Canning, canners, classes on using them?

[Guest USMC 2013]

If you can, what brand & model do you use? If you could buy another one, or need a new one, which would you buy and why?

Next batch of questions, what do you can? What do you preserve other ways?

Last question, does anyone know of any classes offered around Clarksville teaching how to can? I ask this one because I've seen them offered elsewhere.

I appreciate any and all information. Semper Fi,

Joe

[enfield]

UT offers free info online on canning, as do other universities.

You need a pressure canner for most fruits and veggies, or a water-bath canner for tomatoes, pickles, relishes (high acid foods). You can find both at old-fashioned hardware stores including ACE and TrueValue, and at farmers co-ops.

I've been canning for over 30 years - my mother taught me.

I've canned tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, green beans, corn, squash, beets, pickles, sauerkraut and pickled onions. Frozen corn (removed from the cob) is great frozen for a couple of months, then the flavor falls off. Canned corn remains good for a couple years. In my experience, canning is superior to freezing for almost all fruits and veggies. We still freeze strawberries, blackberries and mushrooms (and all meats).

Edited June 23, 2012 by enfield

[VERO1]

My wife does our canning. Mainly does vegetables from garden. She got her new jumbo pressure cooker from Amazon for a lot less than we could find locally.

[Guest]

I'm new to canning as well but strongly recommend the "Ball guide to preserving."I. Its a book sold next to the canning supplies at walmart. Has lots of pertinent info, ans well as safe recipes and proper tecniques for just about anything you could think of to can. I think it's about $7.

[Dennis1209]

Funny you raised this topic at this time. I've been canning my little fanny off the last two weeks. I have a bumper crop of green beans, peaches and potato's I've been busy doing six quarts at a time. And my 42 tomato plants are not far behind. Good thing I'm retired.

I personally use a Presto 16 quart canner and it does 6 quarts / pints at a time. It suits my needs but had I known I would be canning as much as I am currently, I'd buy a larger commercial canner, because it's a slow process and the more you can "can" at once, the better. (Notice my can can play on words?)

You really don't need to take a class on canning. Everything you ever wanted to know is contained in the little book titled, "Ball Blue Book of Preserving". It's cheap and can be found almost everywhere, just do a Google search.

Well, it's 4:40 A.M. and time to get ready to pick green beans before the heat makes it miserable.

Good luck!

P.S. If you're new to canning, make sure you don't take any short cuts to speed up the process. Every step, time and process is important to ensure food preservation and safety.

[DaveS]

I've heard of too many horror stories involving "pressure cookers". That was years ago, don't know how safe they are now days. I'd love to get one.

[Makiaveli]

I've heard of too many horror stories involving "pressure cookers". That was years ago, don't know how safe they are now days. I'd love to get one.

I learned my lesson long ago. Not sure exactly what or how it happened but my dad opened the lid too early and, in short, no permanent damage to his arms etc, and the lid made a nice dent/hole in the ceiling.

I imagine there have been actual horror stories, but most were likely the result of UFUs.

[DaveS]

Could be, but I may get one.

[Jamie Jackson]

P.S. If you're new to canning, make sure you don't take any short cuts to speed up the process. Every step, time and process is important to ensure food preservation and safety.

Excellent Advice!

I taught myself to pressure can and waterbath can several years ago.

The Ball Bluebook and Growing and Canning Your Own Food by Jackie Clay were immensely helpful. There are multiple forums where folks are very helpful as well...such as Frugal's Forums (there is a sub-section on Canning and Preserving foods there).

I also frequent the National Canter for Home Food Preservation website.

fwiw...We live in suburbia and have multiple raised garden beds.

We've recently put up 17 pints of Bread & Butter limed pickles and 14 quarts of Kosher dills.

We can pretty much anything that can be canned...tomatoes, beans, Swiss Chard, carrots, and lots of various meats.

I recently pressure canned a turkey, several pork loins that were on sale, and 2 hindquarters of venison.

