I have this crazy dream to obtain 70% percent of my family's food from local and regional sources. Between my backyard and my local farmer that might actually become a reality. This requires my gardening to be purely strategic, forgoing variety in favor of growing what we eat most year round. Since tomatoes and peppers are imported mostly from Central America during winter they abound in my garden. The tomatoes get canned and the peppers get frozen. Sounds easy enough, right? It is if you actually own a pressure canner when your tomatoes start to ripen.......
Amazon saved the day when my Presto 23 Court Pressure Canner arrived later that week. I chose Presto because of their excellent reviews and reasonable prices. Their canners come in various sizes ranging from the hulking beast you see here to some the size of the small stock pot.
Though it was tempting to pay less for a smaller cooker I didn't want to spend all day canning during times of heavy harvest.
Obviously that's not a concern with this canner!
But if your garden is small and storage space is an issue a smaller canner might be perfect for you.
I don't mind that my Presto is constructed of aluminum since I'm just canning and not pressure cooking acidic foods with it.
By first frost I should have enough canned to supply my family's tomato habit through winter.
I also can soaked dry beans to avoid the potentially BPA contaminated store bought variety.
**Canning Tip: Canners are not slow cookers where you can just throw ingredients in and leave the room for hours while the magic happens. The pressure gauge must be continually monitored so it doesn't dip too low or shoot up too high. So, I plan my kitchen cleaning chores on my canning days so I can adjust the burner temperature as need without leaving the room. By the time the refrigerator is cleaned out and the floor is washed my canning done. PRESTO!
MY CANNER:
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*Note: This post is not sponsored by Presto in any way. However, this website is an Amazon Affiliate so I earn 15% on anything sold through my store and affiliate links. All profits will be donated to Kiva. For more information click here then here.
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Tags: Presto Aluminum Pressure Cooker, Presto Canner Cooker
I'm impressed by your goal to obtain 70% percent of my family's food from local and regional sources. I grew up canning food-especially tomatoes. Unfortunately, I don't do much canning anymore. Your pressure canner looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Louisville has an excellent farmer's market network. The other 30% will be filled with all the gluten free flours I can't obtain locally. At least I can shoot for grown in the USA, right?lol OH, and chocolate, of course.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool! I hadn't thought of canning my own foods before but maybe now I should. As soon as I have an actual backyard I want to start a garden. Canning would be my next step. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. This is the first year we had a garden. I didn't know what I've been missing.
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