The Great Challenge - Your Fears Pressure-Can-Along

Thanks for the compliments, all! It was a ton of work but worth it.

CC, at first I thought I had poor germination also, but then I realized it was the slugs that were to blame. They were gobbling up the poor seedlings before they had a chance. i only ended up with the ones I have because I practically drowned them in DE every couple of days until they were tall enough to fend for themselves. That and I spent what felt like months hand picking slugs twice a day until their numbers were down significantly. I probably should go back to picking before they get out of hand again.

AM, I like the tattler lids very much. They take some getting used to, but I really like the reusable factor.

Sanderson & kauairosina, LM & johnp, and any others even remotely interested, it's not at all difficult once you get over the initial trepidation...hint-hint...

Molly, wonderful first try.  I am really, really, thinking about it as my freezer is full and I generally do quite a bit of dehydrating but it would be good to have another method of storage.

I love all the encouragement we give to each other.

I bought some small and wide Tattler lids in anticipation of canning - over a year ago!

Kelejan wrote:I love all the encouragement we give to each other.

ME too!

This afternoon I came home and found the canner/pressure cooker I had on order had arrived, so now I will soon be ONE OF YOU!

So far I have opened the box, read the manual, looked at some of the recipes and decided on apple sauce for starters as I have pounds of apples ready to process, washed the parts, and tomorrow morning I will go through that water stage, then try canning one item just like Molly  did.

But I have to go and buy some tongs first thing in the morning.

KJ, I'm so excited for you. Applesauce is perfect with your abundance of apples. Take a photo of your jars.

I actually did something yesterday w/ my pressure cooker/canner that I haven't done before:  I COOKED in it.

We've got a freezer full of meat - a bunch being some chicken from friends who raise them.  Didn't brine them enough after slaughter, so they are pretty tough.

But the pressure cooking made them nice & tender!

Cooking red beans & rice & gumbo tomorrow with that chicken!

Kelejan wrote:This afternoon I came home and found the canner/pressure cooker I had on order had arrived, so now I will soon be ONE OF YOU!

So far I have opened the box, read the manual, looked at some of the recipes and decided on apple sauce for starters as I have pounds of apples ready to process, washed the parts, and tomorrow morning I will go through that water stage, then try canning one item just like Molly  did.

But I have to go and buy some tongs first thing in the morning.

That's wonderful! What brand/model canner did you get?

Hi Molly: It is a Power Pressure Cooker XL that can do canning.

I an just now using it for the first time and pressure heating water as per the instructions.

My trouble at the moment is Pressure Valve Warning: where I think the instructions are not quite clear to me.

As follows:

The picture shows two pictures of the valve: one in the RELEASE position and the second in the CLOSE position.

The instruction read: Avoid serious injury.  Carefully slide the Rapid Release Button forward in short bursts at first.  After initial short bursts, leave the button in the
forward position  until all pressure has escaped and the digital pressure indicator does not register.

My problem is; does Forward mean push away from me or pull towards me?
I am assuming that close means the pressure is held and that release means pressure is escaping?  If I have it wrong then of course the contents will not be processed properly.

EDITED TO ADD:  I think I have it now.  I just have to substitute the word RELEASE for the words, in the forward position, then I should be OK.

Kelejan, good for you on starting this new canning hobby!  Don't forget to try the cooking freature also.  Like Marie, once I tried pressure cooking there was no going back.  It's amazing!  I even bought the book "Pressure Cooking for Dummies" after borrowing it from the library.

Also, when it doubt, call the # in the manual and ask.  The customer service at Fagor (my canner/cooker brand) were extremely helpful.  Hopefully all brands offer the same level of customer service.

I just looked at the link you provided above  for you cooker and I don't see anything about canning.  What makes you think it's a canner?

CC

CC, 'cause it give instructions for canning in addition to pressure cooking.  

I haven't had much progress today as we have had a two-hour power outage. I went out to buy some tongs and found all the stores in the city closed.  Could not even go in and look for what I wanted.

Also I have found this canner/pressure cooker cannot take the size jars I have been collecting; I realized that the jars are too high and the lid will not fit and they are 20oz jars . The manual says 16oz canning jars so I will have to find some.  Sigh!

Aw, that stinks.  Oh well, once you have the correct size jars you'll always have them.  Until then, how about pressure cooking some of those yummy sounding BBQ ribs or chicken from the web site and inviting us over.  I'll bring the green beans & onions.  

