(Part 2) Top products from r/Canning

I'd highly recommend a canning book from a reputable source, for instance the Ball Blue Book or Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving are some very, very good places to start. I'd also recommend starting with water bath canning, and after you're comfortable with the mechanics venturing into pressure canning if you feel like it. Until you are very confident, don't deviate from the recipes at all. No extra ingredients, no halving or doubling recipes (especially jam, pectin's a finicky thing), and no subbing different sized jars. Once you get the hang of it, you can start to fudge a little bit, but at first I'd definitely play it safe and stick straight to the recipe; this is more fussy than regular cooking. Water bath canning is only for high-acid foods, and even tomato sauce recipes for canning require extra lemon juice, so definitely follow your recipe.

As far as equipment, technically all you really need are a pot to hold the jars as they boil, something to pull the hot jars out of the water with, and some kind of rack to keep them off the bottom of the pot (extra canning rings placed along the bottom, a cake rack, whatever works). Nothing else is technically needed, though I tried this method with just the extra rings and with spring-loaded tongs and made quite a mess, then immediately sprung for some toys.

I'd recommend this kit, the polypropolene basket doesn't melt even during long canning sessions and it's small enough to use in an eight or ten quart pot, which a lot of people already have at home. To make sure your pot's big enough, put a jar in the pot and make sure it could be covered with at least an inch or two of water. Taller pots are obviously more helpful than lower, wider ones. The kit comes with three jars, which is okay, and the recipe book it comes with scales down a lot of their most popular recipes so you can just make a few jars to test them out.

I'd also recommend a canning funnel, and a jar lifter. Something to measure headspace is also handy, there's a little plastic doohickey for that (looks like this) but if you don't mind keeping a plastic ruler around, it's not required. A set like this would definitely cover all your bases.

Keep in mind that while the jars and rings are reusable, the lids with the sealing compounds are not. If you feel a canning binge come on, be sure to buy an extra little box of just the lids because you'll be upset if you run out!

Good luck!! I'm still a novice canner myself, and I've only ever done water bath canning, but I've already got taco sauce, jams, jellies, pickles and canned fruit (I love canning pears!) under my belt so I've got at least a little bit of a clue!

What I always suggest is to first decide what you're going to can, how much you will be canning at one time and what size jars you will be canning in.

These are important to know because, as others have said, jellies, jams, fruits, pickles and properly acidified tomatoes can be done in a water bath canner, while vegetables and meats must be pressure canned.

Knowing what size of jars you are going to be using makes a difference in what size of canner(s) you will need. If you're canning for a family, you will likely need to use quart sized jars. But if you are a single person or a couple, you will probably only want to do pint jars.

Too, it's customary that jams or jellies are canned in half-pint jars although it is perfectly acceptable to do them in pints if you will use that much jam in a reasonable amount of time once it's been opened. Large mouth jars (both pints and quarts) and their lids are more more expensive than the regular mouth jars. However, meats and things like whole pickles or pickle spears almost require large-mouth jars.

The jar size also matters because some canners don't work with larger sized jars. Also, very large canners will accept two layers of jars which is great for canning many jars at a time but time and energy wasting to use for small batches.

To get started water-bath canning, the only must haves are:

1. Jars
   
2. Lids and rings
   
3. Stock pot or canner (with lid) at least 3" deeper than your jars
   
4. Jar lifter
   
5. Trivet to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the pot (a layer of extra jar rings works brilliantly for this)
   
   The most affordable places to buy these supplies are going to be somewhere local to you. None are very expensive at all. Some water-bath canners come with a rack inside them, which is both a trivet and a jar lifter itself. New boxes of jars come with lids and rings. The rings (also called bands) are reusable, the lids are not, but anywhere that sells the jars will have more lids. Walmart, Target, K-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, ACE Hardware and places like that will have nearly everything you need for water-bath canning.
   
   As for pressure canning, you will need:
   
   
6. Jars
   
7. Lids and rings
   
8. Jar lifter
   
9. Pressure canner (equipped with lid, gasket, weight, gauge & trivet)
   
   I highly recommend that you read up and shop around before buying a pressure canner. They are somewhat of an investment at between $70 and $400. When you're ready to select a pressure canner, come back and ask and I know everyone around here will help you decide what's right for you. The inexpensive canners are very good but there are also very good reasons to buy a more pricey one and it takes a whole post in itself to discuss them!
   
