Pressure Canning

[TomNJ]

Pressure canners should not be cooled with water as rapid changes in temperature and/or pressure can cause the jars to leak their contents. Just shut off the heat and allow the pressure to drop to zero, then remove the weight and lid. Allow the jars to stay in the canner for another 10 minutes to stop boiling, then remove. Cool down time for my 30 quart AA canner with a full load is usually only about 30 minutes.

TomNJ

[Doug9345]

I've always just let them cool and for jars the cool down time is built in. It really isn't as long as you'd think. I can cycle a load of vegetables in about an hour from lid on canner to jars on counter. If you cooled a canner down that quickly most likely you'd empty the contents out of the jars or lose stuff to broken jars.

The only time I've moved a canner is on a wood stove. It gets slid around to maintain pressure and you have to get it off the stove to cool.

I've always used All American and a 921 is heavy. With 14 pints plus the water plus the canner it's going to weigh around 55 lbs. That's not a pot that I'm going to pick up if I don't have to.

[Labradors2]

Thanks Recruiterg and Tom.

I'm very tempted to buy a canner for next year's crop of tomatoes!

Linda

[beeman]

I have a suggestion for you. Heaving a big pot around gets to a real problem as you get older, just ask me!
I now do all the heating outside on my Bar-B-Q side burner. When it's all done, turn the burner off, wait for the pressure to drop off, take off the lid and allow to cool. You can then deal with the parts, one at a time.

[salix]

Linda - exactly what TomNJ and Doug said! Also, the cooling time is calculated to be part of the processing time. The cooling time is important, but like a watched pot it can seem to take a long time. That's why I have two of them. I do move the 'cooling' canner so I can use the big element for the next load. So far they are not too heavy to move, but I am quite short and that does make it awkward.

[Labradors2]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Now I have my eye on hubby's BBQ. It might be just the thing for canning on hot days, and I would still have my stove free if I wanted to whip up another batch......

Linda

[newatthiskat]

I have a glass top electric stove. I have a Presto 23 quart canner. I move the canner just off the stove to the left and put on potholder on counter and let cool down that way. I do not cool off by putting water on the canner. I am a night shift worker so when I can it is usually on nights off. Someday I might get an All American If I ever move to a place with the ability to have a gas stove. But as frugal as I am I will probably just get a second Presto. It has served me well.

[recruiterg]

I found one on CraigsList. I think mine is a Mirro brand. I thought I would buy it for $30, see if I like it, and buy a better one if I liked it. The cheap one I bought on CraigsList works fine. If necessary, I can buy a replacement gasket for about $10. But, everything works fine and I don't need anything more, so why spend the money??? I use it all the time in the fall canning salsa and sauce.

[ContainerTed]

Like Kat, I have the Presto 23 quart pressure canner. It has a pressure dial. My brother has an older model pressure canner with the "jiggler". After running both, I find the pressure dial much easier to work with.

I bought mine brand new two years ago. This past summer, I canned green beans, peas, beets, a few quarts of tomato juice, and other things. With things like tomato juice, I simply take the pressure up to 5 pounds and then turn off the heat.

Linda, like the others above, I strongly recommend you stop running cold water over the pot as part of the cool down. TomNJ nailed it. The pot and the contents need to cool down slowly together. The pressure raises the boiling point. It allows the temperature of the liquid to increase without forming those bubbles we associate with boiling. If the outside of the pot suddenly dips in temperature or pressure, the contents of the jars must release their stored up energy. The jars begin to boil and those air bubbles expand the contents of the jar. The accompanying increased pressure simply blows the liquid out of the jar.

The feature about my Presto Pressure canner I like the most is the internal pressure button that comes up when the pressure starts building and drops down when the pressure is back down to zero. It's a "no-brainer" that guarantees you don't rush the process. When the time at pressure is done, I simply turn off the heat and wait to hear that little button drop. Even then, I wait another 10 or 20 minutes to make sure the internal temperature of the pot has also come down and stabilized. Then the lid comes off.

I strongly recommend a pressure canner with the dial. I got mine for about $90 plus tax.

[Father'sDaughter]

On a side note, I just watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen where they reviewed pressure cookers. Their comments indicated that you should allow the cooker to come down slowly and let the pressure release naturally. They didn't elaborate on the reasons for this, and I haven't looked into it yet. We haven't used one in years, but my husband and I were always battling over what was best -- forced cool down/pressure release, or let it happen naturally.

[Doug9345]

Ted I understood that Linda was running water on her pressure COOKER not doing canning that way. Good explanation of the why and how of operating a canner.

The other warning is that canning instructions include ones for tin cans DON"T follow those with jars.

[Labradors2]

Yes I was talking about the putting the pressure cooker under the cold tap, but I am not knowledgeable about pressure canners, and might have tried doing that with one of them, as long as I could lift it! So thanks for the warnings and explanations. It's good to know!

I wonder why there is a problem about running a pressure cooker under the tap? I have done it for years, as did my mother before me. The only reason that I can see is safety. I always stand back, just in case there should be a problem of the explosive kind! I think it would be preferable to let it cool down naturally, and give everything a little longer to cook, but usually run out of time.

Linda

[Doug9345]

I think the thread has split a little bit along the lines of cooker and canner. Unless rapid cooling caused the COOKER's gasket to leak I don't see it hurting the contents. In a CANNER cooling the canner isn't going to cool the jars inside and they are going to be above boiling temperture, thus boiling their contents out.

[Rockporter]

What do you all know about electric canners?

All American autoclave, looks to be more of a sterilizer than a canner?

http://www.allamericancanner.com/all...sterilizer.htm


Here is a Presto 23 QT, is it a good one? The price is cheap and I see it has a gasket, I think I want one without a gasket to worry about.
http://www.amazon.com/Presto-01781-2.../dp/B0000BYCFU

One more question, say I have corn and tomatoes to can at the same time and I want to do it in one process, is this ok to do?

[Doug9345]

They say that the electric sterilizers aren't suitable for canning, I don't know why, I suspect that they have additional supports in there. They also appear to e set for 17 psi.

I've always used the All American. That's what my parents had, they were afraid of the gaskets letting go. I don't know if this was based on direct information or hear say. It would also have been based on information from the 40's or early fifties. I would e surprised to find out that gaskets made around WWII might had problem. On the other hand my mother was afraid of many things either blowing up or catching fire so I don't know.

I don't see myself ever buying a new canner as I have three All American Canners, 2 915s and a 921. The 921 has had less than a dozen loads through it. They are 40 years old now. I'm 52 yo and see no reason why they shouldn't go another 40 years.

In order of price there is Mirro, Presto, then All American. I've talked about the AA. The Presto if it is built like they used to be is also a quality canner and I've know people with 25+ year old ones. That's a good price for one as they are normally arounds a $100 dollars. You can't tell aout the future, but parts have remained available for even fairly old canners.