Essential Canning Tools
We do a lot of canning at our house. For one, I really enjoy it. Other reasons we do it include saving money, making healthy alternatives to store-bought food, having easy meals on the shelf, and having a full larder in case of hard times.
If you are new to canning and are wondering what you need, here are a few essentials that we use consistently in preparing our canned goods.
Items you will likely need to get if you have never canned before:
Presto Pressure Canner - You can purchase a water bath canner and/or a pressure canner, but I prefer the pressure canner because it gives you more options. You can water bath can and pressure can using only one canner rather than having a separate canner for each purpose. This saves on shelf space. Furthermore, the pressure canner has a nice flat bottom rack, unlike the old water bath canners with the baskets that allowed the jars to tilt at odd angles. Pressure canners can also double as pressure cookers, giving you yet more ways to use your pot. We personally like the 23 qt. size because you can double stack pint jars, allowing you to can more at one time.
These can be found many places online and in-person. You can find them at hardware stores and superstores. Keep an eye out at thrift stores and yard sales - sometimes you can get them for a great price! Just be sure to have the pressure gauge and seal checked before using it. This is something you should do every year as part of your pre-canning maintenance.
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| Presto 01781 Pressure Canner and Cooker, 23 Qt. Photo courtesy of Amazon |
Jar Lifter - A jar lifter is helpful for lifting your jars into the canner without touching the hot water and for moving your hot jars out of the canner on onto the counter. They are easy to use, grip well, and are an improvement over the old style my mom had when I was a kid.
Stainless Steel Canning Funnel - A canning funnel is such a help for getting your contents into your jar with no mess. It makes filling your jars simple and easy. There are a number of canning kits out there that have several extra tools beyond a funnel and a jar lifter. I have found that I personally don't use most of these extra items. However, other people love the extras, and these kits can be a great way to try out all the tools.
Canning Jars with Lids and Rings - We use a variety of canning jars. Regular mouth quart jars are great for items like juice, applesauce, pie filling, and soup. Wide mouth quart jars are nice for larger items like pickles, pears, potatoes, and peaches. We tend to use regular mouth pint size jars for jams and jellies, pickled items like dilly beans, vegetables like corn and green beans, relishes, and sauces. You can use wide mouth pint jars for the same items and for smaller amounts of potatoes, pears, and peaches. We also have jelly jars (half-pint) for smaller amounts of jams and jellies. This size is a favorite for canned tuna as well.
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving - I highly recommend that you have a reliable canning guide. It will give you instructions for safe canning methods, which is crucial. It also provides numerous recipes and ideas for preserving your food.
Items you likely have in your kitchen already:
Stainless Steel Soup Ladle - This is essential for getting the hot water, brine, syrup, jam, etc. to your jar. Having a nice ladle that pours well, in combination with the canning funnel, makes filling jars fast and easy.
Long-handled Stainless Steel Spoon - We have used all kinds of spoons to stir our contents while bringing them up to temperature. I cannot tell you how many times I have had hot jam splatter on my hand. I finally got a spoon with a very long handle and have been so glad I did. It really made a big difference when stirring boiling items for long periods of time.
Stainless Steel Stock Pot - Be sure to get a heavy gauge steel for your stockpot. We had a lighter steel pot when we first got married and the jam would burn too easily. It hasn't been a problem with the heavier steel pot we now use. The pot we have is a 12 quart. It may be too big for some people, but I personally like the taller sides to cut down on splatters.
Optional canning items that are nice to have:
Food Mill - We use the food mill a lot when making jam out of small fruits with large seeds. We have used it with serviceberry, hawthorn berry, blackberry, and plums. It can also be used to make applesauce for canning. While it is not an essential item, it is really nice to have it. It does have uses outside of canning as well. Some people use it to make smooth mashed potatoes and tomato sauce. I suggest getting a large one so that you can do a large amount at one time.
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| Mirro Food Mill Photo courtesy of Amazon |
Steamer Juicer - This is a great option for making canned juices. It steams the fruit to extract the juice. It is helpful to have since the juice comes out hot and temperature ready for canning. What do you do with canned juices? The first and most obvious is to use them for drinking. Because you can it, you control the amount of sugar that is or isn't in it. We have also used canned juice for popsicles, jello desserts, and jelly.
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| Cook N Home Basics Canning Juice Steamer Extractor Photo courtesy of Amazon |
For all you canners out there - what else would you add to this list?
Below is a comment we received from Debi with some fabulous tips. She gave us permission to post it in the comment section:
ReplyDeleteHi!
This is a great listing of the canning tools. You have listed most of what we use, but this tool was new to us a couple of years ago and really makes lifting your hot lids to put on your jars much easier, It's just a magnetic stick. So simple and so helpful! (Editor's Note - Here is Prepped Living's Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/4eb9SRb)
The juicer you have on here is a staple for us. We use it often during canning season. Love it very much! And, yes, a long handled spoon is a must. Like you we were constantly burning and getting splash burns when things boil. Ouch! I told my Dad I needed a long handled spoon (Before the days of Amazon) and the next thing I knew he had turned a wooden one on the lathe for me. Now that he's no longer with us, it's a treasure to still have my Dad helping me during canning season. As far as long handled tools we also love our long handled metal slotted spoon. It's very helpful as well.
This chopper slicer also comes in very handy and we use it a lot when making salsa or chopping herbs to freeze or dehydrate. As well as for basic chopping of whatever we're making for a meal. (Editor's Note - Here is Prepped Living's Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/3Z8LaMR)
If you like chunky applesauce rather than milled, like we do, then this is a peeler, corer, slicer that you'll love. Mine doesn't suction cup to the counter like this, mine screw clamps to the counter or breadboard. (Editor's Note - Here is Prepped Living's Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/3vqxvE5)
We also love our pressure canner, like yours, except when doing peaches. Then I much prefer the water bath or the peaches get too soft. For pretty much everything else I much prefer the pressure canner.
Well that's our two cents worth of additions! Have a great week!
Debi