Canning Season.

[Worth1]

The weight of the Presto 23 quart canner is 12.75 pounds.
The amount of water they say to put in the canner is 3 quarts which is 6 pounds.
Add 7 quart jars to the canner at a little over 14 pounds we will say 16 and you have about 34 pounds sitting on the stove.

I have a 22 quart heavy bottom stainless kettle I use all the time completely full at around 46 pounds maybe more.

I have a big National 25 and two Kook Kwicks I use.

This on a GE glass top stove that in the manual says I can use a canner on it.
And yes stove tops have a volume knob on them you dont have to drive them at full throttle anymore than you would a car.
A 16,000 BTU at half throttle would be around 8,000 BTU.
Electric stoves measuer in watts there are on line watts to BTU conversion calculators you can find.
Even then you wouldn't be running the canner that hard anyway just enough to keep pressure up and no more.
With enough heat under the thing a person could make the canner pressure overcome the ability for the vent pipe to release that pressure.
Now lets look at the heat thing.
When you fry something on the stove top in a skillet the bottom of that pan is a heck of a lot hotter than a canner by about 100 degrees or a little more.

Worth

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Worth1

The weight of the Presto 23 quart canner is 12.75 pounds.
The amount of water they say to put in the canner is 3 quarts which is 6 pounds.
Add 7 quart jars to the canner at a little over 14 pounds we will say 16 and you have about 34 pounds sitting on the stove.

I have a 22 quart heavy bottom stainless kettle I use all the time completely full at around 46 pounds maybe more.

I have a big National 25 and two Kook Kwicks I use.

This on a GE glass top stove that in the manual says I can use a canner on it.
And yes stove tops have a volume knob on them you dont have to drive them at full throttle anymore than you would a car.
A 16,000 BTU at half throttle would be around 8,000 BTU.
Electric stoves measuer in watts there are on line watts to BTU conversion calculators you can find.
Even then you wouldn't be running the canner that hard anyway just enough to keep pressure up and no more.
With enough heat under the thing a person could make the canner pressure overcome the ability for the vent pipe to release that pressure.
Now lets look at the heat thing.
When you fry something on the stove top in a skillet the bottom of that pan is a heck of a lot hotter than a canner by about 100 degrees or a little more.

Worth

that was my thought on using the stove while doing other methods of cooking. I generally don't fry with oil on my stove but I know it gets hot.... and I usually run my canner at a lower heat than while browning meat or even frying something (which is rare) I bring something to the temperature I want then turn it down to maintain it. My canner on my electric stove tends to stay at temperature down in the 2 or 3 range on my dial.
My one manual ( I have two stoves in my kitchen) for the GE stove says Cast iron shouldn't be used as it conducts heat poorly... WHAT?... I still use it and it works fine. that is also the stove I can on but the manual makes no comment anywhere on using it for canning.

[Worth1]

I use cast iron on mine all the time.
Worth

[SueCT]

I have a Kenmore glass top which says I should be able to can with it. I don't any more because I have just been making sauce and freezing it. But the last time I canned on it I had the two front burners going for a good amt of time and it tripped some kind of safety breaker and shut the thing down. It took the repair guy some time to find the problem. He suggested in the future only using the side without the breaker. Problem is, I can't remember which side its on.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

FYI, it seems it is not just glass stove tops that are an issue for canners. I was recently reading the booklet that came with my Presto canner and saw that it listed maximum safe btu ratings for gas range burners.

We got a new five burner range last spring with different sized burners, so I looked up the specs for all the burners. Seems the only burners the canner can safely be used on (I am assuming at full power) are the smaller two burners at the back. The front two are too high for it.

This might pertain more to stand alone gas burners... like for outdoor cooking. lots of people use the outdoor propane burners on their decks for canning, too

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

and they have a string you have to pull off as you clean them. one on each side of the pod. More work. Some people like them knobby and some like them flat. I never know what to pick so the bags get some of each in them.


Ever hear of leather britches? they are the dried bean pods of 1/2 runners. strung on a thread and hung to air dry. then during the winter the cook would soak them for 12=24 hours drain and rinse them then cover them with water again along with a ham hock or cured ham of some sort. very poor family fare. I have a string of them I will post a picture later after my phone is charged and I also have a couple jars of canned finished product that I am not sure I will ever open and eat. I have been in vain trying to pawn it off on one of my customers. I haven't had a taker yet. Maybe I should just put it out on the shelf for "free" and hope someone will appreciate the work that actually went into the jar. A friend of mine (he is about 80) grew these and strung them for me. we have talked about leather britches for years. so he kindly and as a bit of a joke did some last fall for us to try.

Here are the dried beans. They have faded to brown but IMG_20171010_124733.jpgthey were dried green when I got them

[taboule]

Thanks, I had no idea what you were referring to when you mentioned "strings" as we were talking about tomato bushels ;-)

I did get this reply from one of the farmers when I queried about seconds.

>>
We do but it is a bit late in the season for your requests. Our tomato crop is waning and so are the seconds. Try us a bit earlier next season.
>>

Until next year, in good health.

[clkeiper]

I was off on a tangent about the costs of some of the produce being grown. the harder they are to come by the more expensive they seem to get... even if the product isn't hard to grow. they take space and labor to pick.

[Worth1]

Okra.

[coronabarb]

Regarding the outdoor cooking stoves, our group uses them for tuna canning. The burners are higher than recommended. I found it difficult to keep the pressure from going too high. I now use a diffuser plate which works great. You would not want to use a turkey/fish fryer with much higher btu's.

[taboule]

WRT canning fish, AA (a supplier's website) doesn't recommend use of their smaller units for that purpose, anyone knows why?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by taboule

WRT canning fish, AA (a supplier's website) doesn't recommend use of their smaller units for that purpose, anyone knows why?

From what I have read they cool off too fast but people have been doing for years before they said not to and they still do.
I wont be canning fish any time soon anyway.


Worth

[imp]

Originally Posted by taboule

WRT canning fish, AA (a supplier's website) doesn't recommend use of their smaller units for that purpose, anyone knows why?

I wondered about that myself.

I think I am losing it with this canning. I found a sale of really nice boneless skinless chicken breasts at $1.69 per pound, bought 10 pounds to can up!

[coronabarb]

[coronabarb]

Originally Posted by taboule

WRT canning fish, AA (a supplier's website) doesn't recommend use of their smaller units for that purpose, anyone knows why?

They don't recommend it for canning or for canning fish? What size is it? Is it a canner or pressure cooker? Canning fish requires a long processing time. Maybe the units are not fit for that purpose. Or maybe they do heat up/cool down too quickly, as Worth mentioned.