Pressure Canning

I gave up my fears and ordered a pressure canner! Presto, 23 qt. It holds 20 pint jars, and the directions online say it can be used as a water bath canner. My current water bath canner only holds 7 pints, so this would be a saving on that too!

I will be looking into pressure canner receipes that are safe for a beginer.

Jo

camprn wrote:Pressure isn't just for canning it's good for cooking too. Pressure Cooking

This is not an endorsement of any particular product.

I pressure cooking!

You know, JC penny has a 'pressure cooker' on sale most months for right at $20 dollars that is more meal size, 5 or 8 qts. Is that a good size/price for meal cooking?

Jo

I found a free e-book about canning on the Barnes & Noble website a few days ago...so I downloaded it to get an overview of what's involved in canning before I decide if I'm going to try more than water-bath canning this year. I definitely want to can tomatoes in several forms...sauce, whole, diced, in salsa...if I can keep my tomatoes going! I keep finding problems with them.

the best and easiest to follow book I have seen on canning is the Ball Blue Book

littlejo wrote:I gave up my fears and ordered a pressure canner! Presto, 23 qt. It holds 20 pint jars, and the directions online say it can be used as a water bath canner. My current water bath canner only holds 7 pints, so this would be a saving on that too!

I will be looking into pressure canner receipes that are safe for a beginer.

Jo

If your canner does not come with the weights, you very much want to buy them. The dial is nice, but often inaccurate and needs calibration every year. Your local extension office should be able to calibrate it for you for free/cheap though. The weights stay the same year after year after year. http://www.amazon.com/Presto-Pressure-Canner-Regulator/dp/B000HMBVQ8/ref=pd_sim_k_1 is the one my 16 quart canner uses, but it fits a lot of models. The other plus of the weights is so much less baby sitting of the pot. You can hear it jiggle and move to adjust the heat if it gets too fast or too slow, but otherwise you can be prepping the next batch or enjoying some cold lemonade while it works. With the dial you have to look at it every few minutes to make sure it is maintaining the correct pressure.

As far as safe recipes, anything from the National Center for Food Preservation or the Ball Blue book are perfectly safe. Meat will seem more intimidating at first, but as long as you follow the directions exactly, all is well. Don't use random web recipes...that is asking for trouble IMO.

Well, I'm not to the recipes stage but I planned on getting the Ball Blue Book since my MIL suggested it.

My issue right now is deciding which pressure canner to buy; I want something that will last a long time, will work reliably, and will do both pressure and water bath canning; space is an issue in our kitchen. I currently have a ceramic cooktop, but hope to get a gas stove whenever we get up funding to renovate the kitchen...and I read that some canners won't work on ceramic.

Feedback? Suggestions?

There's nothing wrong with used pressure pots, if you can find one.

A lot of folks do their canning outside. I have two of these propane burners set up for canning outside, and they're handy for when the power goes out, too.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_15490_15490

Because of ceremic top stove, I used the side burner on the gas grill for waterbaths on jelly. I've never canned anything else.

Kay

walshevak wrote:Because of ceremic top stove, I used the side burner on the gas grill for waterbaths on jelly. I've never canned anything else.

Kay

Brilliant! I too have a ceremic stove top; however, we just got a grill with a side burner - now I am able to can outside without heating up the un-airconditioned house this summer. Thanks for the idea!!

boffer wrote:There's nothing wrong with used pressure pots, if you can find one.

Oh, I'm not at all averse to buying used...I'm just worried that around here a used one would be harder to find than a sugar maple. If only I could talk my MIL into letting me have hers! She's not gardening any more, too busy taking care of her fiance.

boffer wrote:A lot of folks do their canning outside. I have two of these propane
burners set up for canning outside, and they're handy for when the power
goes out, too.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_15490_15490

Now that's a novel concept; do the canning outside to save on A/C costs! I'm sure that buying one of those would pay for itself in lower A/C costs pretty quickly. I'll have to do it at night when temps get down to the 70s, and do it in the screened porch to stay away from the mosquitoes, otherwise I'd never be able to stand it. But all the cutting, blending and pureeing could be done inside.

Thanks for the tips!!!

Pressure canning guide.
http://extension.usu.edu/utah/files/uploads/Canning/Guide%204%20-%20Canning%20Vegetable%20and%20Vegetable%20Products.pdf

I need to get me a pressure canner!

I love great opportunities like this