Conference turris::cooks

    I've found large canning pots in places like KMart and Purity
    Supreme Supermarket.  A cooks store would have them too, but
    probably at a higher price.  My canning pot setup came with
    	- pot
    	- rack, with handles to raise the rack and hang it from
    	  the sides of the pot
    	- tongs shaped to pick up a hot jar out of the water, a
    	  real necessity!
    	- a wide-mouth funnel, another necessity
    The pot is really huge - probably 18" high and a good 16-18" in
    diameter.  You need a huge pot if you're going to can in quart
    containers.  If you're ONLY going to do jelly in half pint
    jars, you might get away with a smaller pot.  But good luck
    finding a rack that will fit!  Also, you don't want the jars to
    touch either each other or the side of the pot.  The canning
    pots have racks with spots to put each jar, and are formed to
    keep the jars from migrating.  Since the canning pot was fairly
    cheap and can be stored away in the basement most of the year, 
    I thought it was worth buying.
    
    Make sure you have a good candy thermometer, too.  You can try
    doing the old-fashioned method of testing the jam/jelly by taking
    a spoonful out, but the thermometer is much easier and you don't
    risk sugar-burns.  Get one that will clip onto the side of the pot,
    if possible, so you don't have to hold the thermometer over that
    pot of boiling sugar mix.
    
    Have fun!  Once you get the hang of it you'll be creating your
    own yummy recipes.  I made mango/peach jam once, and it was really
    wonderful!  Thanks to the produce department's reduced racks, I
    got the ingredients cheaply and in quantity.
    
    --Louise

	I saw some canning pots at a flea market this past weekend.
	If there is a large one near you, check it out!  The one
	I was at was in Providence RI.

	Karen
	

    
    
    For some good info on canning you should get the "Ball Blue Book".
    This book has step by step instrustions on canning and freezing.It
    also tell you what equipment you'll need.  Try the insert in the
    Surejell box(this is pectin).
    
    Farm Journal also has a very good book on canning and freezing.
    It has recipes for just about any kind of jelly or jams.
    
    Lots of luck
    Jackie
    
    

    I've made some jams, and I'm really enjoying it, but I have a problem
    that I was hoping someone could help me with.  How do you keep the
    fruit in the jam from floating to the top?  One of the books that I
    have says to invert the jars for 1/2 hour after removing them from the
    water bath, but that doesn't seem to work.  Should I leave them
    inverted for longer?  
    
    Any advice would be appreciated.
    
    Cathy

    
    I always let my jam cool slightly before bottling it.  I give it
    a good stir with a clean sterilised metal spoon and then place in
    sterilised jars that are hot.  Seal with melted wax or waxed discs
    cut to the size of the mouth of the jar cover.
    
    It works a charm.
    
    gailann

    
    Has anyone seen a Pressure Canner in any store around the Central
    Mass. Area.  I've looked in quite a few places with no luck...
                                
    Sure would be nice to can some non-acidic veggies and meat sauces!
    
    /Jeff
    

    When I was looking for canning equipment, I saw pressure canners in
    quite a few places including Zayre's, Service Merchandise and Prime
    Value Mart.  If one of these is near you, give them a try.
    
    Cathy

    
    Go to the housewares dept. and ask a clerk. I believe they keep
    them upstairs due to their large size.
    
    

Pressure canners are reliably carried by hardware stores like Aubuchon, or
True Value.  

    Is it possible to use screw-on cover jars for making jams? I have
    a number of nice jars from spaghetti sauce, etc. and would love to use
    these, since they are a good size for jellies.
    
    

why not? Having just ventured into marmalade making (not the season for
soft fruit yet), I could almost quote the cook book verbatim: "preserving jars
may be used but aren't essential, regular jars with push or screw tops may be
used, and indeed if you've lost the top cover with cling-film and secure with 
an elastic band. Cover the marmalade, jam, or preserve with a disc of paper of 
the kind sold for the purpose (though don't use the paper cover on chutneys 
since the vinegar will evaporate, the chutney dry, and the jar become useless)"

/. Ian .\

    You might get paraffin to seal the jam-jars.  That will keep the
    critters out and give you a somewhat air-tight seal.  Jam is usually
    fine with just paraffin.  Other stuff, like pickles, needs the safety
    of hot-water or pressure canning.
    
