For many, the most intimidating part of canning is all the specialty equipment necessary. Happily, I've found that when you're first getting started, you can cobble together everything you need to safely process a batch of jam or pickles from what you already have in your kitchen!
Everything you'll need to get started, including a big stock pot, aluminum foil (or a round rack if you have it), a hot/cold plastic cup, exact-o knife, tongs and rubber bands.
What You Need
Materials
Big stock pot
Aluminum foil
Kitchen tongs
Rubber bands
Hot/cold SOLO plastic cup
Tools
X-Acto knife OR razor blade
Instructions
1. When processing canned goods in a boiling water canner, you must use a rack of some sort to elevate the jars off the bottom of the pot. You do this for two reasons. One is to prevent the glass from being in direct contact with the bottom of the pot (a cooktop with particularly strong heat source can sometimes be too much for even the most carefully tempered jar). The other is that the rack allows the boiling water to thoroughly circulate around the jars, which aids in heat penetration. If you have a round rack (both my pressure cookers can with them), you can pop one into the bottom of your stock pot and consider your canning pot ready to go.
2. If you don't have a round rack that fits your stock pot, you can build one with aluminum foil. Tear seven pieces of two-inch wide aluminum foil off the roll. (There are only six pieces here. I used one more than is pictured.) Roll them up to form seven individual foil ropes. Take three and form them into a circle, crimping the ends to hold them together.
3. Weave the the remaining four lengths of foil in and out of the circle in a zig-zag pattern. Pinch the ends of the foil ropes to secure them to the outer circle.
4. Now that the canning pot is all set, let's turn our attention to making a safe way to lift the hot jars in and out of the boiling water bath. You'll find wide, curved tongs in most canning sets, but you can easily adapt a pair of kitchen tongs to do the job.
5. Wrap a series of rubber bands around the grabbing ends of the tongs, securing them into the grooves.
6. You can see how these enhanced tongs give far better grip than plain ones. Just take care when using these to remove the jars from the boiling water, as they can still trap burning hot water in the interior channels of the tongs. Careful lifting will prevent scalds!
7. Another useful tool during canning is a wide-mouth funnel. However, you can make your own with just a hot/cold plastic cup and an X-Acto knife.
8. Carefully insert the blade into the cup about halfway up. Slowly cut the plastic, until the bottom of the cup has been removed. (You can also do this with a sturdy pair of cuticle scissors if your toolbox doesn't run to X-Acto knives).
9. A homemade wide-mouth funnel will keep your jam in the jar and off the countertop!
10. Our hacks are complete! Happy canning!
Food in Jars
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(Images: Marisa McClellan)
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The plastic cup is an excellent idea!
The rubber bands around the tongs are brilliant, but I am not a fan of the plastic cup, even if it is hot/cold.
When I can I usually ladle jam into a pyrex mesuring cup and pour into the jars with that. Works perfectly. I usually just risk it and put the cans in my pot, no rack on the bottom so I'll definitely give the foil a try!
Can't wait to try this!
It's not "a lot of specialty equipment" -- the basic canning supplies can be acquired cheaply from the Ball canning company, and the actual jars and lids are going to be the most expensive part!
It helped me a lot as a beginner to have tools fitted for the job, and even though most of them remain uni-taskers, I use the wide-mouth funnel a surprising amount. I recommend to all beginners that they get the tongs and the funnel, at the very least.
I use the (very cheap and easy to find) wide-mouth funnel all the time: to fill up jars with leftovers, dry goods, etc. If you're going to jury-rig it, at least find something with a neck wider than the jar, that's the whole point of using a funnel. Perhaps cut the neck off a plastic milk jug?
I'm fully stocked with canning equipment, but usually I use an old 8 quart stew pot with the bottom insert from my pressure cooker. It's easier than dragging out the works, washing it up, and storing it away again.
I have an old metal measuring cup with a handle that I use to dip and I pour straight into the jars. I have a funnel but I was always making a mess with it.
An ice tongs works great for picking up lids out of hot water.
The one specialty item that I do use nearly every time is my jar lifter.
I bought an extra large silicone oven hot pad to use instead of a rack. It has a sort of pebbly texture on one side, I cut it into the appropriate sized circle, and cut a few holes in it to let the air bubbles from the boiling water through. If I have two canning pots going at the same time, I use a cheap round cake cooling rack.
I think this is great. I've wanted to give canning a try, but was hesitant to spend the money on gadgets not knowing if I would continue canning in the future. now I can decide if it's something I really want to pursue before making a purchase.
Alton Brown recommends putting a towel at the bottom of the pot instead of a rack. Has anyone does this?
Briliant post!
@BKLYNbaker, I've used a towel. It works fine, and it also keeps the jars from chattering around so much.
Has anyone tried the oven method for canning? I know the FDA doesn't like it, but I hear it's pretty common in Europe.
I found a metal trivet that I put into my stock pot.
I bent a cheapie wire cooling rack with pliers to fit my pot.
I've also gotten some rusty canning lid rings over time, and one of my pots didn't have a rack on the bottom, so I put seven of the old rusty rings in the bottom, and it's worked remarkably well. Lifts them from the bottom of the pot just perfectly. I can't recommend proper canning tongs enough though, a must have. Funnel is a hit or miss. Like some have said, a Pyrex pouring measure cup is perfectly fine.
Canning tongs are a must for safety reasons. I did the rubber band on the tongs thing for a while and one day asked myself "Is a trip to the hospital worth saving the $8 for canning tongs?"
Yes, the rubber band tongs "work", but when it comes to stability, the real canning tongs work better