As you would know, CrazyMe…but others may not, there are a lot of rules to follow for safe home canning. The Ball Blue Book is stellar. Not every ‘recipe’ is safe. Grma’s recipes might not be safe if we are not using [for instance] the very acid tomatoes she used to grow in her garden. These days, we might have to add vinegar to account for that difference.
County Extension Offices are usually very good at giving out safe information. Many have classes to take so you can be more confident of staying within the safety guidelines. Or learn with someone you know is extra-cautious as a personality trait. You are right to be cautious. Yet you obviously learned the safety rules for fruits/veggies. Do you pressure can low-acid veggies?
Hint for anyone not familiar with pressure canning rules. One rule is: Don’t combine starch foods [potatoes, noodles, rice, etc] with any other pressure canning foods. The density is changed and the recipe will be altered. The heat does not penetrate to the innermost parts of dense starch foods as fast as other types of foods in the jar…AND the starch breaks down causing thickening of the liquids…thus requiring more heating time. Or is it pressure?
Example: if starch foods are added to make beef stew with potatoes…you’d be processing for the density of the potatoes and not get as good a quality in the other foods. Better to can the potatoes separately and open 2 jars to combine when you will eat the beef stew.
Disclaimer: I’ve heard all the very important rules but am not an expert canner. Please do check with reputable sources that are careful of such details. This is just to give anyone new to pressure canning an idea of what there is to learn.
OldMtWoman