    --Louise

    Question for your canners out there...
    
    My girlfriend is running out of room in her freezer and was wondering
    if anyone has ever tried canning soups?  Like vegetable or anything
    with meat in it???  Thanks.
    
    

    Soups must be canned with a pressure canner to avoid food-poisoning
    dangers.  You can't just use a hot-water bath canner as with 
    pickles and jams and tomatoes.  However, once over the hurdle of
    paying for and mastering the use of a pressure canner, I think it's
    not too difficult to can soups.
    
    As for specific directions - the canner will come with them.  Since
    each canner has slightly different directions, it might be dangerous
    to give suggestions.  Usually a pressure canner will come with 
    a little cookbook, too, which gives time and weight/pressure
    figures.
    
    Have fun!
    
    --Louise

 What is the difference between a pressure cooker and a pressure cannier?

 I have a SEB 8 qut. aluminum super cooker (no spring gauge or weight gauge).
 It's like the type used at Kentucky Fried Chicken where all cooking is by
 time and I can use oil too, but I was asking to find any one who may have one.
 Can it be used for canning? Is there a way to tell the pressure and regulate
 it?

 In my wife's cook books low acid vegetables such as corn a pressure of
 10 lbs setting is called for canning. Does corn need pressure canning or
 can a water bath cannier be used with recipe changed?

 In pressure canning does the pressure need to keep at say 10 lbs or can it
 move up and down a little when doing canning?

>>>>>-< pressure hot water bath whats the difference? >-


the difference between life and death if you aren't careful...really,
meat and other low-acid goodies grow really bad things unless treated
just right.  The pressure canning process makes sure the food is
STERILE... and that means it can sit without refrigeration.  Otherwise,
you can grow your own botulism...among other nasties - no fun at all.

Your pressure cooker book should tell you whether it is adequate/usable
for canning.  My mother's pressure cooker is usable, but I suppose some
would not be.  The pressure canner generally has lots more room in it,
for one thing, but I'm not sure of the other issues.  If you've lost the
book, call the vendor and be sure.  If you make a mistake with one of
these puppies, you can have real damage.

The pressure and duration requirements will be listed in recipes for the
food you are canning.  Generally they will require that a certain level
of pressure be MAINTAINED for x minutes.....any fluctuations off the
pressure should be very slight and OVER not under the recommended pressure.
A good pressure cooker will reach the desired pressure and maintain it
just fine.  If your cooker is fluctuating much, your seal may be inadequate
and that may be fine for cooking (although it will leave your kitchen steamy
and hot) but it isn't fine for canning.

This is one cooking trick I'm chicken to try - I won't can low-acid foods.
I just don't trust the results enough.

    Well, there's a big difference between canning in a hot water bath
    and canning in a pressure canner.  The pressure canner is the only
    way to safely can low acid foods other than things like jam and
    jelly, which have loads of sugar.  Also, it's the only way to can
    anything containing meat, even if you put lots of tomatoes in 
    the jar also - you just don't fool around with meat.  (Meat means
    any animal product, whether furred, feathered, finned, or shelled.)
    
    The main difference between a pressure cooker and a pressure canner
    is size.  Unless you have a huge pressure cooker, it would be 
    difficult to can in a regular pressure cooker.  Remember, what looks
    huge when you're thinking "stew" is not that big when you're thinking
    of 6 jars of stuff, either pints or quarts, plus space between them
    so they don't touch, plus a rack so they're not sitting on the
    bottom.  A pressure canner will also have the gadgets - a rack
    in particular - that make canning possible.  Anyhow, best bet is to
    go to a store and LOOK at a pressure canner, and then you can see
    if your current canner would work.
    
    --Louise

    I recently heard that there are new "approved" directions for canning. 
    That include time to process for various foods, etc.  The most
    important piece of data was that canning should not be done in the old
    style glass top jars with rubber ring seals.  Only the new style metal
    top seal with screw ring should be used.  The news item said that any
    "jar rubbers" as they are called (but you should have seen the look on
    the clerk's face the last time I asked for them by that name) still on
    the shelf were manufactured so long ago that they should be tossed.  
    
