Violet

Good, Ferretma ! Glad you got in on the deal.

Winco has pints half price here !

Tracie, I can't be 100 percent certain, but I have not seen a new version of the Presto they haven't fit so far. It just has to fit on the vent pipe of yours instead of using the counterweight that came with yours. I use Presto 23 quart size and the weights fit on mine just fine. Just got my daughter a new one, too, and got her the weights. From what I can see on the pictures online your counterweight looks just like mine. I think it will work. Presto is so wishy washy about their answers. Some people call and they tell them you can't use the weights, some say you can. It all depends upon who you talk to. I don't think some of them know what they are talking about there. I contacted them personally 2 times and was even told the part number that I gave you. I contacted the National Center for Home Food Preservation and was told it was a great idea.

If you want, keep it and just buy the three piece weight set and use it as a weighted gauge canner. Works fine. I do it, and I am one who tests gauges at the extension office even. The set number is here : 50332 http://www.pressurecooker-outlet.com/prestoregulators.htm

Those "eggstractor " things. I am not sure I have the right spelling, but one of those machines where you have to put a boiled egg on there, just right, then smack it down hard to get the peel off. What a waste of storage for peeling eggs. You have to hit the egg hard to get it to work, too. I see a lot of them at the thrift stores.

Presto will last you for years. I have had my first one for 33 years. I have only replaced the gasket once and the gauge once. Mine is a dial, but have also added a weight set recently. Works great ! Have fun and hope you can a lot of good things !

If you have a dial gauge canner be sure it is tested for accuracy before you use it. The dial can be off by as much as 4 lb. right out of the box, meaning it is bad and would have to be replaced. If you have a weighted gauge canner, you are good to go. Happy canning.

Yes, as long as the potatoes are peeled. All potatoes must be peeled since that is where the botulism bacteria is. Even scrubbing is not enough. Do not raw pack this product. Do not use cooking liquid for canning since it will contain too much starch. You can add some green beans to this, as well. Process for the method and time for the potatoes. CANNING POTATOES Potatoes are easy to can at home using these canning instructions. They should be peeled and have the eyes removed for canning. If you put them in water with a little ascorbic acid after peeling, it will prevent discoloration. Wash, peel and remove eyes and place in water with ascorbic acid solution of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of water. May leave whole or cut into 1/2" cubes. Drain Potatoes. Blanch cubed potatoes for two minutes and whole potatoes for ten minutes. Drain again. Put canning salt in jars. Canning using hot pack method with 1” of headspace. Pour fresh hot water over potatoes, maintaining 1" headspace. Processing with a Pressure Canner 35 minutes for pints, or 40 minutes for quarts, at 11 pounds, or 10 pounds for a weighted gauge. For elevations above 1,000 foot level see Altitude Time Adjustments. After processing, remove from boiling water and place the jars on a towel, separated by 1” to cool naturally.

Yes, they are good !! Glad you like them, too.

i would not slice them, as that will change the density. The size of the pieces is part of the safety of the recipe.

I hope you all enjoy them. The added lemon juice you simmer them in helps to preacidify them. Bottled lemon juice is more acidic than vinegar, so that is why it is used. It is also to help with the color, but I do find they still turn a bit dark. The addition of the vinegar in the brine also adds acid. The brine tastes good on salads, too. Would be good on a pasta salad, so I don't throw it out. Not all veggies can be done this way, but at least we have a few nice choices. I really am happy I added the Fruit Fresh this last batch. From now on I will add it to each jar. It is ascorbic acid, and will only help with the color, not add acid. I can sit and eat a whole jar at a time.

This is a really tasty recipe. It is safe since it is from USDA. I have found I prefer 5% acidity cider vinegar instead of white vinegar. Both are fine. I have also found to preserve the color of the mushrooms I add 1/8 or less tsp. Fruit Fresh or Ever Fresh, which is ascorbic acid. These make a nice gift, too. This is safe ONLY in half pint jars. Do not reduce the acid nor add any other vegetables not listed in the proper amounts. MARINATED WHOLE MUSHROOMS 7 lb. small whole mushrooms 1/2 cup bottled lemon juice 1 tbsp. canning or pickling salt 2-1/2 cups white vinegar (5% acidity) l tbsp. oregano leaves l tbsp. dried basil leaves 2 cups olive or salad oil 1/2 cup finely chopped onions 1/4 cup diced pimiento 2 cloves garlic, cut in quarters 25 black peppercorns YIELD: About 9 half-pints PROCEDURE: Select very fresh unopened mushrooms with caps less than 1- 1/4 inch in diameter. Wash. Cut stems, leaving l/4 inch attached to cap. Add lemon juice and water to cover. Bring to boil. Simmer 5 minutes. Drain mushrooms. Mix olive oil, vinegar, oregano and salt in a saucepan. Stir in onions and pimiento and heat to boiling. Place 1/4 garlic clove and 2 - 3 peppercorns in a half-pint jar. Fill hot jars with mushrooms and hot, well-mixed oil/vinegar solution, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process. RECOMMENDED PROCESS TIME FOR MARINATED WHOLE MUSHROOMS IN A BOILING-WATER CANNER half pints, 20 min.

Cricket, it will be fine. They take that into consideration with the canning guidelines. Just as long as you did your best, don't worry. If it was a good inch or something, then I may be concerned.

It will be fine. 1/8 of an inch is about what is on my beef, too. I am sure you did a really good job. Enjoy your meat.

