Bumping this old thread to ask if anyone does any steam canning? Since I canned the dill pickles yesterday I've been reading about the different canning methods and I'm thinking of buying a steam canner. For a long time steam canning was not an "accepted/approved" method apparently in 2015 after a lot of testing it was determined that steam canning is as effective as water bath canning. It takes a lot less water and is much faster, since it takes forever for water to boil in the gigantic (21 quart) water bath canner. I have only ever used the water bath method. Appropriate foods for steam canner processing include jams, chutneys, pickles, relishes, acidified tomatoes, fruits, etc — the same list of foods that exists for water-bath canning. Have you done steam canning?
I don’t think I know what steam canning is? I always preserved by cold pack/hot water bath or pressure canning. Some foods I did not process at all, like pickles, pepper relish, and jelly. I canned like my grandma did.
It's a canning method that uses steam instead of water to sterilize. The canner I'm considering looks like this and will hold 7 quart jars or 9 pints... Notice how shallow the bottom is... it just holds a couple of quarts of water. It has a gauge on top of the lid that shows when the steam is built up enough to start timing the process.
My local grocer has strawberries and blueberries on sale, so I'm going to make some jam. I used to make a lot of jelly/jam but I haven't in several years now, so it will be fun to make some again.
I have a very very old instruction sheet from what was The electricity trust of SA on how to preserve / bottle in the electric oven just using a shallow baking dish of water, I can vouch it works well , on the other hand is dangerous due to the person having to lift hot jars of food out of a hot oven ( way to heavy ) ,but if I had to do it that way for some reason I’d use my jar lifter to lift one at a time out of oven in preference to the tray of 8 jars I’d done at the time . Interesting looking preserving pan @Beth Gallagher
It is interesting, Kate. I was considering buying one but since I don't really can much stuff I guess I'll just make do with my water bath canner.
I, too, have followed the stream canning drama. It wasn't considered safe for most of my life, but the newer steam canners with safety gauges or temperature monitors are considered safe I guess. The Amish have used steam canning for decades, but I think it is mostly for the usual high-acid stuff or high sugar stuff like jams, jellies and preserves. I think some of their steam canner held 24 jars or something like that (pints, I think). I have never steam canned myself as I don't need one more big pot to store.
Yes, people gasp at that method when I mention it. But no one was ever afraid to eat it, nor ever got sick or died from it. I knew lots of folks who canned beef like this when I was growing up.
Yep, lots of people water bath canned meat as well, and most survived, but one little error can wipe out an entire family.
I'm going to try this ATK small-batch strawberry jam. They add a grated Granny Smith apple to the jam before cooking instead of using commercial pectin. I've always used pectin so this should be interesting. (8 minute video)
You might also try the low-methoxyl pectin made from citrus. It doesn't rely on sugar to activate-it uses calcium instead. It allows more fruit flavor to come through and doesn't have to be so sweet. You can even use non-sugar sweeteners if you wish to do so. Sometimes using fruit that is not quite fully ripe can be a partial substitute for the addition of pectin as well.
I don't use any non-sugar sweeteners and I don't mind using sugar in jams and jellies. I'm intrigued by their use of an apple in the strawberry jam so I'll see how it turns out. For the most part I stick with "tried and true," which is regular old pectin. I have several bags of cranberries in the freezer so I plan to also make cranberry sauce and put up a few jars. If I'm going to fire up the water bath I might as well make it worth my time.
Here is the oven fruit preserving method ….it shows how long I’ve had these instructions due to oven temps being in Fahrenheit, and pints of water for tomatoes we’ve been metric in Australia since 1966 @Krystal Shay @Beth Gallagher