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Photo Teunie at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Bottled moose
Putting up moose in glass jars the safe way, with a pressure canner, so it keeps on the shelf all year.
What you need
- A pressure canner in good order, its gauge and its seal checked
- Glass canning jars made for it, with new lids and good rings
- Lean moose meat cut in cubes, with the fat and gristle trimmed off
- Salt, if you want it
- A jar lifter, a funnel, a clean cloth and a timer
- A tested canning guide that gives the time and the pressure for meat
How
- Start with meat that was cooled fast and kept clean. See Hanging and cooling meat.
- Wash the jars and keep them hot. Check every rim for chips.
- Pack the raw meat loosely in the jars, leaving the headspace the guide gives.
- Add salt if you like it. No water is needed for raw packed meat. It makes its own juice.
- Wipe every rim clean of fat, put on the lids and do up the rings finger tight.
- Set the jars in the canner with the water the maker calls for, and let steam vent for ten minutes before you close the vent.
- Bring it up to pressure and hold it there for the full time in the guide. Start timing only once it is at pressure.
- Let the canner come down on its own. Do not rush it.
- Lift the jars out, let them cool for a day, then check that every lid has sealed down.
Do and don't
Do
- Follow a tested guide to the minute and to the pound.
- Raise the pressure for your height above sea level, as the guide says.
- Label every jar with what is in it and the date.
Don't
- Do not bottle meat in a boiling water bath. Only a pressure canner gets hot enough.
- Do not open the canner while there is any pressure left in it.
- Do not make up your own times, or skip steps from an old family recipe.
Watch for
Danger
- Botulism can grow in sealed jars of meat that were not processed right. You cannot see, smell or taste it, and it can kill.
- Throw out any jar with a bulging lid, a broken seal, spurting liquid or a bad smell. Do not taste it to check.
- A jar that did not seal goes in the fridge and is eaten within a few days, or is processed again within a day.
Notes
Bottled moose is a Newfoundland staple, and a shelf of it gets a cabin through the winter with no freezer.
Most guides say home canned food is best eaten within a year. Keep the jars somewhere cool, dark and dry, up off the floor.
Updated 2026-09-28
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