canning

[clodhopper]

I used my presto on a turkey fryer burner (later realizing the instructions said NOT to do this) and lets just say I found out what catastrophic failure means.

There aren't a lot of options for pressure canners. Presto is pretty much the most available. They are all aluminum anyway, so it doesn't matter much. I found a big steel one once, but they were selling for over $1000, so I canned that idea. (see what I did there?)

I run my presto on a propane camp stove (Camp Chef Outdoorsman) with care. My wife has been banned from running the pressure canner as she destroyed one and bulged the bottom on a second. If you are careful, you can use an aluminum canner as is on a turkey fryer or camp stove, but you need to run more water and operate at a low temp. Lately, I run a scrap circle of 1/4" plate steel on my stove under the canner. It takes longer to get up to temperature, but this significantly reduces the risk of ruining your canner.

Why do I use the camp stove you ask? Because I can put that deafening roar of the operating canner outside instead of listening to it.

The camp stove works great with regular water bath canning. I can run two at the same time. And since we are typically canning late summer and early fall, it puts all that heat and steam outside instead of fighting the AC inside. And that leaves the stove top open for food prep.

Yeah, the wife and I can like pros.