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