What kind of a pressure cooker do you use for summer canning?

wishin4chicken

Songster
11 Years
Jun 20, 2008
458
2
119
Hayden Lake, Idaho
I have a dear friend who is struggling with cancer. She's always had an amazing garden but will no longer be able to do something like that. One day she asked me if I'd like a few of her canning jars. Now, when the kids where little, I canned fruit and things like that. It was fun and the canned things were so much better than bought.

So, my friend's son was visiting and during that time she called and asked if they could bring the jars over. Sure! When she arrived, they unloaded 30 cases of jars,
th.gif
with rings, canner. All the stuff. I'm determined to have a large garden this year and am wondering what kind of pressure cooker I should get.

Could anyone share their experiences with me???

Thanks! Michele.
 
Hi Michele,

First, I'm so sorry to hear that your friend is struggling with cancer. God speed for her & her family.

As for canning, there's a whole thread on canning here. I think it's called "What are you canning now?"

I started pressure canning this past summer. I went crazy canning and am SO glad I did! We've got a lot of food around the house that I canned with fresh, local ingredients.

I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/BALL-Complete...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236568343&sr=8-1. I used the copy I'd borrowed from the library so much that I bought a copy for myself.

Other great resources are pickyourown.org and this website: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/. The latter has so much info, and is a reliable, scientific website. As you're getting info about canning online, always pass it by your own safety meter: is this method safe, proven, and recommended by authorities on pressure canning (like HFP). There's lots of bad, unsafe info out there that generally starts with "my grandma did this for years and nobody ever died." That's nice, but it doesn't prove that the method is safe, nor that food poisoning didn't take on symptoms that resemmbled something else.

Happy canning!
 
Last edited:
Hi I just tried pressure canning this past year as well. I went to Walmart and bought a large Presto Canning and cooking pressure cooker. My Mother and Grandmother always had Presto pressure cookers so I figured it would be OK. I was very pleased with it. Sorry to hear about your friend I know our family just went through a cancer loss this past month. Its very hard. Our paryers are with you and your friend. Micki
PS I got a good canning book as well It was Canning for Dummies had lots of info in it.
 
Thanks, JennsPeeps and Micki, for responding to my question. I've checked our local library (aren't they just great) and found the books you've recommended and will look into a Presto pressure cooker. I want to get a handle on all of this before summer arrives and, maybe, things will become hard to come by.

I'm REALLY excited about becoming more self-sufficient. Have been enjoying all of the recipes that have been posted and baking our own bread. The idea of doing canning for us, too, just seems like such a good idea.

Now if I can just get my husband to get the chicken coop going. I have to admit it's kind of hard when the weather forecast tomorrow is for 1*. This is totally unusual and we're all so anxious for Spring to arrive.

Thank you again for the help!!!

Michele.
 
i bought an all-american last year and am completely sold on it. it was a bit more spendy than my previous presto, but i think it's worth it. it's a real workhorse and will prolly be around to be passed down to my daughter!
 
I had been wondering this same thing myself! I have the Ball Blue Book, or something like that. I seem to remember my mom using a Presto cooker as well!!

Good luck with self-sufficiency. We are on our way as well!
 
My only advice is get one big enough! I have a pressure cooker I use for canning, but it's not big enough to do quarts, only pints. Make sure you get a pressure canner, not a pressure cooker. From what I understand the pressure canners cost $100+. You could get by with a pressure cooker if you only plan on doing small batches of pints.
 
Thanks, Yotetrapper, that's my confusion. There is a difference between a pressure canner and a pressure cooker? With 30 cases of quart jars above the garage, I definitely will need something larger.

celebrate.gif
 
I bought the presto canner also and it worked great...only problem with me is I have a glass top stove which I hate....my husband wanted me to get it.....and it is hard to regulate the pressure...but the presto canner has the safe release valve that keeps it from blowing up....alot safer than the older ones....I love to can and garden too.....my chickens have been pecking in my garden and they better not be eating my good worms......I cant wait to plant
 
Many hardware stores will carry pressure canners. Our Ace carries Mirro canners. So check around All American is the highest priced then Persto then Mirro. You will want the big Blue book on canning also. All of these canners can be had on the net but check shipping cost because you will find it can more than make up the differance when buying local many times. They can zap you hard there and you will find the local one which costs more than the online one but in the end costs less when you include shipping and handleing.

BTW you will hear good and bad about every canner. They all work so do not worry about it. It can be a lerning curve with some canners and that is why you hear and read the bad stories. Just get what you need and let time take care of the rest.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom