A nice big cloth pot holder will act just fine as a pad at the bottom of the canner/cooker. Essentially you just need to get the glass jars up off the bottom so they don't touch the metal bottom. This can cause heat shock for the jars. A cloth pot holder can help to raise them up, and will not burn due to the heat of boiling water. Another option is to line a single layer of jar rings on the bottom with the threaded ends face down. This will give the jars enough seperation too.

Bless you! this seems like a much better idea than ours (and a CF poster BeverlyAl) of using aluminum foil. ;-)

Maureen

A cake cooling rack will work just fine as well as the above, if you have one.

We've scoured our kitchen for something else that will fit inside the pot but so far the hot pad (need to go buy some since I only have mits) or a layer of marbles seem to be the most likely suggestions. Maureen

A folded dish towel will work just fine as long as it is at least two layers thick. If you have to- use more than one towel.
Jim

I had the same problem. I couldn't find a rack in the stores that fit well. I tried a towel, but it tended to move around. Also tried using the metal jar bands, but the surface was unstable. What worked really well was buying some hardware cloth and cutting it to size. I then used it on top of the jar bands to give a nice, stable surface.

Hardeware cloth is basically heavy duty screening and is available at places like Home Depot or Ace. It cuts fairly easily, though it would be best to use a heavy duty scissors or tin snips.

Tie several canning rings together. Makes for a perfect rack.

Finito on my end...and thanks for all the advice.

Using a pressure canner or cooker is usually meant for low acid foods. If you doing a berry jam it doesn't need a pressure canning. The same holds true for most pickles which contain vinegar. With a acidic foods, a big tall boiling water pot would be the best choice. I would have thought that a towel or pot hold would give you a very thing barrier for seperating the jars from the bottom of the pot. Heck, even a couple of old wire coat hangers bent up would work for this, as you only need a little water to get under the jars.