Is canning bad for an electric stove?

[dustin92]

I had heard before- not sure where- that canning was bad for an electric stove's burners. Anyway, I went to my Grandparents house tonight and Grandma was water bath canning tomatoes. The calrod burner on her stove (newer Kenmore) was glowing brighter orange than I have ever seen before. Is this bad for them? We have a 90's Whirlpool electric stove, and we like to can as well, but this will be the first canning season in this house. If this is bad for the stove/burners, we have a Maytag gas stove in the downstairs kitchen that we will have to use.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Not that I know of. My gramma used the same BOL Hotpoint stove to do her canning every year for 20 years, without fail, and the only issue it ever had was that the large burner element had to be replaced once somewhere along the way. She water bath canned everything, beans, tomatos, corn, you name it, enough to feed a family of 6, they never bought a vegetable. (yeah I know, they say stuff like that needs to be pressure canned, but we never got sick). That stove also served as her water heater for 17 years, until my grampa got too old to carry the big water bath canner kettle from the kitchen to the bathtub, and they had a water heater installed. (In the winter the water for baths and dishes was heated on the wood stove, so the kitchen stove only served as a water heater in the spring and summer actually.)

She would still be using that stove, but one of the small burners hadnt worked since I was a toddler, (switch/knob needed replaced), and after 20 years of Easy-Off and Brillo pads being used way too often, there were holes eaten through the top of the oven liner, from around the broiler element supports, so the element just hung in open space. She was still using the stove till the day it left, but decided she deserved a new one after all those years with it, and didnt feel comfortable cleaning the oven anymore with it in the shape it was.

So as far as I can see, over zealous oven cleaning is more dangerous to the stoves well being than canning, lol.

 

[petek]

We did a lot of canning for years on our electric stove, both coil and glasstop and it never caused a problem. 

 

[tolivac]

Was a common chore at my moms house during the spring and summer-we had a canning line for tomatoes and other things from the garden in the backyard.In the Upper Marlboro,Md Levittown home-the GE cooktop handled the canning with ease.Just took awhile to get the large containers heated-but worked.

 

[frigilux]

We did a LOT of hot water bath canning for years on a 1967 36" Kenmore range with coil burners.

Having said that, I think you have to accept that there is risk for damage if canning on a glass top---and there's no way I'd can on a glass top with a canner that isn't perfectly flat on the bottom. Fortunately, I have both gas and electric ranges, and I use the gas range for my ribbed-bottom old-school water bath canner.

Speaking of which...the friends I can with each year (they provide the vegetables; I provide the kitchen and equipment) are coming on Saturday for session one. We're making salsa. We've tweaked the salsa recipe to perfection, and I look forward to it every year. They have two huge gardens with many varieties of tomatoes and peppers. When the next batch of tomatoes are ready, we'll make a tomato-vegetable juice (which we call "V-Ain't"), and in session three, we'll make a tomato casserole/sauce "starter" which is basically tomatoes with some onion, bell pepper and a few seasonings.

We started following recommended guidelines for adding a tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to pints (two tablespoons to quarts) for all our tomato products. The lower acidity of some varieties of tomatoes is so close to the line where pressure canning is recommended that we don't want to tempt fate. Besides, it brightens the flavor a bit.

Here's a link from NDSU (North Dakota State University) which talks about the all-important pH level of tomato products. We do not use their salsa recipe, although it looks like a good one.[this post was last edited: 8/24/2012-04:58]

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/fn1396.pdf

 

[tomturbomatic]

The most dangerous thing about some old water bath canners is that the bottoms are far from flat, have ridges or are recessed above the bottom edge of the side walls. That enables them to use thinner gauge steel and still have strength, but means they either don't sit flat on the electric element or, in the worst cases, sit on the stove top over the surface unit. Electric range manuals through the 1940s warned about these canners and the "Victory" pressure canners produced during the war where the kettle was porcelain on steel with lugs around the top to hold a pressure lid. They shared almost all of the above cited disadvantages. These would not perform well on an electric stove and ran the risk of ruining the porcelain stove top & shortening the life of the element as well as permanently discoloring the chrome trim rings on later post-war ranges. Range elements are not meant to run red or orange, either all over or in spots. You would be doing a great thing to replace these canners with a flat based pan that will conduct heat directly from the surface unit. Doing so will save electricity, prevent further damage to the range and element and considerably speed up the whole process, to say nothing of keeping waste heat from heating up the kitchen.

 

[danemodsandy]

Well....

....There's this.

Any utensil that has a bottom diameter much larger than the burner can cause certain kinds of damage to an electric stove.

It can concentrate heat under the utensil, leading to discoloration of burner bowls, and even burning the chrome off them.

And it can overheat the surrounding rangetop surface, leading to discoloration of brushed chrome and stainless tops, or crazing of porcelain ones.

Jenn-Air used to make a "canning element" that raised the utensil above the level of the cooktop, to prevent this problem.

 

[tomturbomatic]

WP and KitchenAid make the canning element also. The WP's price is much below that of the KA for the same element. I have had no problems on any of my ranges using cast aluminum canners. The bases are flat enough so that the edge of the element does not get red hot to radiate excess heat between the canner and the stovetop. In the early 60s, higher end GE ranges had higher wattage "hi-rise" elements which actually sat higher above the cooktop. They were also the tilt-lock elements where the trim ring was not attached to the support.

