Canning Albacore

Yeah, double that weight per fish and even with only 4 I could see maybe trying my hand at canning a batch.  Though for just one batch's worth I'd have to see if someone had a canner I could borrow.

I used wide mouth half pints, the 16 qt canner only took 7 cans so I carefully stacked them (without a rack, but making sure the upper ones were resign on the rings of the ones below, not the lids. This allowed me to do all 18 in one shot. Not sure if I was just lucky or if getting 100% yield with no breakage or unsealed units is normal but I'm pretty pleased with it all. It does take some time but I watched a bunch of Scrubs on Netflix and also cleaned my yak so it wasn't bad. Cleanup was tedious but it was getting late. Next time I'll start earlier.

Did you do that in 2 or 3 layers?

Did you happen to look at the 23qt Presto canner when you got the 16qt?  I'm curious if it's the same diameter only taller, or larger diameter but same height, or some combination of taller/wider.

You mentioned that the fish looked better before canning.  Anyone have suggestions on how to maintain appearance without compromising flavors?  Maybe a little lemon juice or vinegar?

I had read the 23 qt was too heavy fully loaded and would take even longer to heat and cool down. I'm very happy with the 16 qt. I went 3 layers and had room for 20 wide mouth half pints. I didn't use a rack between layers and had no leaks or breakage.

Each jar makes about four tuna salad sandwiches. I added some Jonny's Seasoning Salt and a little pickle relish and mayo to mine and it was awesome.


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Did you have enough vertical clearance to have still done 3 layers if you'd put the rack between each layer?

We wound up with only 2 fish each.  They were good size, probably low 20's average weight.  Don't know that I'll bother canning any.  Might experiment with a couple loins if I can find a pressure canner to borrow.

Congrats! Where'd you fish, which boat?

I think your fish were much larger than mine, how much does your average fillet weigh. Mine were about 20 oz. and I canned 8 to make 18 half pints.


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I don't have a scale, so I can't be certain, but if felt like around 25lbs total meat, so around 12lbs average per fish.  I'd put the error band at +-3lbs per fish.  The deck hand wasted virtually no meat.  I got the belly meat along with the loins.

Went out of Westport with Mark Coleman.  He certainly worked hard for the fish.  We stayed out probably half an hour longer trying for one last troll fish and/or bait stop, but no joy.

Got 4 of the 11 total fish on the troll.  The other 7 came in on live bait from a single bait stop.  One guy didn't really want his meat so he took just 1 fish and I think gave that his buddy.  The remaining 5 of us split the other 10 fish evenly.

Any of you guys ever try canning tuna in 1/4 pint jars?  I can easily eat the contents of a half pint jar (about 8oz vs the 6oz in commercial tuna cans), but if I ever catch enough tuna to justify canning there's folks I'd like to give some to (e.g. my MIL) that wouldn't be able to justify opening a 1/2 pint jar due to likely waste of some of the meat, but could with a 1/4 pint jar.

We have a number of 1/4 pint jars that my wife bought for freezer preserved baby food.  Before I try this I wanted to see if anyone thought of a reason it wouldn't translate well enough.  Would I need to adjust cooking times?

I'm no expert but I don't see any reason you couldn't use 1/4 pt jars. I would not change the time.


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You could also just put a little less tuna in the jar

No tuna will not fit in 1/4 pint jars
.... they are too big.

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You could also just put a little less tuna in the jar

Wouldn't that leave too much air space?  I know you need some head space, but there's a limit to how much is desirable, no?

No tuna will not fit in 1/4 pint jars
.... they are too big.

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I think you forgot the /sarc tag.

I think you forgot the /sarc tag.

I feel it is too redundant to attach that to all my posts ......

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I think you forgot the /sarc tag.

I feel it is too redundant to attach that to all my posts ......

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True ...

I can all my tuna in 1/4 pint jars--just leave the usual head space and do it for the regular time(I do it for 90 minutes)--works great.
T2