canning supplies

[David Cummins]

Anyone know where I could find (locally) supplies for home canning?

I've found mason jars, and lids at Albertsons. Still looking for the
actual water-bath canner. Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks!

- David

[Rusty Mase]

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:00:01 -0500, David Cummins
> wrote:

>Anyone know where I could find (locally) supplies for home canning?
>
>I've found mason jars, and lids at Albertsons. Still looking for the
>actual water-bath canner. Any ideas appreciated.

I would try Callahans General Store in Montopolis.

Rusty Mase

[jojo]

"David Cummins" > wrote in message
...
> Anyone know where I could find (locally) supplies for home canning?
>
> I've found mason jars, and lids at Albertsons. Still looking for the
> actual water-bath canner. Any ideas appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> - David
>
found everything I needed at Wal-Mart.
jojo

[dt]

Rusty Mase wrote:

> On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:00:01 -0500, David Cummins
> > wrote:
>
>
>>Anyone know where I could find (locally) supplies for home canning?
>>
>>I've found mason jars, and lids at Albertsons. Still looking for the
>>actual water-bath canner. Any ideas appreciated.
>
>
> I would try Callahans General Store in Montopolis.
>
> Rusty Mase

Unless you live up north; then I'd go to Callahan's in Cedar Park.

BTW, unless you're canning high-acid foods only, you're really going to
need a *pressure* canner, instead of just a water bath.

DT
http://www.thehungersite.com/

[Cindy]

David Cummins wrote:
> Anyone know where I could find (locally) supplies for home canning?
>
> I've found mason jars, and lids at Albertsons. Still looking for the
> actual water-bath canner. Any ideas appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> - David

I see them often in second-hand stores.

Cindy

[Robbin]

Pressure just makes things cook faster. A water bath works fine. My
grandparents lived on a farm and canned most everything they grew in their
garden. They did not own a pressure cooker of any kind!


> BTW, unless you're canning high-acid foods only, you're really going to
> need a *pressure* canner, instead of just a water bath.
>
> DT
> http://www.thehungersite.com/

[God Bless Texas]

Robbin > wrote:
> Pressure just makes things cook faster. A water bath works fine. My
> grandparents lived on a farm and canned most everything they grew in their
> garden. They did not own a pressure cooker of any kind!

Ditto that - sterilize everything as best as possible, put the lid on
immediately after the bath (loosely), keep in cool, dry dark spot - I
have six year old jellies and pickles doing just fine.

>
>> BTW, unless you're canning high-acid foods only, you're really going to
>> need a *pressure* canner, instead of just a water bath.
>>
>> DT
>> http://www.thehungersite.com/
>
>

[Cindy]

Robbin wrote:
> Pressure just makes things cook faster. A water bath works fine. My
> grandparents lived on a farm and canned most everything they grew in
> their garden. They did not own a pressure cooker of any kind!


Same here. My mother is still eating jams and vegetables that my
grandmother canned, and Grandma died in 1980. She checks each jar she
opens, and if it opens funny, isn't sealed or the food looks weird, she
throws it out, but there's still good food in the fruit room.

[Sew-Sew Lady]

Check out www.homecanning.com
Lots of good info there!

"David Cummins" > wrote in message
...
> Anyone know where I could find (locally) supplies for home canning?
>
> I've found mason jars, and lids at Albertsons. Still looking for the
> actual water-bath canner. Any ideas appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> - David
>

[David Cummins]

I got a tip from another NG reader (thanks!) to try Zinger hardware
(Anderson and Burnet) - and sure enough they had exactly what I was
looking for, in stock! So, I'm now the proud owner of a 21.5 qt water
bath canner, complete with canning rack and a few tools.

I'm going to check out what Callahan's has too. The Cedar Park location
is not too far from where I live.

BTW, I'm probably only going to be working on salsas and fruits, so I
don't think the pressure is necessary - these are all high-acid foods.
Apples are looking really good right now; I'm going to try a batch of
those this weekend and see how it goes, try to get a feel for the process.

I am curious however: I have read some warnings saying, "do not use
your own recipes" and I wonder how much of this is simple paranoia for
the uninformed? I guess I just can't picture grandma in the kitchen
meticulously measuring and weighing the exact proportions for her
canning projects, for fear that it would all be a rotten spoiled mess if
not executed by the book, to perfection. Oh, and according to the
'Major Canning Sins' article linked from
www.canningpantry.com/home-canning-articles.html , using your own recipe
is the #1 mistake in the "Potentially Deadly" section.

Now I'm not trying to start a flame war, and I recognize that there can
be some very unsafe practices in home canning - but I see that stuff,
and I say it's a scare tactic, and they're just trying to stifle my
creativity.

For example, if I have my own salsa recipe that I want to make up a
batch of and can, it sounds like the break point for my water bath
canner is a pH of 4.6. So I really think I should be fine as long as
all the ingredients are prepared properly and the end result remains
high-acid.

Am I insane?

- David