beans	75 min	85 min	90 min
Beans, Lima	40 min	45 min	60 min
Beans, Snap	25 min	30 min	35 min
Beets, baby	30 min	35 min	55 min
Carrots, young	20 min	25 min	30 min
Corn, whole kernel	60 min	65 min	85 min
Corn on the cob	60 min	65 min	75 min
Eggplant	35 min	40 min	45 min
Greens, all kinds	60 min	60 min	70 min
Kohlrabi	30 min	35 min	40 min
Okra	25 min	30 min	45 min
Parsnip, turnips	30 min	30 min	35 min
Peas, green	30 min	30 min	N.A.
Peas, Black eyed	30 min	30 min	N.A.
Peppers, Pimento	10 min	10 min	N.A.
Pumpkin, smashed	75 min	75 min	90 min
Summer squash, Zucchini	20 min	35 min	40 min
Squash, winter (cubed)	50 min	55 min	90 min
Succotash	60 min	75 min	90 min
Sweet potatoes	75 min	90 min	90 min
Tomatoes	10 min	10 min	10 min

        

Fruits  

Use fruits that are on their peak of quality.

Do not use over ripe fruits and retort only as much as you can handle during the period of time you spent on canning.

Clean the fruits thoroughly by rinsing to remove any dirt and/or chemicals present on the fruits, dirt contains some of the bacteria that are very hard to kill. Do not soak fruits for a very long time as this result in loss of nutrients and flavor.

Except for berries, all regular fruits can be processed under a pressure of 5 LBS for 10 minutes.

Berries and blended fruits e.g apple sauce can be processed using 5 LBS for 8 minutes.   

Syrup may be added to the fruits and below is a guide how to balance sugar syrup.

Light syrup	2 cups sugar	4 cups water	yield    5 cups
Medium syrup	3 cups sugar	4 cups water	yield    5 ½  cups
Heavy syrup	3 ¾  cups sugar	4 cups water	yield    6 ½  cups

No scientific data from FDA or USDA is available on home canning and the above information is a guide only and no authorized data.  

PMG holds no responsibility for misuse of the information provided and is void of any liability. Home canning is at your own risk.

For PMG by: Marinus Hoogendoorn 

Retort Canning and the Scientific Information.

Retort Canning, there is no official scientific information for home users by the FDA or USDA.  The scientific information is for commercial users using an autoclave.  A home canner is not rated for commercial use.   Can at your own risk.

In the past articles we have talked about canning in retort pouches for meals with meats, such as chicken, fish or red meat.  We have expressed our own personal experiences and those of our commercial clients.
We have heard from several people and read on several blogs some new and very false information.

1) The suggestions of using less temperature due to the retorts being a thin package.
          This is false. The need to pack the bags snugly in the canner creates a mass that must be heated though out to kill all bacteria.  The bacteria only dies when proper temperature is reached for an extended period of time. 

2)  The suggestion of using less time due to the retorts being a thin package.
           This is false. The mass created by packing the bags snugly to avoid blow outs requires more time to ensure the center of the canned product reaches the proper temperature.  We suggest no less than 30% longer time than suggested home canning guidelines.   Example a 60 minute can would require 90 minutes in retorts to be safe.  Again there is no scientific data on this example. 

3) We have read where non retorts such as mylar type bags are being used.
           This is suggested as a less expensive option.  Retorts are specifically designed with special air barrier properties, they are non toxic. Mylar does not have the air barrier properties nor is the toxicity rated for canning. Mylar is a polyester product not suitable for food and heat.    Any reseller selling bags that are not the standard FDA Gold Retort bag, should display the retort bag manufacturer specs proving their bags are actually retort not just a food package.   A reseller will gladly have this information posted for customers. Beware if you do not see this information clearly posted. 

4) Many non vacuum packaging companies are suggesting not to vacuum seal.
     All retorts on a commercial basis are vacuum sealed.  Either by a standard chamber unit or a roll stock unit. To achieve 100% successful retort canning, the bags are vacuum sealed.  Leaving the air in the bags as the product boils the side seams will give way and leak.  Also with air left in the bag it is extremely hard to see if the product inside has gone bad.  

