 It is always exciting to hear from a reader who has jumped with both feet into the wacky world of canning! I love to hear the stories and see the results because it is wonderful to know that the art is being passed on. As I hear the excitement in the notes attached to photos, it takes me back to my early days of canning with visions of my first little kitchen, its unfinished concrete floor, boxes of bottle lambs in the corner and my brand, spankin’ new pressure canner gleaming on the stove. That was a long time ago. I received this photo from reader, Carol, who really took on some unusual produce to attempt her first experience in pressure canning. She wrote the following: “The farmer’s market started last Saturday and bought some nice fresh asparagus and spinach and had some mushrooms from the grocery. I took my pressure cooker for a test drive then I commenced to canning! 3 pints of asparagus, 3 pints of spinach, 4 1/2 pints of mushrooms. I am so excited. I have always wanted to do this. ( I know, I need to get a life) I have never canned or used a pressure cooker before. My family is terrified of pressure cookers after my Grandma exploded one while cooking stew and for years they found splats of stew around they kitchen and it took forever to get it all off the ceiling…” So I am offering a “congratulations!!!” to Carol for overcoming the family phobia and successfully processing some really unique items! 🙂 Yay! |
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Tags: canning, food processing
LOL That was great! I just canned what I like to eat… Are they unusual?
I want to can some other stuff too. Hot peppers, pickles, some mushroom stock, and maybe homemade dog and cat food…. What else?
Thinking……….
You go girl!!! 🙂
As far as unusual, I just got a grin because most people start out with something like green beans or corn. I’m just proud that you EAT asparagus, spinach and mushrooms – some of my favorites. There are a bunch of people out there who turn up their nose as such produce!!
I can but do not own a pressure cooker for the same reasons described.That said I have been eying them at the store. Reassurance seems to be in my blood.
Marlyn, as with driving a car, flying a plane or operating a band saw, a healthy respect and understanding of the equipment is necessary. If one follows directions, does not go off and leave a pressure canner and keeps the canner clean and well-cared for, one should never have any problems!!
I agree, I took it serious and I actually read the little instruction and caution book ( I know, I never read these things) then I test drove it… put some water in and heated it up and watched the dial, kind of got used to how it acted and how to adjust the heat before I put any jars in it. Also, I stayed in the kitchen for the most part because I was also watching the dial to make sure I was maintaining the right pressure. It really wasn’t that bad, I was slow on the first batch since I kept referring to the “Ball Blue Book” for the canning steps and also the P. Cooker for all the steps but by the third batch I was familiar with them and it seemed to go fast.
P.S. My grandma was making stew, with dumplings and it was the dumplings that clogged the vent and cause the cooker to explode. The instructions talk about that, not canning pasta, flour, dumplings, dough, stuff like that….. Also some items you only can in certain size jars, etc…. I think you would be safe as long as you followed the instructions and kept an eye on your cooker.
I’m wondering if a pressure canner and a pressure cooker are basically the same. Can you use them interchangeably? It might be handy to only have one or the other but I don’t know if that would work. Thanks!
I don’t know… Mine is HUGE so I doubt I would ever cook that much of anything in it. I don’t think I could lift it if it was full… Also, I think it is aluminunm which I don’t cook in anyway. The cooking ones that I have seen are more like a large sauce pan. Mine is 23 quarts or something like that… Mary Beth probably knows…
Hi Beth. No, there is a difference between a pressure canner and a pressure cooker. A pressure cooker is smaller, but also, it only has one pressure at which it cooks. A canner with either the weight or the guage has different pressure settings depending on what one is canning. One can use a pressure canner to cook in but it would be enormous amounts of food. Normally, a pressure cooker runs between 4 and 6 quarts so is pretty small while a canner runs between 12 qts as the smallest and on up to as many as 23 qts.
Too funny about Grandma & your fears. I am the same way. All I heard growing up was how one exploded on my Nana and it could have really hurt her. What I recently learned they left out was how she had not screwed it down or whatever. So, it was her own fault not the pressure canner/cooker. I am scared of course though. We just started canning about a month or two ago ourselves. I have made hubby be the own to manage the canner b/c I am scared and it is an older one that was his grandmother’s. HOWEVER, I just got to order an All American on Amazon.com last weekend and it arrived yesterday. I think I will feel a little braver with a newer one. So far, we have canned homemade chicken stock (your recipe) and 20 quarts of carrots. We did Strawberry Jam last weekend too. There are so many items on the to-do list for when the garden is producing.
Oh, and thank you for your post on dehydrating and vaccum sealing stuff in can jars. I am one too that jumped in feet first. You wouldn’t believe all the stuff I have done. I do say to those who left cabbage, swiss chard, spinach, etc. get too large at the end of the growning season do shred and dry that stuff. Stuff I have dehydrated and canned: swiss chard, spinach (made a powder), cabbage, apples, bananas, strawberries, pineapple and carrots.
I would love for you to do a post on how you dehydrate some of the fruits. My bananas were quite leathery! Fine for baking, but too hard on the teeth. The fruit leather I made tore as if it were cardboard. I was hoping for stuff like the Stretch Island brand. I did put some honey, but would love more about adding specific amounts to stuff to make it good. I am sure I am the one in error.
Lacey, I dehydrated cabbage last night. I will definitely take your suggestion and start working on some fruits and leathers to post.