 

[volvoguy87]

GE Hi-Rise

Those GE elements are still available.

Dave

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Why canning should be bad for a stove electric or gas it will be ? I'm asking since I can't really figure out what problem would be..... It is a stove and I would expect it would act and do what a stove is intended to do..... So cooking, boiling and so also canning naturally......
A stove as it should be must be heat proof as for porcelain finishing etc.....
Elements as well....I do have a few portable ranges with coils that we bring on camping with which we can peaches and tomatoes along with a few gas ones, we've a very large garden at father's house and abot 20 peach trees....so you can imagine how much they work in summertime and canning periods, actually I have to use them this Sunday as we will can some tomatoes. They both gets of course nicely orange and or red, I would never get boiling water for pasta or broil and or grill a steak if it was not so.....I don't use either perfectly flat pots and pans and casseroles, some non stick lightweight I bring on camping actually are a little bent and or dented....I would never bring on camping stainless or heavier stuff....
I still have them since 6 years and bought them used....I don't see how a full sixe would be different.
I would never mind to can on an electric stove, I personally really don't see why I'd have to be concerned to....
I think they're made on purpose to cook, boil and so even canning? no?
It is just me thinking this way?

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Maybe it depends from the height of the coils as mentioned, a good stove should always have them enough high to prevent overheating of the surface I think......
Also should avoid such problems and finishinh should be enough strong.....I don't have full size electric stove just portable ranges as said....
I find absurd that an elecric stove would have such "limits" and you could not can with them or they may produce damages if used for canning or by the over-heat.....
It is first time that I think of a thing like that and this just leaves me bewildered.......

 

[firedome]

Been pressure canning for 40 years

with a huge one that holds 16 pints, on various GEs, never a problem, and we'd put up 40 pints of beans in a session. We grew all our vegs for the year for a family of 5, you name it we canned it and still do.

 

[mrb627]

Glass Top?

Not sure I would do it with a glass top range.

Malcolm

 

[hunter]

I do but I do it with care.

I can on my smoothtop all the time. This is how I do it:

1. I have an All American Pressure Canner. It has a flat bottom. As I understand it, the big Presto canners do too, and they actually certify it.

2. Kitchenaid Whirlpool tells me 50 pounds per burner max weight, but don't let the canner hang over the edge of the burner more than 1 inch.

3. My canner doesn't hang over more than 1.25 inch so I don't worry about it.

4. I put the cold canner on the range top and fill it with other pots.

5. Heat the canner.

6. Can the stuff.

7. If pressure canning, do NOT move it but turn the heat off and let it come down to room temperature.

8. If water bath canning, take the stuff out and then turn off the heat and let it come down to temperature.

9. After the canner is cold either a) dip the water out or b) "hug" it to myself and pick it off the range.

I feel that if I were to drop the canner it would shatter the glass, so I don't pick up hot canners ever.

Your mileage may vary, of course. All American told me they couldn't recommend canning on a glass smoothtop because you could drop the canner. The folks at Kitchenaid whirlpool were quite happy to give me weight maximums.

 

[dustin92]

We have an enameled canner (ridges on bottom) and I guess if it doesn't work well on the electric stove, we can do it on the gas one downstairs. We usually can quarts of tomatoes, pints of chili sauce, quarts and pints of applesauce, and half pints of various jams and jellies. (The jams and jellies can usually be done in a smaller pan)

 

[dustin92]

Vintagekitchen- my other grandma cans most all vegetables and she doesn't use a pressure canner either. We have canned tomatoes and chili sauce for years and never even water bath it, just make sure the jars have been bleached and are hot, and the lids and rings are in boiling water. We have lost a few jars over the years, but your nose knows! If a jar unseals it is emptied in the trash. We are very careful and nobody has ever gotten sick from them.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

My grandma canned for years on her avocado Kelvinator electric stove (and probably wehatever most-likely electric range/ranges she'd had before it!)...!

It lasted twenty-years-and-hundreds-of-stuff-boiled-and-stuffed-in-jars, before she'd retired it to the basement w/ the ORIGINAL BURNERS!

--...Just to make way for a Magic Chef electric range to go w/ her new Magic Chef fridge, she'd unfortunately got rid of her old, no-longer-working avocado Kelvinator fridge for...

-- Dave

 

[mixfinder]

Up in Flames

I gave a friend a yellow CI Frigidaire doouble oven range.  She did tons of cooking for her Indian tribe as well as Senior Meals on Wheels.  Sadly, clean wasn't high on her list.  She was canning and had two kettles perched over the larger elements although the control panel kept the rear canner from centering.  Both burners running on high with pots covering the elements and more raised the temperature high enough to ignite the grease gathered below the burners on the floor of the burner area. By the time she was aware, the stove and one side of her kitchen were a total loss.  I help friends can outside on a two burner propane camping stove that stands on legs.  There is room for two large canners side by side.  It saves the look and performance of the vintage range and keeps the heat, flies and mess outside.

 

[arbilab]

Is there a plugin appliance that would solve all these worries and be designed for the application? Sounds like there should.