What are you canning now?

[member 142084]

Quote: true to a point but when 30% of reviews involved accidents like the above listed.. and the other had none. It made my decision much easier. Craftmanship is important. And no one should ever leave a pressure cooker unattended. What I like it that this one has two ways of gagging the pressure so there is no guessing involved and by the weight system sure gets you attention if your pressure gets too high, make it very hard to ignore.. the first few times it scared me ha ha. I think that is a healthy fear makes you respect the danger factors .

 

[rancher hicks]

Have you tried craigs list or goodwill/thrift stores? I would recommend getting the Ball Blue Book on canning. It's a great help for beginners. I had a friend show me how to can tomatoes 20 some years ago and that was a great help to me. I just started with jams and such in the last 10 years or so. Good luck and

The public library is a great place to get books and recipes for free. I took out every thing I could and then picked out three that I liked and bought them on Amazon for the price on one in the bookstore.

Lately Grit and Mother Earth have issues that deal with canning. Things have changed since our Grand mothers canned food. One thing about canning is if the power goes out, you don't lose an entire years crop.

 

[rancher hicks]

true to a point but when 30% of reviews involved accidents like the above listed.. and the other had none. It made my decision much easier. Craftmanship is important. And no one should ever leave a pressure cooker unattended. What I like it that this one has two ways of gagging the pressure so there is no guessing involved and by the weight system sure gets you attention if your pressure gets too high, make it very hard to ignore.. the first few times it scared me ha ha. I think that is a healthy fear makes you respect the danger factors .

I have no doubt there have been accidents, but how many of those involved the product rather than misuse? I take reviews with a grain of salt as I don't trust them. Call me a cynic, but I have read many articles of reviews being fakes to promote ones product. 30% negative means a greater percentage 70% were positive. Those are pretty good odds.

They did do a review of Pressure cookers on "Cook Country", though I can't recall which they recommended.

On the other hand I don't intend to do low acid things like Chicken and potatoes, so you may be right.

 

[member 142084]

Quote: I wonder if consumer reports did pressure cookers? Then again they are not free :/ Yes pretty good odds. And yes I read certain reviews and facepalm when I see what they did

But like I said mine has been great and the company has been around a long time. These beauties last for a very long time. Pus I like the idea that American jobs are kept bu keeping such a company in business. and the only negative reviews were operator error, from what I saw.

PS I love your Siggy.

 

[rancher hicks]

I wonder if consumer reports did pressure cookers? Then again they are not free :/ Yes pretty good odds. And yes I read certain reviews and facepalm when I see what they did

But like I said mine has been great and the company has been around a long time. These beauties last for a very long time. Pus I like the idea that American jobs are kept bu keeping such a company in business.

PS I love your Siggy.

No way would I argue with that, cuz I agree. I will consider it when I do buy my pressure cooker. I had one years ago but gave it to my niece. Now I'm back into it and looking at getting a new one just cuz I think it might be safer than using a water bath for my jams and tomatoes. Am I right?

Some of the newer varieties of tomatoes are not as acidic as some heirlooms. So I've read.

 

[member 142084]

Quote: Water bath canning is fine for fruits. Tomato's are iffy but I add citric acid. www.sfherb.com has great bulk herbs, spices, tea, essential oils, botanacles, and baking goods; such as extracts, buttermilk powder, and citric acid ect...................

However I use the pressure cooker as my water bath canner. The guidelines say non additional pressure for fruits due t their delicate status. Either way from what I researched it is safer, and if you do green beans you definitely want one. But other wise you wont need it, yet I recommend one. I can fit a lot of jars in there, and if I am just water bathing I can leave it and just set a timer. She is heavy, but nothing wrong with a full figured pot LOL

I, however, made canned chilli It was great! It's a pain to remember to soak your beans every time you want it. As far as meat I just freeze it.. .ad boy i thought i was not going to fit all my chickens in there... but I did *phew*

And it also makes for a quick meal for the masses to cook in. I may not be a fan of aluminum, but on rare occasion I doubt it will kill me. I made goulash in no time for a b-day.

 

[rancher hicks]

Chic - thanks for the info. I have recipes that need Lavender but I'm not sure what to buy or whether it is safe to use.

Now I did drop in with a word of warning.

I'm making Necterine/blueberry today. DW had bought Necterines at the store, but I also had went to the farmers market today and bought more. As I was washing the store bought necterines I noticed they didn't feel right. Well of course they wouldn't , THEY'D BEEN WAXED!

I knew to buy organic lemons if I need to use zest, but it never occurred to me that the necterines would have wax on them. I remember too that apples and other fruit might have wax on it and to scrub it, but why bother with that?

So the farmers market necterines were enough and that's what I'm using.

This will also hold true if you are juicing vegetables. Buy organic in the store or locally grown produce.

 

[rancher hicks]

It was supposed to be a rainy day. NOT!

Did 3 8oz jars, 6 4 oz jars of Blueberry/Nectarine jam and 6 4oz. and 4 8 oz of Blueberry/sweet cherry jam.

This time the Sweet cherry was with fresh today bought cherries and smaller wild type blues and one cup of store bought.


DW buys the fruit and I take it and put it in the freezer cuz if I don't it goes bad before it gets eaten. She just bought strawberries again! You'd think she'd know better.

 

[member 142084]

got 50lbs of gravenstien.. and probably another 50 coming in 5 days, nt sure what variety they are. AM gonna be busy!

 

[member 142084]

Chic - thanks for the info. I have recipes that need Lavender but I'm not sure what to buy or whether it is safe to use.

Now I did drop in with a word of warning.

I'm making Necterine/blueberry today. DW had bought Necterines at the store, but I also had went to the farmers market today and bought more. As I was washing the store bought necterines I noticed they didn't feel right. Well of course they wouldn't , THEY'D BEEN WAXED!

I knew to buy organic lemons if I need to use zest, but it never occurred to me that the necterines would have wax on them. I remember too that apples and other fruit might have wax on it and to scrub it, but why bother with that?

So the farmers market necterines were enough and that's what I'm using.

This will also hold true if you are juicing vegetables. Buy organic in the store or locally grown produce.

I just grow my own lavender.

Trader Joe's sells a nice veggie wash to help with wax issues

Yes organic is best anyhow. I notice a huge difference in flavor and quality, and I know I am not getting certain types of pesticides.