Loving my new Presto digital pressure canner

[Kaleva]

I had been telling my wife that I intended to start canning again soon to build up a stock of ready-made meals for times we are too tired to prepare and cook a meal or for frugal times when we can't get to the store for whatever reason. I had mentioned to her that I've watched vids on YouTube where people used an electric digital canner and I thought, from what I saw, that would make canning much easier. With our current stovetop pressure canner, I had to be in the kitchen or very near it for the entire 90-minute canning process adjusting the flame to keep the pressure at the recommended level. With a digital canner, once I put on the regulator and hit the advance arrow to can, I could go to bed and let the canner do its thing. But the price for such a canner was kind of high I thought so I told my wife that getting a digital canner is just a dream for now.

Well, she got me one for Christmas! She had made and sold a lot of spice jars to other people who wanted them to give as gifts and they made more than enough to buy the canner.

So far, I've canned 15 quarts of refried beans and 8 quarts of charro bean soup. Later this week I plan on canning another 10 quarts of charro bean soup. Over the next few months, I plan on canning chili, spaghetti sauce, and ham and bean soup. My goal is to build up a supply of 80-100 quarts of ready-made meals. I may also can some of my homemade sauerkraut and Kaleva Kimchi. Another possibility is to can sucker fish.

When the 3C garden is up and running, I'll certainly be using the canner for preserving beans, beets, tomatoes, tomato sauce but that's a few years from now as I had to put working on the garden on hold for the next 3 or so years.

While the canner is turning out to be an important tool for me to use in working to achieve my goal of building up a stock of supplies which we can use to ride out frugal times, I also am having fun using it.

[Duncanpup]

1. Awesome enjoy

[Akakoji]

2. Yes! What brand are you using?

I had heard that Instant Pot had that function but have never tried it. This is really a great idea. I think I will start pasteurize and jarring my home made soy sauces and fish sauces and amino pastes in one of these. I wonder how well it would do quarts of soy drinks or nut milks or grain milks? Or homemade sake? Have you tried actually cooking the beans directly in the jars? I have colleagues that actually make lactoferments in this manner, but they obviously lose all probiotic functionality. I do actually make sauerkraut and kimchi etc on a sous vide setting directly in jars. Works extremely well!😃

[Kaleva]

8. Presto. See post #5.

[Woodwizard]

3. I have a stovetop one

I grow a lot of tomatoes and hot peppers I can a lot of them, I love that I can cold pack and then just pressure can. And all throughout the year add my sauce to meals or spice up some jarred commercial sauce. My canner fits 7 quart jars at a time. Average 50 quarts a season one year I hit 80.

Never have any garden waste when you can can all the excess.

[Kaleva]

9. Along with canning, I'll be using fermentation, pickling, dehydrating...

cold storage and freezing.

[Woodwizard]

11. Have a dehydrator too

I have dried a lot with it now I pretty much stick with fruit, apples dry really well I slice and dip in lemon juice they are really good.

My first year with my garden I used it for my tomatoes it works, but I prefer canning them. I did onions but it will stink the entire house.

[Kaleva]

14. I'd like to dehydrate a bunch of tomatoes to grind up into poeder

It can be used as a substitute for tomato paste. Just add water. Some of my recipes call for just a small amount of tomato paste.

I also want to dehydrate onions too and I'll do that in the storage building!

[mgardener]

4. I was looking at them to

How many quarts can you can at a time??
Not sure that I would use it but it would make preserving easier.
I tend to do salsa, pasta and apple sauce and jams.

[Kaleva]

6. 5 regular mouth quarts or 4 wide mouth quarts

8 regular mouth pints or 7 wide mouth pints.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Is this the one?

I've always been afraid of pressure cooker anythings (especially after that Boston Marathon incident where at least at that time, there was extra scrutiny over purchases of them despite the fact they had been around for many many decades). The few times I canned, I did it using a traditional hot water bath which can be time-consuming.

I just made some kimchi a couple weeks ago, but am curious about the automation of canning this way. Didn't have any plans for "canning" the kimchi since the aging of it is a feature and not a bug.

[Kaleva]

7. Yes, that's the one.

As for the sauerkraut and kimchi, I plan on canning the excess so I can store it on the shelves in the basement. Not a bunch of them.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Okay cool. My mother was a big sauerkraut fan

and I grew up with bags of Kissling's in the house!



I actually never tried doing any "home made" sauerkraut myself but obviously if I can make kimchi I could do that too (although I don't eat it that much but it's a must have on a Reuben sandwich)!

[Kaleva]

12. My version of kimchi is just glorified sauerkraut

Has carrots, onion, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, and crushed red pepper flakes.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. That's pretty much all that is in with the cabbage type

except it involves a paste that gets mixed with the chili flakes and is thickened with some kind of flour (usually rice but can be wheat). That gets seasoned with fish sauce and/or brined fish and/or shellfish, and onions/garlic/pear or apple/sugar blended into a pulp, all of which the Worcester sauce basically is.