Home canned Leek and Potato Soup

If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times, hands down this my favorite thing that I can up in my kitchen!

It is so versatile. I truly put it in everything. It doesn’t matter how many quarts I stock the shelves with it is never enough.

A while back I noticed I only had 2 quarts left of leek and potato soup so it was time to make more.

Start by washing and cutting up:

3 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes

2 heads of celery

6-12 leeks ( I only use the white and transitional green bits of the leek)

To reduce the starch from the potatoes soak them overnight in cold water, changing the water every few hours.

Bring the celery, potatoes and leeks to a boil in a large pot filled with water. I use a 13qt pan.

Cook until everything is tender. At this point you may choose to add salt and pepper if desired. I usually don’t season.

I will use my emersion blender and blend it together.

Now it’s time to can!

You will need clean hot jars, lids rings and a pressure canner.

Fill your pressure canner with the required amount of water (typically around 3 qts). I always add cream of tartar about 1/4 tsp. Then start warming the water.

Fill hot clean jars with hot soup, leaving a 1 inch of headspace (1 inch from the top of the jar).

Wipe the rims of the jars with vinegar to make sure they are clean and will enable a good seal.

Now, I know that flats made today don’t require boiling according to the box but I still like to bring mine to a boil.

Place your jars in the pressure canner and secure the lid.

Then you wait for the canner to vent, this is when a steady stream of steam is escaping the vent. It should vent for 10 min before applying a weight or a vent plug if you have a dial canner.

For where I live I need 10 lbs of pressure with a rocking weighted gage or 11 lbs of pressure will a dial gage. The amount of pressure required is based on altitude.

Once the desired pressure has be achieved we begin the processing time in this case 45 minutes.

After 45 mins we turn off the heat and wait for the pressure to naturally release. When the pressure is back to zero. Open the lid and remove the jars to a towel covered resting place and listen for every canners favorite sound the “Ping”!

Jars should sit for 12 hours, any jars the failed to seal should be refrigerated or reprocessed.