11.17.2007

Happy Canning

Dude and my mom-in-law gave me the most enormous stockpot ever for my birthday. When used in tandem with the blue one my mom had passed down to me and the other largest pot I own, I was able to can over 14 quarts of pickles at a time! (I did the same with the salsa, jams, and sauces, but as all of those tend to be shamefully messy processes, I took no snapshot. I'm allowed to edit my electronic presence and show the least messy of them. So there.)



Oh, and note the metal funnel that my mom-in-law also gave. No more melted plastic on toast!!!


3 comments :

Rebecca said...

None of your pots have lids? I thought you NEEDED the lids to create the right amount of pressure? Do you only need to reach a certain TEMPERATURE when canning?

If that is the case...I might make more of a mess than I need to-because the lids of the pots bounce and jostle and the water splashes out like mad. YOu'll have to educate me in this...

Abigail said...

I've not even used the pressure cooker my mom lent me yet, and I DO use lids and make lots of messes, not because it creates the right pressure but because it allows the water to remain at a constant rolling boil more easily than if the top is off. The dill pickles I make, though, are canned with a lower-temperature sterilization (only 180-185 degrees) to maintain crunchiness, so I don't have to use lids to maintain a rolling boil and instead use candy thermomoters to measure temp.

Whew. And there's your too-lengthy explanation.

Abigail said...

Grr.

I use meters, not motors, to measure temp.