CC

sanderson wrote:Marc,  

Molly,  We made a run to the Farmer's Market but didn't have time to buy decent culls for canning.  Just distribute the buckets and collect them when full.  Maybe next Sat morning Vineyard Market.  One guy sells slightly bruised at 1/2 price around 11 am.  But I'm wishing you the best and looking forward to your photos.

Just back from a few more days of rain called a holiday.

I would say along with all the official canning centres of information that you only pressure can or hot water bath preserve the best pristine fruit , veg ,fish ,flesh or fowl  .


 Doing it with damaged substandard  produce puts you at a disadvantage right from square one wrt keeping & appearance  qualities let alone entertaining  the possibility of actually pressure canning some toxins from substandard produce..

Keenan, you might find it helpful to go to Amazon.com and read the reviews. A bunch of folks have complained about the poorly written instructions and there may be some helpful hints from other owners. I do have a question, though. Something in one of the reviews mentioned steam canning. Do the instructions for your model mention steam canning or pressure canning?

Plantoid, good point about using produce that's hale. I had forgotten about that recommendation. Thanks for the reminder!

One must remember that the item was made in China and no doubt that the instructions were translated into English.  In addition, when you know how to use something it is easy to miss something that would mean nothing to someone who had never done canning before. 

Now I have been through the process (I did eight small  jars of apple sauce) I can now see what must be done and it seems quite easy.  All the jars sealed and I cannot get the lids off without a lot of force.

The model I have pressure cans and pressure cooks and pressure steams, but not steam canning. 

Another small criticism is that one needs to go out and purchase tongs and a wired stand.  Those could have been included in the optional extras to buy at the same time if needed. That way I could have done the complete job in one go.

My next job is to locate a supply of the 16oz jars plus more lids and rims; that I will do tomorrow. I am hoping that the 16oz jars are larger than the little ones I have used that I saved from farmers' market sales of jams and that seem to be half the size of the 20oz jars. As a single person now I don't mind smaller jars but it is costly in labour and money to do small quantities.  I do not have an empty small jar to see how much it holds by pouring water into the 20oz to see if it goes in twice over.

EDITED TO ADD:  I have just found a small jar hidden away, and poured nearly four  times the contents into the larger 20oz jar so I am happy about that. That makes my little jars about 6oz each. The farmers' market vendors charge about $4 to $5 each for a jar of jam.  I should save quite a lot if I start making my own jam.

KJ, I'm happy you have joined the pressure canning group. Hopefully, I will soon.

I Noticed this in the advertisement: "Ideal for canning fruits, vegetables & more"

Plantoid, I was thinking of tomatoes for canning (my own produce isn't picture pretty), Annie's Salsa, and maybe fruit for jam.

I still recommend using a tip top crop , not something that a seller suggests is ideal for your needs when they know it it is not top quality .

 Jams ( British style ) most certainly need top quality fruit,  especially if you are not using pure sugar as the preservative

I looked at the info online for Kelejan's pressure cooker/canner.  The FAQs show it's fine for canning.

You can use any pressure canner for water-bath canning.  Just don't seal the lid.  The water needs to cover the jars by AT LEAST an inch, preferably a bit more.

I recommend to my students that they buy the pressure canner first, if money is tight, for just that reason.

AtlantaMarie wrote:I looked at the info online for Kelejan's pressure cooker/canner.  The FAQs show it's fine for canning.

You can use any pressure canner for water-bath canning.  Just don't seal the lid.  The water needs to cover the jars by AT LEAST an inch, preferably a bit more.

I recommend to my students that they buy the pressure canner first, if money is tight, for just that reason.

Marie: my instructions tell me to: Pour hot water over the jars and into the inner pot until the water level reaches 1/4 of the way up the sides of the jars.

I may try my hand at canning dried beans today.

Well, it's after midnight. First canner full was a success. 1 out of 15 did not seal. I'm waiting on the canner to cool so I may unload it.and go to bed
I'll post a photo tomorrow.

Canning beans has got to be one of the most economical saving in canning. A DIL cooks up refried beans and freezes them. Wonder how they would can? Looking forward to your photos.

I honestly wonder -- considering canned beans are so darn cheap.

Well, yes, they are one of the cheaper canned items. But my DIL feeds 6 people, 1 of which is a teen male, and she tries to cook good food, but economically. She is one of the few young (40) women who actually cooks / makes 3 meals a day for everyone. Her 2 year old GD (my GGD) actually helps her prepare food! Bless her heart!

One of the big advantages of home canned things that are dirt cheap in the commercial form is that with home canned stuff you don't get any of the chemical preservatives flavourings or colourings that are added to the commercial stuff and that's got to be making for premium prices and tip top quality .