K-State Research and Extension

Soup is a tasty winter meal. But not all types of soup can be safely canned at home. Here’s some cautions for creamed soup.

• Creamed soups are best preserved by freezing for safety.
• Creamed soups are thickened with flour or other thickeners. These slow the heat transfer through the jar. This could lead to botulism. The safest choice is to add thickening agents when preparing the soup to eat.
• All dairy products are low acid foods and should never be canned. Add these to soups just before serving.
• Noodles, pasta, rice, dumplings, barley, etc. should not be canned. These foods interfere with heat transfer through the jar. Add these just before serving.
• Thickened or creamed tomato soup should not be canned. Instead, can tomato juice, tomato vegetable juice blend, or crushed tomatoes (without added vegetables). When ready to make the tomato soup, add seasoning, vegetables, and thickeners, as desired.

For more information, see http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/soups.html.

So what soups are safe to can you ask? Vegetable soups with or without meat or meat broth may be safely canned using the process time that takes the longest time as an individual ingredient. Most soups will take 60 to 90 minutes to process in a pressure canner depending upon size (pints or quarts) and ingredients. Never can soup in half-gallon containers. Use caution to avoid packing ingredients into the jars. For vegetable soup, fill the jars half full of solids, add broth allowing 1 inch headspace and process in a pressure canner. Space is needed for the hot liquid to circulate between the food particles. Pieces of cooked beef or chicken can be added to the vegetables to make a vegetable meat soup.

Source: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/soups.html