A good set of knives.

Good knives - definitely, Mandoline, Victorio tomato mill, full set of SS stockpots, and for today my Pampered Chef apple peeler/corer.

Dave

This is like asking me which child is my favorite! I love kitchen gadgets, and I love canning.

But I think my favorite for canning is my 12 qt stockpot with the spegetti insert. It works great for blanching just about everything.

Though I'd hate to be without my KA with the attachments, or the apple slicer (I dont' use it to peel them) or my OXO hand peeler, or my assorted knives, or even my entire summer kitchen!

Counter space! And I think there's no faster way to make applesauce than with an apple peeler/corer and an immersion blender.

Food mill, good sharp knives, pressure canner.

food processor, chicago cutlery,

They're all like toys to me! I have a great little unit that pushes the onions through into nice little dices. Good knives for sure. I am having a Pampered Chef party in a couple weeks and I am planning to put my hostess benefits towards a mandolin slicer. I picked up a food mill at a thrift store for $4 so I am looking forward to using that next year. It is hard to pick a favorite but with the mandolin I see the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.

My new fav this year is a melon ball scoop! I grow cherry sweet pepper to stuff and pickle and nothing scoops out the seeds and insides like the small end of that melon ball scoop! I don't even have to remove the stem just scoop stem, seeds and all.

Next to that my pressure canner is my fav tool.

CL

Plenty of large pots, WB canner, pressure canner.
Vitorio food mill, dehydrator, FP, large cutting boards with a drip ring around them, lots of freezer space.
The basic canning tools: funnel, lid magnet, lifter, etc. They are so simple, but tried and true and they work!

One "tip" that comes in handy is to keep your lids/rings warm in a crockpot. Frees up a burner on the stove when you're in production mode!!

Friends or family that enjoy canning too! I love having my mom help. We work well together and get to visit while processing. It just seems to make all the work faster and more enjoyable.

Deanna

In the past two years, I've added a second SS 12 quart stockpot - that has made a big difference with WB quart jars, doubling the capacity. A new steam juicer makes work a lot easier as well. And I was given a gift of a decent 8 inch chef's knife, and thats a pleasure to use - stays razor sharp for a week.

The sauerkraut cutter - not so much.

My digital scale has saved me much time, and is a big convenience. Today for example, when making a double batch of tomatillo salsa, since I knew how much a cup of chopped tomatillos weigh, I didn't need to measure out each cup chopped. I just clean the tomatillos, weigh out what I need to make the correct amount, and chop. Same when it came to chopping up the 10 cups of onions and 15 cups of mixed peppers.

I don't have a KA but my cheaper version processor has saved a LOT of time cutting and chopping. Big bowls are so handy and every time I'm at Walmart and see some in the $1 bin, I grab a few. They usually go on sale at the end of summer. The big square strainer that fits on my sink has come in handy. The jar lifter that comes in the canning set is a life saver. I would love to have a good mandolin (sp?), one that can handle a whole cabbage. I'm sure I would use it in place of the food processor for many things. Lori

What great input - thanks everybody for sharing! I'm going to have to find the mandolin I have stashed some place and consider using my FP for doing some of the chopping. So far, I've been doing all slicing and chopping by hand.

Now a couple of follow up questions...

- Many of you talk about knives. Do you have a specific size and/or style of knife? (10" chef's knife for chopping, 7" paring knife for ?, etc).

- Trishcuit - tell me more about the gadget for dicing onions, please!

- Does the crockpot really keep the lids hot enough? And am I supposed to keep the rings hot too? I haven't been....

- Sounds like Tupperware; you have a party and invite people who (hopefully) buy stuff, then you get $$ credit for stuff too? Several of you mentioned Pampered Chef; I guess you think it's good quality?

Kathy

Knives - I have all Wusthof knives. As for the ones that I really use when canning - I have 2 of the 8" chef knives (one for DH and one for me). DH likes the 8" narrow slicer but I prefer the 4" utility knife. We also have 3 of the small paring knives. Lastly, the 5" tomato knife is really helpful for coring tomatoes.

When if comes to knives - buy the best you can afford. I started with a chef's knife and a paring knife, and have been adding to the collection over time. I buy them a lot at Bed Bath and Beyond when they are on sale, and then use one of their ubiquitous 20% off coupons. Or else around the holidays, Bloomingdales has them on sale, and Bloomies also sends out discount coupons to their better customers.

Pampered Chef is excellent quality for the most part. There is the very odd item that doesn't work as well as a person would like but this is the exception rather than the rule. It is also pricey.

The onion chopper was passed along to me by a friend who was cleaning out her kitchen stuff. She isn't keen on cooking from scratch I don't think. I find it very handy. Didn't know it was one of those things they flogged on tv until I just looked it up. I'm sure you can find it on ebay for a lot less. PS you still have to do SOME onion work so tears will still be shed. It does do a nice neat job and saves time though.

I just bought a cheap knife set at Costco the other day. We will see how long they hold their razor sharp edge. They are the color coated blades with matching blade covers. For what I paid if they last a year I will be satisfied.

Here is a link that might be useful: Viladia chop wizard

Re knives. Watching that TV show 'Americas Test Kitchen' / magazine Cooks Illustrated - they did a knife test on 8" chefs knives - brushed off the expensive German knives w/o much mention, and recommended the Victornox (Swiss Army Knife) as a very reasonably priced alternative.

Has anyone tried these, compared them with the expensive ones?

Here is a link that might be useful: link to knife selection

Katkatf -

Not to solicit, but since you mentioned it, I am a Pampered Chef consultant :)
If you are interested in looking at the products or have any questions, please feel free to shoot me an email (you can find it under my profile) and I'll send you my website address.

My favorite canning gadgets:

* I second the good set of knives! So nice not to have to chase veggies around the cutting board. (My good knives are Pampered Chef - expensive but worth it)

* A nifty little corn kernel cutter that I wasn't sure would work, but does a great job.

* Big S.S. pots - would like to have more of those, the kinds with a good heavy bottom. Anybody have suggestions on where to buy those affordably?

* Ball Blue Book and my pressure canner. Not a gadget, but a necessity.

~ Tracy

Joy- the Tramontina brand is really good, and sometimes you can even find them at wallmart. My big 22 qt I paid $59 for and it's very nice. I use it on my induction cooktop.

I've also found the Hamilton Beach line is decent - solid bottom, stainless and holds up well. Also well within a smaller budget.

I'm rather appauled at what some high end pots cost. I'm glad to find soemthing decent in a price range that leaves lots of funds for other fun gadgets.

Though my knew potato slicer is a dud - I think I'd have to cook the potatoes first to get it to work. Ended up cutting all those pealed spuds by hand to make frenchfries. Ended up with one fresh meal and 8 servings frozen ready to toss in teh deep frier (another fun gadget, but not for the preserving side of the harvest)

Here is a link that might be useful: my favorite pot (for now)

Costco is good to keep an eye on for good pots on sale. Also the Paderno website. Check the sales. Excellent stuff that goes on sale half price.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paderno.

Tracy, a lady in my church has started selling it; she took the torch over from the last gal who is moving on to other things. We have all been having parties to support her. It`s a great excuse to get together, chat, eat and shop. What more could ladies want, haha. I have the food chopper (the SLAP CHOP Is a pitiful excuse for the tool). The rotary grater is on its way as is the simple slicer. If I like it enough I may not have to order the mandolin. That food chopper is awesome by the way.

Another thing to add, a good diamond stone to sharpen your knives. It takes a little practice, but it comes in handy. I hate a dull knife!