The questions you asked are buried in this forum. They were just discussed in great length about 2 weeks ago. For tomato canning, you do not need a pressure canner. Pressure canners are used for low acid foods, but could also serve as expensive BWB canners. The tongs, a funnel, and a good up to date canning book are necessaries.

Amy, welcome to the forum, and to the wonderful world of canning!

As someone who started out myself just a couple of years ago, a big-city girl who had never having even SEEN anyone can, I hope you find it as much fun as I have. It's really wonderful at this time of year to pull down a jar of something one put up at the height of the season --- and it's especially satisfying when it's something made with produce you grew yourself! (Will we be seeing you over on the tomato forum??)

If you want to can tomato stuff, you only need a boiling water canner, and since the pressure canners are, as you say, an investment, I'd suggest holding off on getting one until you've tried canning water-bath stuff and are sure you want to go that route. It's true that if you buy a pressure canner you can use it for water-bathing, so you might end up having bought two pots, but a water-bath canner is quite cheap --- 22 qt ones go on sale around here for well under $20, and you can in fact start out with just a pasta pot if you use small jars --- and I don't think you'll regret it.

So you need
- jars (can often get these cheap at yard sales or Goodwill; think about what size you want --- we are just two people in my household so I can mostly in pint and half-pint jars)
- canner or big pot, should be at least an inch or two deeper than the biggest jars you want to use
- lids & rings (if you buy the jars new, they will come with these; otherwise, you'll need to buy them separately; they are inexpensive, and you can reuse the rings and just buy the "snap" part of the lids next time)

That's really all you NEED, though I would recommend the following:

-- rack that fits in the bottom of your pot (so the jars don't sit right on the bottom; if you buy a canner it will probably come with one of these, though the one that came with my canner is made for quart-size jars and my small jars fall through; I found a cake-cooling rack at the dollar store that works great; but you can also just put a layer of rings or even a dishtowel on the bottom of the pot)

-- funnel -- a canning funnel costs about $5; I bought a cheap funnel from the dollar store and cut the bottom off, which works quite well; you can manage without this if you have a steady hand and wipe the rims of your jars

-- jar lifter --- GET ONE OF THESE! this is the one tool I didn't buy right away that I really wish I had; sure, you CAN manage to remove jars with tongs, oven mitts, whatever, but I burned myself many a time before I broke down and spent the $6, and this gadget makes it SO much easier to remove jars!

--- Ball Blue Book --- this is inexpensive and a great beginning guide, with pictures and all the info you need

Start with a simple recipe from the BBB --- you could try a jam or something now, from purchased fruit, in small jars that fit in a pot you already have, as an easy first project.

Bring any questions to this forum, which is full of helpful and knowledgeable people!

And be sure to tell us all about your adventures. It's great to meet a new canner.

HAVE FUN!

Zabby

Thanks so much for the answers!! I'll search a little deeper into the forum for more information.

I'm looking forward to canning. My grandmother put by through last summer, but she's too ill to continue. I regret that I never tried before now.

As far as my tomatoes, I've already planted most of my tomatoes indoors and just had a couple seedlings pop up (it was quite exciting) :)

Welcome to the Forum, Amy. I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother. Putting things by may prove to be a precious connection between the generations.

Tomatoes are easy and a great beginning for canning. Let us know whenever you have questions.

Carol

Amy, I tried a search and I think this must the recent "supplies" thread Ken mentioned, in case you want to see what was discussed on the topic a few months ago.

Maybe your grandmother has some recipes she can share with you (you will want to be sure they are up to modern safety standards).

My tomotoes are popping up indoors, too! I can already see them turning into jars and jars of sauce....

Zabby

Here is a link that might be useful: Canning Supplies Thread

A canner (big enamel coated steel pot) shouldn't cost anywhere near 60 dollars. Any hardware store will sell them, and probably Walmart or your whatever multi-national department store conglomerate that is near you. I bought my canner at ACE Hardware, so if you can find one near you I highly recommend them. I was in an ACE Hardware in Michigan the other day and they had a whole canning supply aisle. Some larger grocery stores that also sell housewares have canners.

Like Zabby, I started BWB with a large soup/pasta pot, and if you do small jars, that's all you'll need. The water has to cover the jars by an inch, so test out your pot. I live alone so can mostly 1/2 pints except for big lumpy pickles in pints. The only thing I ever did in quarts was peaches and jardinaire, (end of the garden pickle mix). I buy the squat, wide mouth 1/2 pint jars for salsa. The good thing about a canning pot is they are thin steel so boil water quickly, using less fuel. A soup pot is designed to simmer soup slowly so not as efficient in heat transfer from burner to pot to water. Unless you have some awesome copper or aluminum one. BTW (not to be confused with BWB :) don't use those alumunim pots to cook your preserves in, the acid reacts with aluminum giving the stuff an off taste. Use enamel coated or stainless steel.

HAVE Fun! I'd ask grandma what some of her favorite recipes were, she'll be thrilled that you are carrying on the tradition. My mom never did any canning, she always says I remind her of her mother, lol!

Welcome!
My name is Deanna and I'm a Harvest Addict! LOL
As already mentioned, you can get started pretty reasonably.

Big pot, some 1/2 pint jars/lids, some fruit, a recipe from this forum and you've got jam. See if you really enjoy it before you invest bunches of money.

That said.......................
Once you start it's hard to stop and soon you'll probably be looking for a pressure canner, scoping out yard sales for jars and posting a million questions here (we like that, by the way and everyone is really helpful, no dumb questions, we all started sometime)!

One other source for jars is to search out your local Freecycle group. www. freecycle.org
Then find the city closest to where you are and post a Wanted Ad.

