I hate water bath canning - but I did it anyway!

[Javamama]

It takes forever for the water to get back to boiling after putting the jars in. I should add that I do have a ceramic top stove and yes, I know you aren't supposed to can on them. As soon as I can manage to break this stove I will be going to a gas range. Would the process go any faster is I used a propane type camp stove/plate/grill whatever they are called? What so you all do for water bath canning? And is pressure canning any faster?

 

[2dream]

No canning process is fast. LOL

I do use the propane eye on my girll though. I have a gas stove but doing it outside keeps all that heat out of the house.

 

[Augustmomx2]

No canning process is fast. LOL

I do use the propane eye on my girll though. I have a gas stove but doing it outside keeps all that heat out of the house.

Ohhhh...good idea! I never thought about that

 

[me&thegals]

No canning process is fast.

Actually, there is Have you heard of steam canners? Try Googling them. Picture a huge canning pot, a shorter lid, then turn them upside down. The short pan goes on the stove, 2 quarts of water in it, a small rack inside. Then, you put on your 7 quart jars and put the huge pot (lid) over the top. It only takes 5-10 to get that water boiling and steaming. Rather than being surrounded by boiling water, your jars are surrounded by steam (even hotter).

I love that it takes WAY less time, water and electricity. Helps keep the kitchen cooler in summer, too!

 

[SKR8PN]

HERE is how you make water bath canning(or ANY canning) go a lot faster......

http://www.campchef.com/store/item/78/EX60LW_explorer_2_burner_propane_stove.html



Ya'all can thank me later.

 

[Javamama]

I have been considering the steam canner, at least for my tomato based goods. I have heard good things about it, but I have also seen alot of people get flamed about it because it's not USDA approved. (neither is my diet, but that's working for me )

Our grill does have a side burner - never thought about that. The weight imbalance won't tip it over? It would be major pain to figure out how to set up an outdoor station, I'm a little OCD about the cleanliness of the area.

I kind of feel like, what's the point of canning all this stuff if I have to cook it to death? How much nutrition is really left?

 

[me&thegals]

I know. I'm a by-the-books person when it comes to canning. But, it makes a lot of sense to me that with steam being even hotter than boiling water it should not be less safe. This is my second year with it, and I still love it Out of 21 quarts of beans and about 1 dozen jelly jars so far, not a single one has not sealed. Plus, we all know how time, water and energy intensive canning is, and this dramatically cuts down on all 3. I wish I had my electric bill from water-bath canning years versus now...

ETA: I had a mental hiccup--I did NOT steam can green beans. Those were pressure canned. I use the steam canner for only acidic foods and add vinegar or lemon juice where the acidity might be lower (like tomato sauce and salsa).

Good points about the steam canner, Pat. One issue for me is that I may not want to stop the applesaucing, for example, to wait for 1 set of jars to get done, then really heat up the sauce to put them in cold. So, I used to do a lot of letting the canner cool down a bit to not put my cooler applesauce jars at risk of being shattered.

 

[Wifezilla]

Time involved in water bath canning....

Reason #263 I learned to lacto-ferment and dehydrate

Other reasons include

I live at high altitude
I am terrified I will give my family botchulism
If there is a way for my to scald myself when cooking, I seem to find it

The list goes on...LOL

 

[patandchickens]

I know. I'm a by-the-books person when it comes to canning. But, it makes a lot of sense to me that with steam being even hotter than boiling water it should not be less safe.

I was raised by a University-degree-in-home-economics-and-food-science mother, who even after they started recommending you not steam-can continued to do it (which sort of neatly covers both sides of the fence I think <g>).

It actually IS true that steam canning is less safe than water bath canning. The two reasons are:

1) while steam is as hot as boiling water, it has a lot lower heat capacity (because there is less water mass in steam than in a pot o' water) and thus it has a lot poorer ability to bring full jars of food up to temperature rapidly. For an example of what I mean, contemplate putting your hand into a 220 degree oven versus putting your hand into a pot of boiling water. (Steam is intermediate between the two).

2) because of this and also because of the dynamics of how the steam behaves in the steam canner, there is much poorer insurance against cool spots and thus part of your jars not getting properly heated.

I'm not saying don't use a steam canner; I'm just saying, the arguments against it are not imaginary, and it probably really IS less safe than a boiling water bath.

I would suggest that if you're going to use it at all, use it only for pretty safe foods -- like jellies, jams, strong pickles, definitely-acid-enough tomato products -- and don't cheat on the processing time. If you're going to do something that's kinda on the iffy-er side anyhow, like foods of questionable or insufficient acidity or winging it on processing times, then it would be a lot better to use a real water bath.

If it is taking a long time to get your water back to boiling, may I ask exactly what you're doing, because it is possible there is something you could do to improve the situation. Do you have the jars dead-hot (I just heat them in the canner, empty, as I'm heating the water) and the food as close to boiling as possible? (Cold pack recipes are an exception - it just DOES take a while, because you can't put them in already-boiling water and the contents are not as warm to begin with). Do you leave the lid on the canner, with the heat still turned on high, when you are loading the rack on the stovetop, so that the lid is not off the canner for more than a moment while you take the rack out or put it in?

I ask because I have a really WEENIE stove, and although it takes a darn long time to get the water boiling in the first place, unless I am doing raw pack fruit I do not have any much trouble getting it rapidly back to boiling.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Javamama]

I went ahead and water bathed yesterday on the grill - thanks for that suggestion! Sometimes I don't think outside the box at all and hadn't even considered the extra burner on the grill. Duh! I decided that since I already have the equipment it wasn't frugal to buy another type of canner.

Pat - I still don't know what is taking so long with the boiling. I hot pack and everything and it's so hot I can't touch it. I keep the lid on. Even on the grill outside in 90 degree heat yesterday it took a good 10 to 15 minutes to get it boiling after adding the jars. Is that how it should be? I did like it better than on my ceramic stovetop. I'm just going to have to get over the dislike because the sauce and salsa turned out so good.
And thanks for the scientific explanation of the steam. Where do you learn all this stuff? You are a wonderful wealth of info!