We have 2 chest freezers and use them as transitional storage units...meaning we put items to later be canned into the freezers, then can them when time allows and/or we have enough of a particular item to be canned put back.

Our tomatoes are just starting to ripen, so i picked, dipped (briefly into boiling water to remove skins), chopped and froze 1 1/2 gallon bags of tomatoes yesterday...when I have 6-8 gallon bags of tomatoes in the freezer I'll can them, or make soup mixes and can that.

I also can various "meals in a jar", like chili, or Swedish Meatballs, etc.

I have an All American 930. It's a large unit, but a workhorse.

I do plan on purchasing another unit. It'll be an All American (they don't use gaskets to seal and I'm sure they'll outlast me). Probably a 915 unit as it is smaller and therefore easier for my wife to use.

We also have and use an Excalibur 3900, 9 tray model and use it frequently. we use our dehydrated fruits and vegetables frequently, at least 5-6 times/wk.

We had a bumper crop of bell peppers last year and dehydrated 13 pints of them...that is a lot of bell peppers and should last us for several years.

Dehydrate 2 store has some great info.

I consider canning (both waterbath and pressure canning) an essential skill...just like shooting and reloading.

As long as you understand the process it is definitely safe, and very effective.

Good Luck and you'll be glad you learned these skills.

Edited June 25, 2012 by prag

[peejman]

There's an app for that... http://www.motherearthnews.com/mother-earth-news-apps.aspx

http://www.motherear...zecz11zsmi.aspx

We don't can, though I have a bit of interest in learning how. I helped my parents can stuff when I was a kid and have bad memories of miserably hot, sweaty work. We canned tons of green tomato pickles, which I don't really like anyway. Now I mostly freeze stuff, though canning is a better long term option.

Edited June 25, 2012 by peejman

[Jamie Jackson]

We don't can, though I have a bit of interest in learning how. I helped my parents can stuff when I was a kid and have bad memories of miserably hot, sweaty work. We canned tons of green tomato pickles, which I don't really like anyway. Now I mostly freeze stuff, though canning is a better long term option.

LOL,

Yep it can be hot and sweaty, especially doing waterbath canning indoors.

We picked up a Camp Chef 2 burner propane stove for outdoor canning.

We choose the 2 burner because it's a more stable platform.

And by transitionally storing foods in our freezers, it allows us the option of doing the bulk of our canning when the days a a good bit cooler than what.we're currently experiencing.

I also put a window unit AC in our kitchen and that definitely helps for our indoor canning.

btw, we love pickled green tomatoes. That's some "good eatin'".

[kckndrgn]

I do some canning/preserving.

Jams (strawberry, blackberry, red raspberry, etc.), tomatoes, other garden veggies, even canned some soup.

To those worried about pressure canners/cookers, go get yourself a brand new one. Pay the money upfront, for a good one. They have many safety features in them now, and for a long time. Read and follow the directions, and they will be safe.

We use one of our 3 pressure cookers at least 3 times a month. I had one, a 6QT model, then got 2 more smaller ones from my wife's family. Since the 2 new ones were used, I replaced the seals and gave them a complete inspection before first use. All 3 of mine have the pressure safety device that will not allow you to open the top if it's pressurized. Well, i'm sure you could if you bypassed the safety feature, but why?

I've thought about using the LP burner from our turkey fryer when doing some of my canning, just haven't yet. I like to be in control and near the equipment I'm using for canning, just can't do that with the cooker outside.

As others have said, get the BALL canning book, I have 2 copies myself and read, read read.

Good luck

[gjohnsoniv]

If you want to get a canner and you're near a True Value you can do a ship to store if they don't have one in stock. That way you avoid all the shipping and handling fees. There is a really nice pressure cooker that True Value has but I'll have to look at the ones we have in stock when I go into work tomorrow and I'll pass the name along.