This place really picks up during peak canning season..............hang on!
Deanna from the Other side of the continent!

Welcome! Canning tomatoes is very easy and the first thing I ever canned years ago. I was single and used to can 10 qts of tomatoes every year and that was enough for me at that time.

I've not canned in maybe 10 years but am so looking forward to it. I am planning on some Dills for my husband and he is patiently waiting. I'm not sure what else I will can, for sure tomatoes and Rose Hip Jelly/Jam maybe some marmalades and chicken broth.

Michelle

Some of the easiest and good tsting dill pickles are made from those mixes from Ball and Mrs Wages. I like the dill, polish, and kosher dills. I also add extra garlic, dill seed heads and sprigs of fresh dill weed to the brines. Pickling cukes are great if picked fresh, the end tips trimmed of BOTH ends, and pickled in white distilled vinegar. I find the mixes give me MUCH more dill flavor compared to just using the fresh dill seeds and weed alone. The mixes are also great for making the half sours, if the mixes contain only pickling salt and the necessary spices. Some of the dill pickle mixs have sugar added, which I don't care for. But there are also sweet mixes and bread and butter mixes that are good too. These use celery seed and mustard seeds. If your pickling, be sure to have plenty of vinegar, pickling salt, and the necessary spices. If your like me, a diabetic, I like using VERY small amounts of Splenda, to a sweet mixed pickle. Compare to a 5 pound bag of sugar and a sinle cup of Splenda, you can't tell the difference very much in sweetness. For tomatoes, you do need the necessary citric acid. When I make canned tomato products, its usually by the quarts and more like 30 to 40 per batch, just like pickles.

Amy, my first start to canning was a Ball jam kit my roommate got me as a "just because" present. It came with six small jars, a jar lifter, a funnel, and I think probably some pectin. I thought this was a nice package deal, but I guess it would be cheaper to buy the things individually.

The first thing I made was pickled garlic in pretty little jam jars with gingham lids. :-) Once the garlic was peeled, it was very easy, and I enjoyed having a success on the first try. You can even buy pre-peeled cloves. Now getting good fresh cucumbers to pickle, that's difficult if you don't grow your own. Good luck and have fun!

Melissa

Amy, here's a thought, if your grandmother used to can, but won't be doing it anymore, maybe you could get custody of some of her canning supplies. We got our canning pot from hubby's grandparents. We inherited their canning jars, and my mom left all hers behind when she moved, and my aunts and cousins give them to me, etc. I think less people can now than used to, so logically there should be a lot of old canning equipment out there looking for a new home.

And ditto to the part about the jar lifter, it is SO helpful!

Marcia, the frugal one

A lady on freecycle gave me some jars, a canning funnel and jar lifter. Also, some old canning books, but I look at those just for fun since the safety info is not up to date. It doesn't hurt to ask!

I was checking out Ball canning's website, and they have videos explaining freezer "canning"... which doesn't require any cooking. Has anyone tried it? Does it work as well as the real thing?

Thanks again for all the answers!

Freezer "canning." Talk about an oxymoron. Like giant shrimp.

As you follow the threads on the Forum during preserving season you'll read lots about the foods members have frozen. For a beginner freezing offers the advantage of food safety with greater flexibility. In other words, recipes which cannot safely be canned do often lend themselves to freezing.

There are also members who prefer some foods frozen rather than canned. Asparagus would be an example. Foods like strawberries are not recommended for canning because they would turn into mush in the jar.

So it's not an either-or. I'd speculate that the overwhelming number of Forum members both freeze and can, choosing the method most suited to the product and/or their preference. (And we haven't even discussed dehydration of foods or smoking, etc.)

Carol

I think what the ball site must be talking about is making freezer jams. These are jams that require no cooking --- you just mash up fruit and mix in "freezer pectin." They don't keep as long in the fridge as traditional jams, and they aren't shelf-stable as all, so you keep out one small jar at a time and put the rest in the freezer till you're ready to use.

I tried one of these for the first time last summer --- a raspberry-peach kind. It had a slightly different type of taste and texture than a regular cooked jam (and the cooked kinds are slightly different in flavour and texture depending on whether you use commercial pectin or not --- if not, you usually have to cook longer). It was a fairly soft set, but quite yummy, very fresh-tasting.

I think I will be trying more of these (now that I have a freezer!) this summer. It was a nice project to do with my young niece on a hot day --- no stove needed!

Ball will sell you special plastic jars with lids together with freezer jam pectin as a special "freezer jam" kit, but you can freeze such a jam in almost any container.

Freezer jams aside, freezing is a great way to preserve lots of foods, as readinglady says. It has advantages over canning (you can freeze a lot of foods that aren't safe to can, such as things with fat in them; it's fast and easy; you can use almost any container). It also has disadvantages (you run out of room --- whereas canned foods can be stored almost anywhere you can fit them; things can get freezer burn if not properly packaged, esp. since it's easy to lose track of a package or two of stuff way at the back; and you either have to defrost your freezer yearly OR use the extra electricity needed by a frost-free one. (The cost of running a freezer isn't negligible, though if you use it wisely it can save some grocery dollars.)

Hope this helps!

Zabby, about to go look in the freezer to see if she's got something she can thaw out for dinner tonight....

Found some red peppers stuffed with lamb, rice, & onion. I made a big batch last time red peppers were on sale. Defrosted in the microwave, put some cheese on top, put in a pan with a little water and into the toaster oven to heat through till the chees was bubbly.

First time I'd frozen these, and I was quite pleased with the results!

I also had leftover stuffing in a container in the freezer, which I just had the brainwave to try wrapping up in vine leaves for a kind of lamb _dolmades_.

I love my freezer!

Zabby