Anyone know anything about Pressure Cooker/Canners?

22 August 2011 | US Navy Vet

[US Navy Vet]

I am getting ready to do Fall Canning and I need to know what one is a good one.

[US Navy Vet]

Any advice will be appreciated!

[mel]

Be careful so they don’t blow up

[humblegunner]

Eastforker was discussing just that very thing over the weekend.

[miss marmelstein]

What are you canning? I think you only need a pressure cooker or canner if you’re canning meat or veggies. Fruit - all you need to use is a large pot or kettle.

If you really need one, go to Amazon and look. The comment section will tell you which one is the best.

Have fun! I love canning.

[NVDave]

Can you give some additional background? Are you looking to do large-scale canning in quart jars, or are you looking to can just pint jars?

What type of stove have you? Gas, electric, induction?

[television is just wrong]

stainless steel, expensive but you don’t get aluminum in your food

growing up my mother cooked EVERYTHING in a pressure cooker, but she didn’t do canning, go figure

make sure the seals are on well.

[Peter from Rutland]

Not an answer but I went with vacuum sealing and freezing.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Check out stores that sell used appliances. Look for a Presto brand canner.

[Free Vulcan]

All-American, the best of the best:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_kitchen?_encoding=UTF8&node=1055398&field-brandtextbin=All%20American

[MissyMa]

I do all my canning in a water bath canner too as the only veggies I can are those that get pickled or tomatoes.

I LOVE canning too. I'm looking forward to canning some tomatoes this upcoming weekend and then there's apple season this fall. So much fun.

[eastforker]

I have an old one about 60 years or so but it works just fine. It holds 7 quarts or 16 pints. Best if you can get one with a preasure guage and a safety popoff valve . I haven’t looked at any new ones so I don’t realy know about them.

[mountainlion]

Backwoods Home magazine has some articles and a cookbook. Your search function should help find many articles. I got over 37,000 hits on Ask Search.

I got an electric pressure cooker and a stove top. The electric pressure cooker works better than the stove top on an eclectic stove.

[109ACS]

Just by coincidence, my wife just bought this one:

All-American Pressure Cooker

It's a bit pricey, but will last a lifetime. It's built like a tank and it holds 7 quart sized jars easily. Over the weekend we canned 14 quarts of soup and it worked like a champ.

[Royal Wulff]

I just bought this All-American 921 pressure canner from Amazon for $200.

Very happy with it so far. I've canned ~30 quarts of garden veggies so far.

However, those were the first things I ever canned.

You might try craigslist to find something cheaper.

I like this thing because it's built like a tank. Having a large thermal mass which cools slowly seems to be important to keep all the liquid from boiling out of your quart jars during cool down.

[Dixie Yooper]

With a pressure cooker and the right blend of herbs and spices, you can make Kentucky Fried Chicken.

[Pinetop]

I suggest Duromatic. Excellent quality, easy to use and not a jiggle top. Makes fantastic risotto. For canning most stuff all you need is a big pot with rack for a hot water bath.

[madison10]

From reviews on Amazon and the ummm...preparer site I visit, Presto’s pressure canner with the gauge is good. If you are using a glass top stove the base of the pan should only be one inch larger than the burner.

Check your local County Extension office in person, or on line, you can either get free or very inexpensive info. (at least that’s how it used to be)

I just bought Ball’s Book of Home Preserving. Seems to be a good book, but no much on freezing or drying.

[philman_36]

The stuff around our house is well over 40 years old and still works fine.
I wouldn't have any idea what is "good stuff" today.
One thing for sure...new seals/lids are a must and wide mouth jars are much easier to work with!

And these things... are useless for true canning. They are, however, good for dry storage or if you're going to eat the product, something like bread and butter pickles, quickly.

[pyx]

I have been safely using a pressure cooker and canning fruit, vegetables and meats for very well over 35 years.

In this one case, I would highly recommend relying on government information at the US Department of Agriculture.

I personally use a large aluminum Mirro pressure cooker for almost everything but I also use a small stainless steel one exclusively for acidic fruits such as tomatoes and tomato (spagetti, etc) sauces.

[ProfoundMan]

Try here - lots of great info.

Frugal's Forums - Canning and Preserving Food