[peejman]

LOL,

Yep it can be hot and sweaty, especially doing waterbath canning indoors.

We picked up a Camp Chef 2 burner propane stove for outdoor canning.

We choose the 2 burner because it's a more stable platform.

And by transitionally storing foods in our freezers, it allows us the option of doing the bulk of our canning when the days a a good bit cooler than what.we're currently experiencing.

I also put a window unit AC in our kitchen and that definitely helps for our indoor canning.

btw, we love pickled green tomatoes. That's some "good eatin'".

Best I recall, the water bath was how we did it. If my wife and I get back into it, I'd likely use the side burner on my grill to keep the heat out of the house. Ironic that you have to have the huge pot of boiling water at the hottest time of the year. I like your method of freezing stuff until later in the year when it's cooler. We're somewhat casually looking for a chest freezer at the moment... need more space.

[monkeylizard]

I did 2 dozen pints of baby carrots yesterday with D3vo and my mom. We used a Presto that held 8 jars at a time. Like others said, follow the directions in the books. It was my first time doing any canning and it was easier, but took longer, than I thought.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

We have a canner which wife knows how to operate. I'm too dumb to operate a pressure canner, washing machine or clothes dryer. On the other hand, after nearly 60 orbits of the sun, to this very day wife never figured out how to hang blinds, operate turbotax, squash a bug, tote heavy objects, dig holes or clean up dog poop.

Anyway last sunday we were driving to visit elderly parents, miracle of miracles we heard an interesting show on NPR! It had to happen sometime. Statistically impossible that NPR could broadcast dull programming into perpetuity. Eventually a million monkeys will randomly type a snippet of Shakespeare. An interview with a fellow who wrote a book about acid fermented food preservation-- Soured milk products and various pickled foods. Maybe wife already knew that stuff but it was news to me. Maybe you guys already know this stuff as well.

The preservation Sandor Katz describes is supposedly good for a year or two, not "up to a decade" as with properly-canned foods. However as best I can tell from the show and book snippet, the method requires minimal energy, wheras pressure canning is fairly energy intensive (to kill bacteria.) The fermentation uses bacteria to preserve the food.

in Sandor Katz' book he quotes Fred Breidt (USDA vegetable fermentation specialist): "There has never been a documented case of foodborne illness from fermented vegetables. Risky is not a word I would use to describe vegetable fermentation."

I'd assumed that dill pickles or sauerkraut had something to do with vinegar (acetic acid) but he describes the process using lactic acid, produced by lactic acid bacteria already present in the fresh veggies. He basically describes adding a certain amount of salt, which he says makes the chemistry more favorable to lactic acid bacteria and less favorable to other kinds of bacteria. Then let the stuff set a few days while the bacteria acidifies the food with lactic acid, making the food a very unfriendly environment for competing bad bacteria. Then when it is "ripe enough to please yer taste buds" stick it in a fridge or cool cellar to slow down the fermentation and keep the food "tasty sour" rather than going "rotten sour".

Sounds easy enough I might try it some time. When I was a kid and we were in central illinois, the germans cooked dishes with excellent sauerkraut, but last time I tried a can of sauerkraut from the grocery it tasted awful. Maybe my tastes changed, or maybe fresh homemade tastes better?

Audio (20 minutes)-- http://www.npr.org/p...381&m=154914539

Show transcript-- Fermentation: When food goes bad but stays good-- http://www.npr.org/2...-but-stays-good

Book excerpt-- http://www.npr.org/b...excerpt#excerpt

Edited June 25, 2012 by Lester Weevils

[Jamie Jackson]

Best I recall, the water bath was how we did it. If my wife and I get back into it, I'd likely use the side burner on my grill to keep the heat out of the house. Ironic that you have to have the huge pot of boiling water at the hottest time of the year. I like your method of freezing stuff until later in the year when it's cooler. We're somewhat casually looking for a chest freezer at the moment... need more space.

