I have a recipe for whole canned tomatoes from a British Cookbook. It calls for Calcium chloride, and says the tomatoes will be firm enough to slice when done via that recipe. I always wondered where to buy Calcium Chloride. Now I know..Walmart. Thx for that.
That brings me to how to can food. I watched my mother use a pressure cooker to can food. She had to do that in a hot kitchen (no air cond. in those days). I thought I'm never doing that.
I'm not sure what the difference is in a hot water bath and a pressure canner. Yesterday, I looked at the Ball website and there is the Blue Ball canning book which I will get ($6.95). They also have canning equipment there, the big water bath utensil and equipment like a lifter to get jars out of the canner without burning yourself and a tool that turns the lid to close it on a jar.
I could deal with a water bath way but I don't want to buy a big pressure canner.
What do you guys suggest? I am serious about this.