    So, save those glass top jars, folks... they'll be worth money as
    collectibles soon!

>    So, save those glass top jars, folks... they'll be worth money as
>    collectibles soon!

my homemade apple butter and peach butter go in these....the filling goes
so fast I've never had a problem.  Oh well, they also make great cannisters
for grains for cooked cereal and baking, and to hold staples.

RE: .17

>the difference between life and death if you aren't careful...really,
>meat and other low-acid goodies grow really bad things unless treated
>just right.

The precise danger here is Clostridium botulinum, the anerobic bacterium that
releases the toxin that causes botulism.  Botulism toxin is the most deadly
poison known to man.  It can be fatal even in parts-per-billion concentrations.


RE: .18

The sugar content is irrelevant.  Fruit jams and jellies are all high-acid
foods.  Clostridium botulinum cannot grow in a high-acid medium.

--PSW

    By the way, the source for that info I posted a few back on the old
    jars was an article in the Boston Globe Food section about a month ago.

    I've seen a lot of references to canning tomatoes, but no specific 
    instructions.  Can someone please explain how you do this.  Do I 
    need a pressure cooker?  Can I just heat them in a boiling water 
    bath?  Also, do you cook the tomatoes long enough to cook down most 
    of the water?  or do you wait until you reheat the sauce?

    
    
     Rep .23
    
      No, you don't need a pressure cooker to can tomatoes. They are
    aciditic enough not to need a pressure cooker. You can either just
    can the plain tomatoes or make sauce and then can the sauce. I don't
    can normally I just make the sauce and then freeze it in quart bags.
    So far I have made 30 plus quarts in the last three weeks and I'm
    getting sick of looking at tomatoes!!!! 
    
      I'm sure somebody has an exact recipe but for plain tomatoes you
    normally just skin them and then pack them in sterilized canning jars.
    You also have to make sure you don't over fill the jars and there is
    enough juice to cover the tomatoes and about 1 teaspoon of salt is
    also added. Then the jars are hot water processed for 20 minutes. 
    After going through the whole canning process I realized I usually
    made sauce anyways so I chucked that step and went right to the sauce.
    
      I also dry tomatoes and then pack then in olive oil or freeze them.
    You take plum tomatoes and wash them and slice them in half. Then place
    them a wire rack and into a 170f oven until they dry. This usually
    takes about 12 hours. If you pack them in oil I would suggest you place
    them in the refrigerator for storage as they will keep longer.
    
    
     -mike
    
    
    

 I canned tomatoes this weekend, but only processed them for 10 minutes
  in a hot water bath. (I mis-read the directions!)

  Later that day, I glanced through the Ball Blue Book, and it said 45 minutes.

  The jars are well sealed even though I only processed them for 10 minutes.

  Does anyone know if the time given for processing can vary (another reply
  here said 20 minutes) ?

  Should I open the jars and reprocess even though I have a seal?  
	
  (These are quartered tomatoes
  with boiling water added)

  Karen

Given that it's tomatoes, I'd say you're safe in reprocessing them.  If it were
something like beans or meat, I'd say throw it out because of the risk of
botulism.

--PSW

A well-organized cookbook offering the most up-to-date information 
on the subject.  It contains tips, recipes and explains how to adapt canning 
to different types of foods.

To order:

	USDA's Complete Guide to Home Canning
	$11.00
	Item # 121W

	Make check payable to: Superintendant of Documents

	Mail to:

	R. Woods, Superintendant of Documents
	Consumer Information Center-T
	PO Box 100
	Pueblo, CO  81002

    One place to get info is your county extension service.  Massachusetts
    has lots of USDA publications you could (haven't been in a while) get
    free as opposed to paying for them from Washington.
    
    A word of warning regarding pressure canners.  Before you use them BE
    SURE you get the gage checked for accuracy.  If it is low you will not
    get an correct process and too high it could blow up.  This word is
    from the county ext. service who will check them for you.  
    
    See if they are having a canning/freezing talk somewhere.  It is worth
    the while.
    
    Kris