We would like to express the extreme dangers of some of these suggestions.   We use 30% more time than the home canning instructions to ensure the entire mass is completely heated though out. Using standard home canning heat instructions never less than 10lbs. We have used these instructions ourselves with great success.  However there is no scientific information about retort canning and we are only expressing our own experiences.  Until the scientific research has been completed you are canning retorts at your own risk.

We have been contacted by Dr. Elizabeth Andress with her concerns about retort canning and the non scientific information.  Although hundreds of people have used retorts for their canning and it is widely used in the commercial industry.  There is no laboratory scientific information to give exact time and temperatures especially for meats.  

Dr. Andress wrote the book for USDA for home canning.  We are excited to work with her in the near future.  We look forward to her scientific research to publish her next canning book, using retort pouches.

We encourage all to be safe, use longer times, and no less than 10 lbs of pressure on non acid food such as any meat of fish product.  If the bag is open do not eat and please discard it.   If the bag expands like a balloon while in storage do not open or eat.  Always reheat any home canned foods before eating to ensure bacterial has been destroyed.

We have enclosed Dr. Andress information as she is the USDA expert on home canning. Dr. Andress has not given any suggestions on proper canning of retorts and at this point does not condone the use of retorts in home canning.  But rather is concerned about the misinformation or lack of information being posted.   We hope to be able to post scientific guidelines very soon.

----------------------------------------------

Elizabeth L. Andress, Ph.D.Professor and Extension Food Safety Specialist

University of Georgia

208 Hoke Smith Annex

Athens, GA  30602-4356

web:  www.homefoodpreservation.com

web:  www.gafamilies.net

PMG VacUpack 

www.vacupack.com

1-800-227-3769  

Small Batch Retort Canning

Over the summer our little garden only produces a few tomatos, beets, carrots, and so on a day.  After we eat what we want for that day. There is never really enough left at one time to can an entire batch of sauce but far to much to consume right then. 

We use our vacuum packer to vacuum pack and freeze these small batches daily.  Then at the end of the summer when the garden is done we remove the frozen tomatos, cook them down, cool in the fridge, then retort vacuum seal and can them. 

We never waste from the garden this way and make easy work for canning retorts for a full canner batch. Then it becomes food storage for the winter months. All from our own garden or collected from the local Farmers Market. 

Here is some pictures of our Tomatillos this past summer. The picture shows them frozen just out of the freezer thus the frosty white look.

After we thaw the frozen tomatillo tomatos we will cook them down, add seasoning and cool the batch completely.  When the sauce has cooled we are able to put 16oz of the sauce in an 8oz pouch *remember retorts hold more liquids than solids*

They were then vacuum sealed in our Sammic 204T  then canned it at 10lbs of pressure for 45 minutes.  We want to make sure we start everything off cold so the entire mass comes up to heat at the same time.  We added 20 minutes to this process to make sure all bags were evenly cooked. 

This is the finished bags after they cooled to zero pressure for 30 plus minutes.  When we opened the canner the bags were still very hot but not so hot that they pushed out of the canner.  We put the hot bags in a sink of ice water. This process instantly shrinks up the retort bags and lets us see leaking bags easier.

We now have 16oz bags of Tomatillo tomatos to use in recipes until next year. 

Retort Bags vs Mylar for Canning

How does one know if they are buying actual retort bags designed for canning or Mylar bags not designed for canning? 

Although big companies have retort bags made in any size, color, shape they desire.  For those of us buying just the few hundred for our own personal use, there really is only one bag consistently on the market you can be sure is designed for retort canning.    The bag has this writing on it. It is gold and comes in 2oz, 4oz, 8oz, and 16oz no gusset, a basic flat pouch.

All other products you should ask for the specs from the seller.  There are many sellers now a days pushing foil bags in all types and colors as retort.  The concern here is chemicals in the bags that will be released with the extreme heat.  Retorts are BPA and chemical free.  Also the air barrier properties of the bag will most likely be far less than that of retort pouches thus lessening the storage time and increasing the spoilage ratio. 

Be careful when you buy if the bags do not have this FDA printing. Ask for the exact specs and information certifying it as a retort canning bag before using it. 

Retort Canning of non acid foods has NO Scientific data from the FDA or USDA for the home canner. Can at your own risk! We are expressing our experiences but by no way are these experiences authorized data.