With garden plans readily under way, I am taking some time now to get my canning gear in order again. I used to can years and year ago when I still lived in Florida. I did mostly tomatoes as they were so readily available and we used SO many of them. I probably canned in the neighborhood of 250 pounds of tomatoes a year. I did it all with a water bath canner though and not a pressure canner. Mom used to pressure can veggies all the time and she passed her canner on to me a few years back. It has been gathering dust and in need of a replacement sealing gasket. And, as I've not had anything TO can, I have never bothered with it. Now, with the garden prospect ripe in my mind, I realize I need to get this gear back in shape! I actually own two Presto pressure canners. I have a model 7-B which is a 16 quart pressure canner and a model 01/CA21H which is a 21 quart pressure canner. They both need new sealing gaskets. Both of them have a lid handle broken. One of them needs a side handle replaced. I have only one rack for the bottom and only one weight to go on top! SO, I went part shopping and found great deals from an Ebay dealer with good prices, free shipping on items after the first item, and good feedback scores (99.8 percent positive with over 74,000 auctions under their belt!). Who is this great seller, you may be wondering??? The name is BuyItNow. They had everything I needed but the rack--including a replacement blade assembly for my Krups blender! How cool is that! LOL Now, just got to PayPal them once the combined invoice comes by email!
Next, I've been poking around the internet looking for information on using a pressure canner since the books for these canners are LONG gone! I found good info on Presto's site. There's info there on both water-bath canning AND pressure canning various foods. There's also info on canning high-acid foods and low-acid foods at the Ball website (jar manufacturer). There is a nice short piece on the Univ. of GA website on Preserving Food as well. The Ball site has some canning recipes listed.
If anyone cares to comment on what they can and/or how they do it, I welcome the help!
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