Pressure Canners

[kenmore71]

I'm going to weigh in here with the instructions from USDA bulletin #539 dated December 2009.

Canning dried beans -
Wash. Soak 12 to 18 hours. Drain water.
Cover with fresh water and boil 30 minutes
Fill hot jars with beans and cooking water leaving 1" headspace.
Salt may be added (1/2 t. for pts., 1 t. for qts.)
Seal.
Process at 10 lbs. (for sea level to 1000 ft., 15 lbs. above 1000 feet)
pts. for 75 minutes
qts. for 90 minutes

In my opinion if you are processing for less than that you are flirting with disaster.

 

[danmantn]

Contact your local agriculture extent ion office to test your gauge/canner....most will do it for free. And don't forget to contact your stove mfg to see if youncan can on tip...newer stove need flat bottom pans, which the old brands don't have...make a call, save your stove.

 

[mattl]

Thanks for all the info.  I may try some pint jars in my std. pressure cooker just to see how they turn out. 

 

[hunter]

Matt:

Matt, you're welcome. I have found that Walmart and Target have the best prices on sugar, and (interestingly enough) sometimes Walgreens has great sales on Domino cane sugar occasionally.

Gone are the days of $1.99 for a 5 pound bag though! Cane sugar here is about $.70 per pound.

I do find them somewhere more reasonable in 50 pound sacks at Sams Club. However, if that's the only reason why you want the membership the cost of the membership has to be taken into account.

At the end of canning season you can sometimes find phenomenal prices on Presto pressure canners at Walmart. (Sadly, they are now made in China; only All American in Wisconsin are made in USA now.

The canner I bought worried me at first - I worried about hairline cracks and you can bet I vacated the kitchen when I used it! But it WAS still wrapped in packing paper so I wasn't TOO worried.

The presto pressure canners are aluminum, but food is in jars so no worries about acid food touching the pot, I guess.

I've attached a link to Amazon for a 16 quart presto -- you can use that as a baseline price if you're interested in hunting around. I HAVE seen them in walmart for half that end of season!

Amazon.com

 

[westie2]

Detroit area canner

Matt here is a craigslist in the Detroit are for a Nationial (Presto) canner just like the one we have that we bought at a estate sale yeas ago. These are the cast canners.