   Something inexpensive and very nice to have is a little canning set like this no matter which method of canning you do. These tools will be safer to use rather than winging it and will save you infinite amounts of time and frustration. I've seen these same sets at Walmart for something like $8-$10.
   
   I hope this helps!

I don't know if the budget is big enough for a steam juicer (you can get a basic model for about $100) but he might love one if he makes jelly.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0007VW61S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1449075187&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=back+to+basics+steam+juicer&dpPl=1&dpID=41FSFZh7BFL&ref=plSrch

A nicer set of utensils could be a winner - I love my set from Progressive. The funnel works for regular or wide mouth jars, the lifting clamp is nicely padded, and the magnetic stick has a comfortable to hold loop.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007QT4H7A/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1449074675&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=progressive+canning+tools&dpPl=1&dpID=41p8pPQk4fL&ref=plSrch

More jars might be good but new lids are always useful and they make plastic screw on caps you can use after the seal on a jar is broken and you are storing it in the refrigerator. Does he use pectin, or lemon juice a lot? Consumables are what I'm getting at.

I'm sorry that happened. I love jams and jam-making (just canned 5 pints of spiced plum jam, YUM!). /u/Masil123 pretty much hit the nail on the head. I always keep a multitude of LARGE pots at my disposal when making jam and I never start a second jam until the first one has finished processing. While I know the Ball book is the "holy grail" of canning, I am personally in love with [Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round] (http://www.amazon.com/Food-Jars-Preserving-Batches-Year-Round/dp/0762441437/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371929402&sr=1-1&keywords=small+jars). It cans in smaller batches (because I never can 23 quarts of anything), the instructions are clear and concise with lovely pictures and stories, the recipes are all fantastic (and, in some cases, very creative) and I just generally find it to be better than most canning books I've used, especially for someone who is canning for the joy of canning and food as opposed to stocking up/selling/preserving their farm. Good luck on your future jam adventures.

A good place to start is this book. I had a lot of weird old translated notes/recipes from this old woman's mother who lived in France. I guess that this kind of cellaring was really common over there in Provence. Its been great for us because we get produce pretty much only in season and preserve for the whole year. From what I can tell, by varying the methods of preservation we can balance what kind of nutrition loss we experience. I love some of the oil, vinegar, fermentation storage methods because the food comes out tasting pretty close to fresh stuff. I ate some 1 year old carrots the other day that were still crisp and awesome. :)

If money is no object a copper pot for making jams and jellies is lovely. Something similar to this.

If you live in a hot environment it's nice to have a propane stove for canning outdoors in the Summer.

This food mill/strainer is great for making tomato juice and sauce.

http://www.amazon.com/Victorio-VKP250-Strainer-Sauce-Maker/dp/B001I7FP54/ref=sr_1_1

If you don't have a dedicated water bath canner that comes with a jar basket, finding a stainless steel rack that fits into the pot you plan on using is also a very useful thing to have. It elevates the jars off the bottom.

A steam juicer is also a nice piece of equipment.

A conical food press is also useful.

http://www.amazon.com/Mirro-9605000A-Canning-Accessories-Wooden/dp/B00002N5ZQ/ref=sr_1_12?

A good metal ladle that portions food in 1/2 or 1 cup measures makes things easier.

Cloth jelly bags are useful.

http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-615-Jelly-Strainer-Piece/dp/B001FBEHFC/ref=sr_1_1

A canning lid rack can be useful, I like mine but most don't use them.

http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-605-Canning-Lid-Rack/dp/B0000CF39X/ref=sr_1_8

Tattler lids are always useful since you can reuse them.

http://www.amazon.com/Tattler-Reusable-Regular-Size-Canning/dp/B0051PDXCQ/ref=sr_1_3

I use a steam canner and love it! It's way faster than when I tried waterbath canning and I haven't had any problems. It's also super fast for doing multiple batches in a row.

That said, they are not expensive, so if you're interested, just buy one. Mine has a gauge on top that tells me when it's safe to start timing, so I wouldn't' want to diy it. This is mine: https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Temperature-Indicator-VICTORIO-VKP1054/dp/B0058SSUV0/ref=pd_sbs_79_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0058SSUV0&pd_rd_r=59225c0d-af18-11e8-ad5d-f9d1f1abea37&pd_rd_w=dBe9U&pd_rd_wg=nia5l&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=0bb14103-7f67-4c21-9b0b-31f42dc047e7&pf_rd_r=FK1SR8MDDNGXJDJM7P4J&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=FK1SR8MDDNGXJDJM7P4J

