Hi Sue

We have a product called Fowlers preserving kit. You place the jars of food in a large plastic urn and set a timer for 1 hour. After an hour the jars are ready. The kit comes with recipes etc. I have also purchased the Blue Ball preserving book and use the recipes in that. I make sure that there is enough acid added to the veg, such as tomatoes in the form of citric acid or vinegar.

regards

Helen

Here is a link that might be useful: fowlers preserving kit

Yes, it's easy to preserve with such a preserving unit. Just make sure you use the right water:vinegar ratio for vegetables but that's indicated in the recipes anyway. The stuff tastes nice, too. And you live to tell the tale. *winks*

In the case of tomatoes, I just added citric acid.

Helen, where did you get the Blue Ball preserving book from? It seems to be the preserving bible in the states.

Hi Andrea

I ordered the book through amazon

Helen

Hi Sue,
I use Mason jars in a pressure cooker, a bit of a lone voice I'm afraid. The Fowlers kits are very popular here but I don't think anyone outside Aus uses the water boiler kits anymore (sorry guys)
It's very hard to get the mason jar lids though, would you be prepared to send some???
Sarah

Sarah, it's a possibility. What sizes would you need, and how many? Let me check out the costs.

Sue

Sarah, do you just use a normal pressure cooker or one of the fancy, VERY EXPENSIVE pressure canners advertised on the US websites? My mum has an old aluminium weighted pressure cooker she used to use for her stews and curries. I'm sure she'd let me use it if I ask. My Gran had about 6 of them and I can always remember the sound in her kitchen or the pressure cookers chuff chuffing away for her 7 kids and 40 something grandkids. I could probably fit about 4 bottles in there. Can you use the vacola jars in the pressure cooker?

I'm really trying to find a way to do the beans etc.

Tam

Hi sarah_may & Belgianpup

This is David from greenlivingustralia.com, we have an intense interest in 'home preserving' in our house, so much so that we set up our website about Green Living and then concentrated on the 'Green Eating' -- We also found the home preserving supplies in Australia to be very limited, so that is why we are importing most of what we need

At the moment we have 'Pressure Canners' & 'Mason Jar' lids on their way,and will be selling them on our website soon.

Mason (style) Jars are available in many K-Marts, but not the replacement lids, -- Fowlers Vacola jars are OK, but I am very loathe to give a jar of our preserves away when the jar may never be seen again. -- That is why we started RECYCLING regular store bought jars and just use new lids to avoid bad seals and hence reduce the possibbility of food poisoning. Our new lids are about the same price if not cheaper than the seal on a FV jar, and the jars are free, we actually have the whole neighbouhood saving jars in exchange for some of my sisters great preserves.

Cheers .... David

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Website

By the way grandma's old pressure cooker should work for preserving as long as the seal and pressure valve are in good condition. It may be a good idea to buy a thermometor that shows a peak temperature reached, and then place inside your pressure cooker and bring it to the boil outside on the barby maybe. It is best to check any old pressure cooker where it will do no damage if it "blows", and the thermometor will show the peak temperature reached. Also you should put a spacer (like a round cake rack) in the bottom of your cooker so the jars are not sitting directly on the bottom

Cheers .... David

Yes I use my pressure cooker, back in the days when I had money I bought a large one & it holds about 4 1 litre jars. As I've had terrible trouble with fruit fly the last couple of years I've not been able to preserve much, but I live in hope!
David I've checked out your website before, I hope you can get the mason lids as I have lots of jars for them.
Sarah

Hi Sarah,

I'm interested in how you use your standard pressure cooker to preserve.

I have just bought an 8 litre weighted pressure cooker which operates at 13.8 psi. I will be using Fowlers jars as I have hundreds of them. How should I go about it?

Thanks
Tam

Hi, Tam!

Below are some websites that should be useful when using a pressure cooker to preserve food. If you want more, just do a search on PRESSURE+CANNING or PRESSURE+COOKER+CANNING

Due to the slight language differences between Oz and here, "bottling" is called "canning" here in the U.S., even though cans aren't used.

Also, please realize there are some differences between using a PRESSURE COOKER (usually used for faster cooking --under pressure-- of normal foods that will be served immediately at the table) and a PRESSURE CANNER, which is only used for food preservation (also under pressure).

Pressure cookers can be used for canning and often are. See the first website below for the differences, which is mostly time. You have to process the jars longer to get the same safe effect, so always keep that in mind when using the instructions that assume that you are using a CANNER.

If I understand the Vaccola unit, you must add vinegar to help protect the food against bacteria. Using pressure, you don't have to use it unless you simply want the flavor.

Due to the pressure build-up involved, be sure to keep your attention on the job at hand. An acquaintance of mine answered the phone, started chatting, and forgot the canner. The result was... ah... memorable!

http://missvickie.com/canning/cookercanner.html

http://www.kuhnrikon.com/tips/canning/

http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/current/FDNS-E-37-3.html

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/foods/348-595/348-595.html

Sue

Thanks Sue for that info.

My next problem will be SPACE to store all of my wonderful preserves.

Hubby's home today, currently turning over the compost. About to head outside to supervise the digging of holes for my soon to be acquired friut trees.

Can't wait!
Tam

My simple version using tomato puree and pasta sauce bottles.

1. Get the bottles and lids in your largest pot and bring to the boil with something to keep them off the bottom. Rest your tongs and funnel in here to sanitise them too.
2. Carefully pour in the boiling sauce through the funnel and put on the lids.
3. Return the bottles to the pot and simmer for about 40 minutes.
4. Done. The little button on the top sucks in and stays that way until you open the bottle.

I have done this with chutney, tomato and chilli sauce. I never add anything to the tomato sauce but this usually gets used pretty quickly so I don't know how long this would last for. The chutney and chilli sauce has lots of vinegar and lasts ages.