Another stove top option you might consider if you only have an indoor electric stove or a stove with small burners, is an outdoor BBQ grill with an attached burner that accommodates a pot or pan. Since you are in Washington, it would have to be under a cover because of rain. I use mine all the time for canning as it is too hot out here in the desert of So. Calif. to run a caner in my kitchen. I believe it has a thermal output of 15,000 or 20,000 BTUs so it is much hotter than most kitchen burners. It is fueled by propane which is also a very hot fuel source. I almost always run my burner on a low setting as it is so hot. You may find a used BBQ in Craigs List or at a local garage sale for little money. In my area, they are plentiful and would range used from $50.00 to $100.00 with a side burner (my neighbor has a side business of selling just used BBQs). If you buy one, just make sure the additional outside burner is placed far enough outside the grill cover that your pot will actually fit on the side burner grill. Some side burners are placed too close to the hood that covers the grill to accommodate a large pot. On mine, I can bring a 20 quart pot with 5 batches of jam to a boil in just minutes without burning (assumes pot has a multi-thickness bottom). Just another suggestion that you might find locally. The BBQ grill can have other purposes also in canning. All my eggplants, tomatoes, onions, etc. that I want a little carmalization go into a perforated grill basket for a quick outside browing when needed prior to canning. Regards - Jim in So. Calif.

The electronics that makes a digital thermometer work is not very complex. Basically a voltage stabilizer to maintain constant battery voltage as the power is slowly used up and voltage drops. There is a temperature compensation circuit to automatically adjust operating lineal response whether your room temperature is very low or very high. The sensor, typically a thermocouple, which provides the measurement, is read against an internal reference to give you the readout. The entire package is inexpensive electronics (less than $10.00) which gives you response time in milliseconds. Why some thermometer reads faster than the other? The response time is highly dependent on how small they can make the thermocouple sensor /probe. The smaller it is the shorter the response time. The problem of making it too small is breakage and difficulty in manufacturing. They need to have the metal casing to be very strong so that when you push the probe into the meat it will not break too easily. When you push the probe into food, the metal probe travels thru different temperature zones, typically from high (212F) to low, and the metal will carry the heat from high temperature to low temperature and heats up the food in the low temperature zone. It will take time for the temperature to reach equilibrium, depends on the weight (mass) of the probe. dcarch

I love my Thermopen as well!!! I use it for everything - leftovers, cakes, meats, etc My DH gave it to me for Christmas last year - complete with the silicon cover and the leatherette case (and a box of wipes for it) - Of course, I just happened to slip a copy of the catalog in his eating area :-) Great idea for Christmas gifts!! I might snag one for my niece Also Cook's just sent their catalog and have a similar style pen but the accuracy doesn't look quite as good as the Thermopen. This post was edited by a2gemini on Sat, Aug 10, 13 at 12:02

Worth every penny! I use mine for everything from making sure chicken is the correct temperature to not over-cooking an almond-meal based pound cake to testing the temperature of the hot water coming out of the kitchen faucet.