All I Want for Christmas is a Canner

Water bath canning the last two jelly jars.

I'm taking up a new hobby next year... pressure canning.  I already water bath can, but I want to expand into an entirely new area.  With water bath canning, I can preserve fruits, jellies, and pickles.  Believe me, I make some awesome jelly.  This year marks the first year I managed to to preserve enough triple berry jelly to meet the demands of 3 grown kids well into the fall.  I still have some down in the basement.  Every time the kids come home, they raid the closet and trade another couple of full jars for their empty ones.

I want to learn how to pressure can foods.  This means I'll be able to preserve foods that are lower in acid.  For the past few years, I've been depending upon the freezer for long term storage, but I'd like to reduce my dependence upon the freezer.  It does eat up some energy, and I'd like to cut down on my consumption of electricity.  Low acid canned foods are not have enough acid to cut down on bacterial growth - you know - the bacteria that causes fun things like botulism.

The pressure in the canner allows the temperature inside of the jars of food to go above 240*-250*.  This temperature, combined with time, should kill the botulism spores that can thrive in that anaerobic environment that exists inside of those jars.

A batch of jelly.

I've been searching for Home Extension classes next year to learn how to can.  I plan on following the Ball Blue Book of canning, but even so, I still really would like to have someone hold my hand and walk me through how to can.  If anybody who reads this happens to live in the Mid-Atlantic region and knows of a canning class offered through their home extension service or their local community college, could you please let me know in the comments?

There are so many pressure canners out there to choose from.  Does anybody have any recommendations on what kind of pressure canner works best for them?  I'd love to hear your opinions!