Preference of Gas or Electric ranges?

[johnrk]

Reply to John L

I do apologize--I must've left the impression that AA canners don't work well on electric ranges, possibly due to something inherent. Not true.

The reason that electric ranges have not been considered ideal for canning was the weight of the canners on the burners, not for any other reason. And certainly AA does recommend against using their canners on any type of electric range that is smooth-top--again, due to the weight.

I'm delighted that you're still canning! Because I have the microwave/range hood combo I'm limited to having two 10.5 quart and one 15.5 quart because of the height. One of my 10.5 quart is a unit I've owned for 30 years, bought used then. I've replaced the lid fittings and it works as well as the one I bought new a few years ago. As you know, the 'jigglers' are more accurate than pressure gauges anyway, and the great part is that the old Mirro-Matic 5/10/15 jigglers match the AA ones.

The issue with the Hawkins pressure cookers is that they will, even made of heavy aluminum, distort over time so that they don't sit absolutely flat. Being the largest maker of pc's in the world, Hawkins does make a line of stainless steel pc's now. But I started using them way before that.

 

[johnrk]

Another for John L

Where is this that you are canning all this produce?

 

[combo52]

Canning Location

This is part of the museum kitchen in Beltsville

 

[johnrk]

Canning

Thanks for your reply! I see you're using small canners as I do. I have a couple of relatives who have the 30 quart and/or the 41.5 quart canners. Two of my cousins who have the 41.5 quart use a setup in their garages with gas burners (rather like some do with turkey fryers these days) and both had stands made for their canners. As you can imagine, there's no way that anyone could lift either of these. I have seen people using the 30 quart on gas ranges, but not the 41.5 quart. It would seem to me that they would be too talk to comfortably reach other, on a range.

I don't have many relatives in agriculture, but I do have a number who raise large quantities of vegetables for religious reasons. However, they don't do much canning, instead freezing--because they don't keep them for extended periods. When Hurricane Ike came through here several years ago I lost a whole chest freezer of food and it ruined the freezer. I never replaced it, have instead just gone back to canning.