Reddit reviews Norpro Canning Essentials Boxed Set, 6 Piece Set

Depends on the food item and your infrastructure.

Drying is good for a lot of fruits and for herbs and such.

Cold storage. We have multiple freezers. A stand up 23 cu ft, a 19 cu ft chest plus the regular fridge freezer and the freezer on the back/beer fridge in basement. We have been buying half pigs and half or 1/4 cows for the freezers and we freeze a lot of vegetables. Sweet corn does really well frozen, so do a lot of the squashes and green beans.

Canning. Canning does quite a lot of foods. There are two types, pressure canning and water bath canning. The water bath canning is for high acid, high sugar, low risk foods like jellies and most tomato sauces if prepared correctly. Pickling is also usually water bath. All the low acid, higher risk stuff goes in a pressure canning systems.


Root cellar storage. Cool/cold room storage. If you have access to the right conditions, this is a great way to store lots of stuff like potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.

Some sources to get you started:
The starter book that is indispensable for canners: Ball blue book

The more advanced Ball full book
You can find either one at a book store, online, or at most used book stores.

USDA site has a lot of info. You want tried and tested recipes and methods. Botulism sucks. https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html


Purdue University has a really good set of links and add ons to the USDA guides as well. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/usdacanning/

You can also search the (food item, canning, extension) and there is probably a state agricultural extension that has some guide for it.

NDSU has a good guide for freezing stuff. It will get you started. Each food item will have specifics to getting a good freeze. Some things need blanched and some don't. Some need to be pre-frozen spread out on cookie sheets then dumped in a bag and some don't, etc.


Interesting root cellar idea that can be done fairly cheap. https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/root-cellaring/a-precast-septic-tank-root-cellar-zbcz1503

Root cellar list of what to store and what conditions. https://extension2.missouri.edu/mp562

Best way to get started: get a big ass boiler and a couple of dozens of pint mason jars and a couple of dozens of 1/2 pint mason jars. Start with a couple of batches of different pickles/pickled vegetables. Make a batch or two of jams and jellies. If you get a couple dozen wide mouth jars you can practice a little freezing as well. The idea is to build up your equipment.

For a full canning rig you need all kinds of stuff and if you really get into it usually large stuff. Like the ginormous pressure cooker that holds a goodly number of quarts or two full courses of pint jars in it. something like this guy. But you can start with whatever you have available. If you do the water bath stuff and start to get into it and want to get into pressure canning you should get a larger pressure canner that will do at least 6 quarts at a time. We have a medium one that we can do a limited batch of stuff in, or one round of jars and then a huge one like I linked to. Just slowly build up your equipment as you can and get the best quality you can when you buy stuff. If you try and do the I will buy the cheap one, and see if I like it, it costs you more. Usually the cheap one is crappy and wont do a good job. And you will either decide it is not worth the trouble or will eventually realize the quality one is worth the money and buy it anyway.

Get a good set of tools. You can can without them, but shouldn't. Decent set with the basic pieces.

I also find that a pair of the latex coated gloves are helpful. We have one person pull jars form the hiow water bath (keeping them sterile) and the second person will put the funnel in and spoon the food into the jar. You have to wipe the top of the jar and place a heated lid on it and screw the top onto the jar. The jar will be close to 200F. I will be the jar person and wear the heavy latex coated glove on my left hand to hold the jar stable and to screw the lid on so I don't get burned. Never have seen anyone give the tip before, but it works really well and I have less burnt fingers and fewer spills or dropped jars that way. Something like this.

I got this canning gear kit off Amazon. I think it has the measure thing. I'm thinking that because I used fresh tomatoes that I didn't steam and peel, the filled the can artificially high.

Still learning but I've been getting amazing advice from everyone great, you all are great!! ❤️

Bummer about the salsa. If you grow/make that kind of stuff regularly, canning is great next step. You can water bath can in any lidded pot deep enough to cover the jars with an inch of boiling water when they are sitting on a wire rack/trivet, but the dedicated pot and equipment are worthwhile.

For the marmalade, I think you need to heat it all through adding a bit of extra water, laddle it into sterilized canning jars, then process according to the Table 1 here (depending on your altitude).

1. I got a Canning Pot from my fiance as a super awesome surprise gift =3
   
2. I will be needing a Canning Kit to do it correctly, i've been told.
   
   Thanks for the contest :D

To get her started, I would get her a book like this one, and depending on her stove top a water bath canner for gas/electric or flat top, also this set, and don't forget the jars. There are probably other stores than Amazon to buy these things, I usually get great deals at Ace hardware. There are some other great books out there, and depending on what she is interested in, a pressure canner is a big one too.

TL;DR: pear butter recipe and canning instructions, and equipment list.

Make pear sauce. Basically cut the pears up, have a pan going to heat them up until they're soft and use an immersion blender or blender or food processor to pulverize it. You can use most of the pear, cut out the rotten stuff, and anything else that's nasty.

Fill your crockpot up with water, measure how much it takes to fill it up. Now, take a 1 cup measuring cup and measure with a ruler what the water level is after removing each cup. That's the technical way to do it, it can take a while to do it. Why you're doing this is because you're cooking your butter down to half it's volume. So if you start out with 14 cups of pear sauce, you'll want to end up with 7 cups of pear butter. If you know what the different levels are, it makes it a lot easier. Crock-Pot walls aren't straight, that's why you use the water to measure it.

