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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:24 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:22 pm
Posts: 8837
Tory wrote:
Coastal Carol is a WEALTH of information!! She's the one that helped me with my garden last summer! :D
(She also has way more energy than I do, :lol: )


How did she help you, Tory?


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:06 am 
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Through emails. She answered a lot of questions that I had and encouraged me to keep trying.
Just general info on gardens, planting, etc.
It's nice to have someone "in the know" to bounce ideas off of.

(She's another HSC'er that I've met in real life!! :D )


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:54 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 3:28 pm
Posts: 436
I don't feel like a wealth of information at all but thank you Tory! We are in a very similar climate so we can understand the issues each other has with gardening and can plant grow lots of the same things :) Plus it was really awesome meeting in person! :D I wish we lived closer!

So using the Presto canner was not much different. It really didn't seem like it heated up much faster than mine and seemed to take about the same time to reach pressure once the weight was put on. Cooling off was a little faster but didn't seem much faster. It took a good while for hers to cool off to the point the lock went down and it could be opened. The Presto has a lock that pops up when pressurized, then the weight jiggles while under pressure and processing. Once it got up to pressure, it didn't take much adjusting to get the burner setting tweaked. Hers was an electric stove and the dial was on 4 during processing.

The AA has a different style weight that doesn't jiggle but it does hiss and you can easily hear that it is pressurized. It has a gauge so you can see the pressure but the book says the purpose of the gauge is so you can see when pressure back down to zero so you can open the top. Once it gets up to pressure, I know where to set the burner dial, can listen for the hiss, and it usually doesn't have to be adjusted during canning.

So, I would be happy using either. :) I really love my AA and wouldn't trade it, but I wouldn't mind using the Presto either. My friend inherited hers from her MIL so it is from the 70's but still worked perfectly!

As for the weight of the canner, the 921 weighs about 20 pounds, plus the weight of the water you put in for pressure canning - about 1.5 gallon in mine - so maybe a little over 30 pounds? I set it on the burner, then add the water. After canning, I do carry it to the sink to clean but that is the only moving of it I do with it not empty. Maybe that gives you a weight to decide if you can manage. You could always use a cup to dip out the water then take to the sink to clean.


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:44 am 
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Posts: 8837
coastal Carol wrote:
So using the Presto canner was not much different. It really didn't seem like it heated up much faster than mine and seemed to take about the same time to reach pressure once the weight was put on. Cooling off was a little faster but didn't seem much faster. It took a good while for hers to cool off to the point the lock went down and it could be opened. The Presto has a lock that pops up when pressurized, then the weight jiggles while under pressure and processing. Once it got up to pressure, it didn't take much adjusting to get the burner setting tweaked. Hers was an electric stove and the dial was on 4 during processing.

The AA has a different style weight that doesn't jiggle but it does hiss and you can easily hear that it is pressurized. It has a gauge so you can see the pressure but the book says the purpose of the gauge is so you can see when pressure back down to zero so you can open the top. Once it gets up to pressure, I know where to set the burner dial, can listen for the hiss, and it usually doesn't have to be adjusted during canning.

So, I would be happy using either. :) I really love my AA and wouldn't trade it, but I wouldn't mind using the Presto either. My friend inherited hers from her MIL so it is from the 70's but still worked perfectly!

As for the weight of the canner, the 921 weighs about 20 pounds, plus the weight of the water you put in for pressure canning - about 1.5 gallon in mine - so maybe a little over 30 pounds? I set it on the burner, then add the water. After canning, I do carry it to the sink to clean but that is the only moving of it I do with it not empty. Maybe that gives you a weight to decide if you can manage. You could always use a cup to dip out the water then take to the sink to clean.



This may sound strange but going by the hissing may be a drawback for us. Dh uses hearing aids and I'm not far behind! He likes the jiggling weight because it's nostalgic. :) Then with the lighter weight.... Sounds like it might be a better fit for us. Maybe I can buy some gaskets ahead because it sounds like replacing those is the biggest issue people had.

Thanks so much for the comparison!


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:25 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 3:28 pm
Posts: 436
I like the jiggler too! I agree it may be easier to keep watch on it with the jiggler especially if hearing is an issue. You can see if bobbing around easily even if you can't hear it well.

I think have an extra gasket is a good idea and that really should be the only thing you'd ever need to replace.

Can't wait till you get started and tell us all about it!


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 1:45 pm 
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Posts: 436
Sis, I just finished canning 40 pounds of chicken breast and was thinking of you! We did 14 quarts and 10 or so pints. That is just the combination of empty wide mouth jars I had handy. Used some metal lids and some Tattler reusable lids and everything sealed. Now my mom is asking for some small jars of bans so will work on that before it starts getting hot here. My friend that I showed how to can, also got 40 pounds and is canning it up.


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 3:04 pm 
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Posts: 5828
I'm going to try canning some beans. I am the only one that eats them but I'd love to have some ready and not have to buy the store kind.
I'll need to get a canner, though.. or maybe I already have one. Who knows!?!?!?!
I packed up a lot of stuff and sometimes get surprised once I start sorting through it.
I DO remember dh and I canning some things so I must have something here to use for canning, right???
:roll:


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 3:23 pm 
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coastal Carol wrote:
Sis, I just finished canning 40 pounds of chicken breast and was thinking of you! We did 14 quarts and 10 or so pints. That is just the combination of empty wide mouth jars I had handy. Used some metal lids and some Tattler reusable lids and everything sealed. Now my mom is asking for some small jars of bans so will work on that before it starts getting hot here. My friend that I showed how to can, also got 40 pounds and is canning it up.


Amazing! Thanks for thinking of me. :) You buy the chicken fresh and then cut it up? or is it already cut up? You stick it in the jar and fill with.... water? Then process? Considering I pay about $2 for a small can of chicken...... what would you say the cost looks like?


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:42 pm 
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LOL Tory. That was my friend. I would be talking about canning and her dh said, I think we have some kind of canner out in the storage room that we got from mama. They found it and although it is from the 70's it still works perfectly and now they are hooked.

Sis, I got Zaycon Foods chicken breasts, comes in a 40 pound box per order, $1.99 per pound. It is fresh, boneless/skinless, very little needs to be trimmed off. We just had to cut up into chunks and stuff the jars. Then put on lid and process. So easy! I do raw pack and you don't add water. Just pack the raw chicken in and we added a little salt but that is optional. If you cook the meat first, then you would fill jar with water. The raw meat makes its own broth during canning. Obviously the meat is cooks during canning so pre-cooking before putting it in jars is just a matter of preference for the chicken.

Generally a quart jar holds about 2 pounds of meat and a pint jar holds about 1 pound of meat. So for $2 you would have a pint jar/one pound of meat ready to eat.

I started my canning practice with dried beans because I figured if I messed something up I wouldn't have lost much, just the cost of a bag of beans! That's how we learned how much we loved the home canned beans.


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 Post subject: Re: Pressure canning.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 11:01 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:14 pm
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I read this canning blog (for absolutely no good reason - as I've never canned a thing in my life).

Perhaps you folks who DO actually can would enjoy it : )

http://foodinjars.com/

_________________
http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/


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