Canning Upgrades

 I have canned a little on and off over the years. But for the last couple of years I have invested more time to store up and preserve our garden bounty and produce gleaned from the farmers market.
Canning isn't hard to do but it does require a few basic pieces of equipment and your time.
So, having hauled out the same old speckled canning pot over the years, I decided this year there had to be something better than rusty water to can my stuff in.
So, I did some research. And, yes, they do make a stainless steel canning pot! Not cheap though.

 So, I started listing some of my collections for sale and was gratified to actually find buyers!

 First order of business was to replace the old speckled and rusty canning pot with this one above. What a concept, being able to actually "see" when the water is boiling!   I love it! The handles are riveted too so the whole thing is securely put together. It will never rust.  By "Victorio."

 I expanded  my canning library. The Better Homes & Gardens Canning magazines always have great ideas each year.  My faves are the "Preserving By the Pint" and "Food in Jars."  I keep finding just what I need in those two books.
"Saving the Season" is like a canning textbook and has lots of ideas and good stories.  "Small Batch Preserving was an impulse purchase at Winners one day a while back. I've used one or two recipes from it so far.

 I recommend this old standby to anyone who is even thinking about canning. Everything in this works great and tastes wonderful!  Lots of good information.  You can find it in most stores that sell canning stuff.

 A number of folks had referred to this "fourth burner pot" on other blogs so I finally caved and got one too. It is very handy for so many things as it has a footed basket inside and if your produce gives you an extra jar to can and your big canning pot is full already, then this will do that one extra jar up in no time.  Good for jam jars and pint jars.

 I had been dividing some of my recipes between two pots as I didn't have one big enough to handle everything. Winners last week provided a reasonably priced solution in this great big stainless steel pot.  You just never know what you are going to find there!  Great gobs of tomatoes for sauce and a triple batch of green tomato mincemeat were no problem for this pot!

We found the gas cook top at a yard sale last year and hubby  made a counter for it and tucked it on the porch for me to use.  The counter is even shorted than normal so short me can use it comfortably and still see inside that big pot! How cool is that?!

And so, things have been processing along nicely this year.  If you are going to do something a lot, you want good tools and equipment to do it.  Sometimes it just takes years to get it all together.

Maybe next year I will give pressure canning a try.  That will require a lot more sales!

What's your favourite thing to can?

No, I am not affiliated with anyone, just sharing what has worked well for me.