LOL, you are so right. It really kicks your indoor humidity to a new (and higher) level.

I know folks that use their grill side burner and do very well with it.

We picked up one of our freezers off of Craig's List fwiw.

Good Luck to you.

[Jamie Jackson]

Thanks for the links Lester Weevils.

We made our first sauerkraut last year, then waterbath canned it. It's the best kraut I've ever had. Credit goes to my DW.

It's remarkably easy to do. And you actually know what you have in the jar, unlike commercially prepared kraut.

I did 2 dozen pints of baby carrots yesterday with D3vo and my mom. We used a Presto that held 8 jars at a time. Like others said, follow the directions in the books. It was my first time doing any canning and it was easier, but took longer, than I thought.

Awesome isn't it, monkeylizard?

Welcome to your newest addiction.

[monkeylizard]

last time I tried a can of sauerkraut from the grocery it tasted awful. Maybe my tastes changed, or maybe fresh homemade tastes better?

The stuff in a metal can shouldn't be allowed to be called kraut. It's nasty. Try some of the kraut found in plastic bags in your grocer's deli area, or near the hotdogs. It's much better. Sabrett brand is quite tart if you like that. I prefer Boar's Head. I was thinking about canning some later, but after looking at the effort in the recipes, waiting for the fermentation, etc., then remembered that I only eat the stuff a few times a year, I decided to stick with the deli stuff for my kraut fix.

[Dennis1209]

I have an All American 930. It's a large unit, but a workhorse.

I do plan on purchasing another unit. It'll be an All American (they don't use gaskets to seal and I'm sure they'll outlast me). Probably a 915 unit as it is smaller and therefore easier for my wife to use.

Wow, that All American 930 is the cats meow! I believe I could get twice the canning done in the same amount of time. I going to get me one for next year!

I do have a question though? Without the canner sitting on my stove it's hard to picture.

I have a standard size propane stove / range. As you're more than well aware, depending on what you're canning, I have a need to use all four burners at the same time. With the diameter of this 930 model are you able to use all four burners at once?

Now you got me all excited about getting one of those!

Thanks!

[Jamie Jackson]

Wow, that All American 930 is the cats meow! I believe I could get twice the canning done in the same amount of time. I going to get me one for next year!

I do have a question though? Without the canner sitting on my stove it's hard to picture.

I have a standard size propane stove / range. As you're more than well aware, depending on what you're canning, I have a need to use all four burners at the same time. With the diameter of this 930 model are you able to use all four burners at once?

Now you got me all excited about getting one of those!

Thanks!

Thank you. We did a lot of research before investing, and are very pleased with our choice. It really cuts the time down since we can do so many jars in a single run.

We have a standard sized electric stove. It's a bit crowded, but very doable.

Here's a pic of it on our stove:

[Dennis1209]

Thank you. We did a lot of research before investing, and are very pleased with our choice. It really cuts the time down since we can do so many jars in a single run.

We have a standard sized electric stove. It's a bit crowded, but very doable.

Here's a pic of it on our stove:

Thank you very much! That will work on my stove.

Dear Santa...

[Jamie Jackson]

You're more than welcome Dennis.

It'll be a fine Christmas indeed.

[Mark A]

Dennis, I recently bought an All American, I think I got the 921. A friend actually suggested the 930 but I decided to save a bit and go one smaller. Jury is still out. The taller one makes it easier to double stack.

With a pressure canner you don't technically have to keep a pot of boiling water going for the jars and lids. I still sterilize them but you don't have to. I also have friends that use the sanitize cycle on the dishwasher and then hold them hot. Cuts down on the stovetop real estate quite a bit.

I make smoked salsa. Freezing it left the tomatoes mushy. Canning it leaves it nice and fresh... And who knew pickled garlic was so yummy. I had a bunch of garlic that I was afraid was going to go bad. I wondered if I could can it. Out came my trusty ball canning book and I was off to the races...

Mark