My first canner was actually homemade, and I still use it when I am making a small batch of something because it is smaller than most store bought canners. I don't have to heat up as much water. In fact, I just did a little arithmetic, and determined that it uses a little more than half as much water.First you need a stockpot
that is tall enough to be able to cover the jars with water. As you can see from the picture above, my homemade canner is nearly as tall as my other canner, but it is smaller in diameter.
The rack in a water bath canner serves two purposes. It keeps the jars slightly off from the bottom of the canner, and it makes it easy to lower the jars into the water. Lowering the jars into the water with a homemade canner is no problem. Just use your jar lifter.If you can find a cake cooling rack
that will fit into the bottom of the pot, that serves the purpose of holding the jars off the bottom. My pot is about 9 1/2 inches in diameter, so a 9 inch cake rack worked quite well. You can also try tying screw bands together as shown on this website. If you get creative, you can probably come up with other ways to make a homemade canning rack.
that sounds really cool and helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to know for small batches AND for those times when you have a ton to do because you can get multiple batches done at once!!
ReplyDeleteGood to see that it's okay to do this, because I've had to make my own water bath canner like this. I only can very small portions of a jam or two, so this idea works perfectly for me.
ReplyDeleteI am really glad that I stumbled across this blog! I just taught myself how to can! Thankfully, I had success. I'm picking up new tips from you. I made olallieberry, strawberry and strawberry balsamic jam (which I blogged about yesterday). Next up-- apricot pineapple and whatever strikes my fancy. Once my tomatoes are ready, I'd like to learn how to do that. I doubt I'll do vegetables, though. But, I never say never! Great and informative blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
I wanted to can just a few jars of salsa and was very excited to come across this blog!! THANK YOU!!
ReplyDeleteI want to try this. . . how much space do I need to leave between the jars and between the jars and the pot?
ReplyDeleteThanks