Stir 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ginger (I usually double or triple, or more, the cinnamon and ginger) into some sugar (like 1/4 or 1/3 cup), then mix it into the pearsauce. Using the sugar keeps the spices from sticking together in clumps when added to the fruit. Start with the crock on LOW if it will be going overnight, or on HIGH if you are starting in the morning and will be around to stir the sauce. Remember, you DON'T USE THE LID on the crock pot. Depending on your pears, you might need to add more sugar, but usually not. I think this normally is what I put in about 20ish cups of sauce.. I honestly can't remember. I just put "enough" in, and I've never had to much. It's a taste thing, I like stronger cinnamon and ginger flavor.


Pull out enough foil to go completely around the crockpot, plus enough to join the two ends together by folding them over together a few times. The bottom of this collar will be crimped around the rim of the crock so the rest of it sticks up about 10" above the crock, which should give enough protection from splatting that will happen later as the sauce thickens into butter. When the sauce is first cooking, I often put some creases in the collar to make the hole at the top somewhat smaller to keep more heat in, maybe a 5-6" opening. Just open it up when you need to stir & scrape edge, then close it up a bit. The longer the sauce cooks, the more often you will need to scrape the sides & stir. I usually just stir the thickened stuff from around the rim back into the rest, unless it goes too long & smells scorched. If you scorch it, just be careful not to scrape it off into the butter.


The total time will depend on 3 things: the juiciness of your pears, how long you cook on LOW vs HIGH, and how thick you like your pear butter. As a rule of thumb, plan on cooking the sauce down to about half of the starting amount, but check the consistency before that & stop when you like it. You can put a tablespoon full on a saucer and put it in the freezer for a few minutes to chill it, as it thickens up somewhat when cooled.


I usually plan  on 12 to 18 hours total cooking time, with maybe 8 of that on LOW. If you are doing it only in the daytime & have it on HIGH the whole time, it could be faster.         IF you get it cooked down to the right consistency but can't can it immediately, you can take the collar off, stir well, put the LID ON and set on LOW or KEEP WARM till you are ready.


Water bath canning is the way to go, processing for 10 minutes for either pints or half-pints. Headroom on the jars should be 1/2".


This is the same recipe I use for Apple butter, sometimes you need to add some more sugar. It depends on what kind of apples you use. Also, the pear butter will get very brown by the end, that's ok.


For the water bath canning. It's super easy. Get a water bath canner. It's basically a big pot with a rack in it. Walmart should have it, Amazon, garage sales, or little hardware stores (like ace, do it best, etc). It should be about $20 if you buy it new.

For fruit butters, pint jars are best, but it's a preference thing. If you want to give them away as gifts, maybe use the 6oz jelly jars. It's up to you. Ball is the gold standard. Again, Walmart, Amazon, the same hardware stores as the canner. They're usually significantly cheaper at garage sales. The jars and rings are reusable, lids are not.

Fill your water-bath with enough water to cover your jars by about an inch. Submerge the empty jars and heat up the water. I like to use hot water to fill the canner, cause it takes a little less time to get it to boil. Once it's boiling set a timer for 10 minutes and keep it boiling. Do the same for your lids, but in a small saucepan.

Once it's boiling, remove your jars and dump out the water that's in them. Put the jars on the counter, I put a towel down, and a wire cooling wrack on top of that. There's a few tools that you can get that help with this. )I'll post Amazon links at the bottom of this.) Fill the jars with the hot pear butter with 1/2" headspace (this means 1/2" from the rim). Minimize air bubbles, you can use a clean spoon to stir the air bubbles out out. Take a damp paper towel and wipe any butter off the rim Place a sterilized lid on each jar, put a ring on, hand tight. Place filled jars back into water bath.

Bring water back back up to boil and let boil for 10 minutes. Remove jars from canner and place back onto the cooling wrack. Once they're cool, check to make sure they're all sealed by seeing if the lids pop. This is the button, like on pickle jars, when they're unsealed it sounds like a clicker, when they're sealed, they're pulled down. They may seal right when you take them out of the canner, you'll hear them pop, some may take a few minutes though. If they're sealed, you can take the rings off, and they are shelf stable (we've had stuff still good over a year later). If any aren't sealed, just put them in the fridge once cooled off and eat it first.


It's not that hard to do, I'm just trying to be detailed.


Now for the promised links.

Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserving, 37Th Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OEJZSNW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_905HDbGDP5GWY

This is basically a canning Bible, it's a good resource if you're wanting to learn more about canning. Lots of recipes. It's important to get your recipes from official sources, usually you don't want to get recipes from random strangers off the internet until you know what is normal. You don't want to put yourself into a situation where you process something in an unsafe manner. I can tell you that the Apple/pear butter recipe I gave you is safe, and can be compared to other official ones if you want to independently verify it.


Tools:
Granite Ware Enamel-on-Steel Canning Kit, 9-Piece https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002KHN602/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_945HDb278TD1T

Ball 40801 Golden Harvest Mason Regular Mouth 8oz Jelly Jar 12PK 'Vintage Fruit Design', RM 8 Oz, Clear https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YCX4SJ0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_I55HDbM3YGXNN

Norpro Canning Essentials Boxed Set, 6 Piece Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DDVMH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_d65HDbNK2VGJX

Out of the "essentials kit" really the funnel and jar grabber tongs is the only thing that you'll need.



If you have any other questions, feel free to pm me or ask on this post. My wife and I have taught a lot of people how to can a lot of different things, it's a skill we really enjoy passing on.

Also, if you buy jars new, they usually come with rings and lids. If you do this again next year and are buying new lids, just make sure you are paying attention to whether or not your jars are "wide mouth" or "regular mouth" those are the two standard lid sizes.