Reddit reviews Ball freshTECH Electric Water Bath Canner and Multi-Cooker
We found 3 Reddit comments about Ball freshTECH Electric Water Bath Canner and Multi-Cooker. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Includes: Electric water bath canner + multi-cooker unit, Tempered glass lid, Steaming/canning jar rack, Recipe bookLarge 21-quart capacity; jar capacity: 7 quarts or 8 pintsOne simple dial controls temperatureUses 20% less energy than stove topRemovable canning jar rack keeps jars from touching the bottom of the potMulti-cooker/steamer for pastas, soups, vegetables, and seafoodEasy-drain spigot for simple draining
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SLLS2MI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Enter player 3: steam-bath canning! (just scroll down more on the link above) A basic steam-bath canner starts at around $50 & goes up from there. An Instant Pot can be used as a steam-bath canner, with some stipulations:
>It is recommended that you test your IP for canning before beginning your canning process. You will want to know your altitude, boiling point, and how long your IP will consistently keep the steam at a constant temperature before starting any canning or processing.
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>You will want to purchase a probe thermometer to test your Instant Pot for steam canning.
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>If your water does not boil dry within the 35 minute period, you can try steam canning with your Instant Pot.
So you need to verify, with a temperature probe, your individual Instant Pot's procedure against her checklist of altitude, boiling point, and your model Instant Pot's ability to keep the steam at a constant temperature consistently, and then if it doesn't boil dry within 35 minutes, you can give the procedure a shot. She has several extra steps that are important for steam-bath canning, with a couple of important stipulations of note:
>Foods must be HIGH acid.
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>High acid foods are: fruit, pickles, jams, jellies, marmalades, & fruit butters.
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>Must use a research tested recipe. Do not change or adapt the recipe.
Per the other article, "botulism is tasteless, odorless and invisible to the naked eye", so it's pretty serious business! (don't worry, I'm not posting any of this as an attack - just for education, as canning can be super scary stuff if done wrong!) So to recap canning procedures in the Instant Pot:
The two primary rules of canning are (1) use the right equipment, and (2) never, ever "guess" at processing times. So personally, I don't water-bath or steam-bath in the Instant Pot because there's too many red flags in the process. So just to dig into it a bit more, for fun, can you just buy a pressure canner & be done with it? Well...no. Because acidic foods kind of turn to mush in a pressure canner (as opposed to water-bath canning, or steam-canning). A more extensive discussion is available here:
https://www.healthycanning.com/can-i-just-pressure-can-everything-instead-of-water-bathing/
Fun side fact, pressure cookers (not canners...lol...they really need different names!) actually cook with something called "super-heated steam" (i.e. pressure cooking doesn't actually boil your food). Stovetop pressure cookers get up to 15 PSI, which creates a 250F environment, so you get that special water state where it's not quite boiling the food, but it's also not quite steaming the food...it's super-heated steam. A regular Instant Pot operates at 11.6 PSI, which goes up to 242F, although the new Instant Pot Max can hit 15 PSI, like a regular stovetop manual pressure cooker. So anyway, that's where the magic happens with the Instant Pot, it's thanks to super-heated steam!
TL;DR: If you want to water-bath can (used for high-acid foods), just use a big pot of water. If you want to pressure-can (used for low-acid foods), you'll need a dedicated pressure canner, and of note, those are not used for canning high-acid items (which you'd normally do a water-bath canning process) because it'd ruin the texture. Separately, if you just want to cook food faster, you'd use a pressure cooker, such an electric multi-cooker like the Instant Pot. Personally, I don't really like how close the names are (pressure canner vs. pressure cooker) because the rules for canning are fairly particular (so that people don't die) & because the primary functions are pretty much entirely different.
Also, things get a bit more complicated on both ends of the spectrum. On one end, there was a pressure cooker (not canner) that was advertised as having the ability to can (the commercial showed it being used to can meat & veggies), which is a great way to kill people:
https://www.hippressurecooking.com/consumer-alert-no-pressure-canning-in-un-tested-multi-cookers/
On the other end of the spectrum, specific types of electric canners are available. The makers of Ball glass mason jars have an electric model out that acts as a "hot water bath canner" (but is not a pressure cooker, as it only has 3 PSI of pressure)
https://www.hippressurecooking.com/ball-freshtech-automatic-canner-user-manual/
The NCHFP has some interesting info on electric canning, with a note about the Ball model at the end:
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/electric_cookers.html
Plus a good article on pressure cooker canning in general:
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/pressurecookers.html
Ball also sells kind of an electric hot-plate & pot-with-drain system:
https://www.amazon.com/Ball-FreshTech-Electric-Canner-Silver/dp/B00SLLS2MI/
Personally, I opted to save up for a mid-sized All-American pressure canner for low-acid canning & just use a big old pot for low-acid canning, and then use an Instant Pot for cooking (granted, over time, because budget, lol). But those are pretty much three entirely separate processes that have different sets of rules & tools to operate properly, and the naming conventions can make it pretty confusing!
The price doesnt seem bad. Thanks for the help.
Ball FreshTech Electric Water Bath Canner, Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SLLS2MI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_NQe0BbM1T55M9