Fleet Farm if you have one near you has the best prices on jars. If no fleet farm Kmart, Walmart, Target, grocery stores and hardware stores all have jars. The jars will be cheaper at the "Big Box" stores jars come with lids and rings. You can reuse the rings as long as they are not rusty or dented. The lids you can only use once. The first thing I would recommend canning is a jam. You don't need a pressure cooker for jam. Usually use pint size jars are used for jam. I prefer wide mouth jars.
I use quart size jars for everything. They make good drinking glasses and can be used like Tupperware. I own countless jars. I would recommend buying these storage lids for use after you open up canned food for storage in the refrigerator. I also love my cuppow it makes any jar a spill proof drinking glass. Nothing says "classy" like drinking out of a bell jar!

You can find a recipe in a book called Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning. But it is one of those things that is not common practice anymore because of the risk of spoilage. I did it one year with sweet roasted peppers but couldn't really relax about spoilage so I didn't eat the whole jar. You could roast them and can them instead, which is safer.

If you want to make an infused oil with the fresh pepper, the most common way is to heat up the oil (google-fu will help you) to ensure that pathogens are eliminated. It's much more common though to use dried peppers i.e.; http://www.domenicacooks.com/2014/01/olio-santo/

To get her started, I would get her a book like this one, and depending on her stove top a water bath canner for gas/electric or flat top, also this set, and don't forget the jars. There are probably other stores than Amazon to buy these things, I usually get great deals at Ace hardware. There are some other great books out there, and depending on what she is interested in, a pressure canner is a big one too.

This One

The link is to a "Weighted Gauge Pressure Canner". This is a better alternative to the "Dial Gauge Pressure Canner."

Weighted Gauge Canners are self-regulating--they do not need to be watched every second of operation. Dial gauge canners need to be watched closely every minute to prevent OVER-PRESSURIZATION.

Get good info from the USDA Guide to Canning Meat, Poultry and Fish

Good luck and Happy Canning!

The cash layout for equipment to get started is pretty small if you're not getting a pressure canner (I've been canning for years and I'm just now thinking about getting a pressure canner). If you get one of these, you don't even need to buy a canner as long as you have a deep stock pot. It's also really common to find canning equipment at Goodwill or garage sales.

I'm a big fan of jalapeno jelly and tomato raisin chutney. Both are really tasty and versatile, so we eat them a lot, and also really impressive for taking to parties as an appetizer with some cream cheese and crackers.


Edit: Kind of a long shot, but are you comfortable saying what area you live in? I'm planning to replace my canner with a larger one this month. If you're in the Portland, OR area you can have the old one. I think shipping it would probably cost more than buying a new one locally if you're not close.

Well, you can't beat free!

This one I got is $54 on Amazon, and has a built in thermometer. I've used it dozens of times in the past three years, and it's been great. It's definitely more than the black enameled pot, but I've loved having it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058SSUV0/

No! This is not a safe canning method, "open kettle canning" should not be used! It's especially dangerous for the types of sauces you want to make! As stated in the post above from lissabeth777:

http://extension.psu.edu/food/preservation/news/2014/avoid-open-kettle-canning

"You'll want to get bottles that have been tested to seal in home waterbath canners like these or you can use the super small 4 oz jars with the two piece lids like this.

Also, you need to use an approved safe recipe such as this ketchup or this BBQ sauce"

I would suggest using the tiny 4 oz canning jars instead of 8 oz. Half as many batches of jam to make! And also, those jars are going to be really heavy to carry to the reception, so this would make them a bit more manageable. We did this for my sisters wedding (although we only had to make about 70) and that size seemed perfect for favours. We decorated them with fabric circles under the lids and little custom labels tied on with pretty martha stewart baking twine.

You should be able to find lids (seals) pretty inexpensive on Amazon or from a farm/agriculture supply store. I'm in the US, so we have a large selection of types/prices of jars. I usually get 12 pints for $7.99 with lids and bands. Lids run about $2 or $3 a box here at either Walmart, Target or the local hardware store. I've even found canning stuff at my local grocery store.

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Bernardin-Mason-Jar-Lids-GEM/dp/B000G6XVOA/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1473063133&sr=1-1&keywords=canning+lids&refinements=p_89%3ABernardin

They are even cheaper if you buy them in bulk. Make sure you know if you need wide mouth or regular lids.

We use a Ball 21 quart on our glass top and it is fantastic. Fits about 7 quart jars (depending on wide-mouth / narrow-mouth). We love it. It was a bit pricey, but totally worth it to speed things up when canning big batches.

