Home Can'n | Food Production and Preservation | Forums

The propane is great.  Really, once you have your jars filled and ready to go the real work is over.  The pressure cooker (All American--and I would not buy anything else) only needs 1.5 inches of water in it...so, put water in...start burner (Camp Chef--cost about $30 bucks more but has great flame control) let water in pressure cooker warm for about 5 minutes tops...then start loading jars...close up top...turn up heat and you need to get steam coming out the pipe where the rattler/pressure weight goes...that steam needs to 'blow' for seven steady minutes...put rattler on top at proper setting (5/10/15 #) and pretty much let it go for the specified time you need for what you are canning...just need to adjust the flame so that the rattle goes about 3-5 times a minute...when time is up...turn off all heat...and when the pressure gauge is at zero, take off the rattler, some minimal steam comes out, then take off the thumb screws and remove jars and start all over again.

Never had a jar crack...the only pain is if it is windy out...then we move in the garage...next month we will do about 8 gallons of chicken soup on a weekend...and hope to try a small batch of bean & ham soup to learn how to get a good product.

We use two canning books that have been great.  One is the Ball book and the other is Home Canning by Jackie Clay.  They are must haves for us.  And they have helped us get perfect results with every jar we have done in terms of sealing/safety/good taste.

She has a lot of books out...the canning book is good and worth buying...we were given some of her farming/homesteading books and they are pretty basic and not worth the money.  I can't say enough about the canning book though.