I didn’t plan to make a video about canning collards with seasoning meat, but when I started making this batch of collards to make use of what’s coming out of my garden, I decided it was a great time to answer a viewer request. Initially, this was just going to be about cooking collards with a DIFFERENT meat than I normally use for seasoning. Typically I use streak of lean (salt pork) or ham hocks, but this time I decided to try using side meat.
The flavor of the broth from the side meat is good, but I did have to add salt, whereas when I use ham hocks or streak of lean, I typically don’t need to add salt.
While I didn’t intentionally add the meat that I used in this video to the jars, you would use the same process if you were using a better meat (like ham hocks or streak of lean) — assuming you are using quart jars! The processing time is the same for collard greens AND meats so 90 minutes per jar. If you wanted to add meat to pint jars, you’d need to process them for 75 minutes instead of the 70 minutes that you would typically process collard greens.
Here is the guidance from the National Center for Home Food Preservation about canning “Spinach and other greens”: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/spinach_greens.html
I do have two other videos about COOKING collards eastern NC style. We typically cook collards and make corn meal dumplings (and often potatoes) to go with them. DELICIOUS! And it can be a meal all on its own.
Here are my other collard cooking videos:
How to make collards with corn meal dumplings and potatoes
How to make eastern NC style collards and corn meal dumplings (the first ever video on this channel from May 2020!)
Here is an affiliate link to the PRESTO REGULATOR I use with my Presto Pressure Canner. https://amzn.to/3QdmBHy
If you have a hard time finding ham hocks where you live, you can the same brand that I buy right here: https://danlbooneham.com/our-products.php
Like canning recipes? Find more here!