We also sprung for the stainless steel jar rack, since the standard ones always tend to rust at the welds after a couple of months of use.

A couple of the regular books mentioned already here would be good. Jars and lids are always appreciated in my house. Other ideas....

one piece lids for storing the opened jar in the fridge.

plastic storage lids works for me too.

Dont let fear hold you back. Get the Ball Blue Book. Follow the rules and you will be fine. Get in touch with your local extension service they can provide you with much useful information.

I love these two books.

Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserving, 37Th Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OEJZSNW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_1-9JBbQN2ECKT

Putting Food By: Fifth Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452296226/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_F.9JBb1D8E5JE

1. No
   
   
2. Not the best procedure, I usually keep the Apple butter in the big pot it cooked in, filling the jars just before they go into the canner for less thermal loss and less thermal shock. And, no, don't stack the jars in the canner.
   
   
3. never seen any recipes for small jars, but I've got a special rack that's not divided, and holds more than the standard 7 jars when using 8oz, or smaller, jars.
   
   
4. Apple butter cooks down for a long time, peels shouldn't negatively effect the end product as long as you wash the apples well and follow canning cleanliness procedures.
   
   I've been processing mine in my Squeezo strainer for decades, before that, a manual food mill, peeling was not part of the process.
   
   Bonus timing; I'm canning Apple Butter today! ;)

It is a lot of money for a water bath canner with limited capacity. Ball sells a small batch kit with a little basket and canning tools for under twenty bucks. It fits in a regular stockpot and comes with a few jars and tools. If the automatic one also did pressure canning recipes I could possibly see it being an ok purchase, but all the stuff I've read makes it out to be a glorified water bath canner.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003ENB1KI?pc_redir=1408853157&robot_redir=1

You could get a separate gas burner that runs off a PB cylinder... Like this for example:

https://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-High-Pressure-Outdoor/dp/B000291GBQ

If you're growing your own food, and maybe also keep poultry, then you really can't go without one of these anyway.

These are the grommets and these are the lids, and it looks like you can just buy the whole thing already assembled.

Buy a turkey fryer.

Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan.

http://amzn.com/0762441437

https://www.amazon.com/Not-Your-Mamas-Canning-Book/dp/1624142613

Steam juicer, it lets you maximize your juice.

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-A12-Aluminum-Juicer/dp/B0007VW61S

Calcium Chloride.

Okay

If your glass stove won't work, these work well with the standard sized pressure canner.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000I14C7I/

I used mine so much, I finally burned out the element, but the price is decent!

If everything is dehydrated, I would vacuum seal it instead of pressure canning. There are adapters that come with vacuum sealers that will do canning jars. Haunt Freecycle or Craig's List for free or cheap sealers.

So...I hated doing the lids until I got myself one of these puppies and never looked back. No more picking up more than one lid with the magnet!! Bonus is that you can store the rings on the handle.

Mine is an older version of this.

Just did the yesterday with one of those wedge cutters that cuts the core out and makes 8 pieces. Maybe 20 minutes cook to soften, 10 minutes through the saucers. Wouldn't make sauce without it.

I've since switched to doing all my pickles through fermentation, but back when I was canning them I used "pickle crisp" (http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B003IOEWL8) to stop them from being mushy. Can't remember what it's made of, but I do remember that it worked.

If you're serious about preserving and storing, I'd suggest getting a FoodSaver, a pair of jar sealers and a package of oxygen absorbers.

This will enable you to store nuts, grains, coffee and tea with very little loss of flavor.

I got a waring one. I always find myself running out of burners when cooking for a crowd so for me it was killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

I recently bought this one, my first pressure canner. I've used it twice and so far I love it. No complaints.

The recipe you have does not conform to modern standards. Most recipes in the Ball Blue Book (the "canning bible") are usually equal parts vinegar and water, or close to it. Then, after you pack them, you have to "process" the jars in boiling water in a pot, with a rack - a water-bath canning pot. You "process" the jars for a period of time to make sure any residual bacteria are killed.

[This video from Ball, "Canning 101,"] (https://www.amazon.com/Ball-Blue-Book-Guide-Preserving/dp/B00OEJZSNW/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1466649871&sr=1-1&keywords=ball+blue+book) will introduce you to what to do and why.

Your pickles aren't fermenting - they're rotting. They may contain botulism, which is a dangerous toxin that can kill. Please get rid of what you have, making sure to box them up and make sure that animals (pets) can't eat them. Take them somewhere for proper disposal.