You can safely can hamburger patties, but you need to use HOT water or broth in the jars as you fill them. This is from USDA Ground or Chopped Meat Bear, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Sausage, Veal, Venison Please read Using Pressure Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning. Procedure: Choose fresh, chilled meat. With venison, add one part high-quality pork fat to three or four parts venison before grinding. Use freshly made sausage, seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper (sage may cause a bitter off-flavor). Shape chopped meat into patties or balls or cut cased sausage into 3- to 4-inch links. Cook until lightly browned. Ground meat may be sauteed without shaping. Remove excess fat. Fill jars with pieces. Add boiling meat broth, tomato juice, or water, leaving 1-inch headspace. Add 2 teaspoons of salt per quart to the jars, if desired. Packed HOT, pints 75 min. at ll lb. dial gauge canner, 10 lb. weighted gauge, (unless you have to adapt for high altitude) Quarts 90 min. Note: be sure to follow the new guideline, after the pressure drops, remove weight. Leave the lid on and let sit for 10 more min. before opening and removing the jars.

Yep, supposed to clean the dishwasher, too. Have you ever seen the crud in some peoples dishwashers ? YICKY !! There is bacteria in there. I rinse my dishes before they go in there. I don't want food in my dishwasher. No thank you. Sponges should be put, wet of course, on a plate and in the microwave for a minute or so to santitize them.

No, using older varieties won't insure safety. It also has a lot to do with the soil they are grown in. If we each grew tomatoes from the same seed, we would most likely wind up with different ph of our tomatoes. There is honestly no safe way to know if our tomatoes are acidic enough without adding the citric acid/or bottled lemon juice, plus, we need to use the full current processing times. Even using ph strips at home is not recommended. Foods can change ph as they sit in the jars after processing. Better safe than sorry, and use all the up to date guidelines.

Glad you found it helpful. You are welcome.

Rachel, the only way to make potato soup is to make a soup base. Then you open it and add your milk, butter, thickeners, etc. I would suggest you buy a new Ball Blue Book. It has recipes in there for you to use for soups. You will also need to use a pressure canner, not a water bath canner for anything other than basically fruit, jams, some salsa recipes, pickled foods. All other vegetables, meats, dried beans, etc. MUST be pressure canned. Some salsa recipes also must be pressure canned. Unless you have used a safe, tested recipe designed for water bath canner. They are on the Univ. of Georgia website. (USDA guidelines ) http://128.192.83.157/faq/FAQ_home.php Sorry, no Cheese Whiz, no butter, etc.

They don't need to test every recipe or method out there. There are just basic scientific facts about density, ph, etc. that will provide the scientists with the information needed to determine if something is safe to can, using home canning equipment. We don't have that sort of training. It is a lot of factors, not just ph that go into canning safely. Foods can actually change ph level as they sit in the jars. A lot of why we can't safely do some foods at home is just our equipment. It is the somewhere around $100 pressure canners we have, not the multimillion equipment commercial industry have. That, and then all the preservatives they put in the food. I feel that is a BIG reason we can our own food, to get away from all the chemical preservatives in our food. Sorry, nothing that is like cornstarch, flour, masa harina, grits, etc. are safe to add. No starches. Oh, there is a new USDA guideline coming out any time now. I keep waiting to hear it has been approved and published. The extension educator here was going to ask that question at a conference she is attending. I do agree, no need to pay for the information, unless you don't have a printer. It is all on the website. Same thing with the book So Easy To Preserve from Univ. of Georgia. It is basically the same information in book print. Other than some pickled egg recipes, things like that. I am not sure the book tells how to make yogurt, either. The book is handy to have, though. They also have a DVD you can buy. Plus, there is a free online food preservation class you can take.

Cleanheart, I know the Amish have done things that are not safety tested for a long time. It only takes one time with botulism and you could be dead.... If you follow the USDA guidelines that are safety tested then you can be totally sure the food you can is safe. There are pie filling recipes using Clear Jel that are safe to follow. It is low acid foods, like any soups, tomato products, etc. that are unsafe to thicken before canning, even with Clear Jel. http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/canpie.html On here, Darlene only allows USDA tested methods and recipes. I am thankful for her stance on this.

The reason barley and rice, etc. are not safe to add is not only the ph of them, but they are considered thickeners. They do thicken the foods. Add them after opening, when you heat them to serve them. Pasta and instant rice are especially easy to add to soups once opened as they cook quickly.

The new All American do have both the weights and a gauge. However, if it has the old petcock, you can buy a new stem and the weight for it. I recently did that to my friends canner. All their parts are interchangeable. I contacted AA before I ordered the parts. The only thing with getting one online is just in case someone boiled it dry and warped the bottom, then it is worthless. The only reason folks explode them is if they just walk off and leave it on high. Nowdays they have a safety plug that will blow first. They really are safe if you follow the directions. Same with anything in life, like driving a car. You can drive safely or drive recklessly. I recommend one at least large enough to stack 2 layers of pints. I like the 22/23 quart sized canner. ( how much water they hold, not how many jars.) You won't poison your family unless you can things not safe to can in the first place, like milk,cheese, butter, eggs, things with thickeners, noodles, rice, barley, bacon, oil in foods, etc. That, or try to take a shortcut and not process for the proper length of time. If you follow the recipes and methods from either Ball Blue Book or any of the USDA/ University extension publications you will be safe. There are quite a few of us here that have canned for years. Never any food borne illnesses. I have canned for 35 years now.

Sorry, the chicken ala king is not safe. No butter or flour or any other thickener in low acid foods. (Not even Clear Jel in low acid foods.) The newest version of the Ball Blue Book doesn't have that recipe. Nowdays even the high acid pickle recipe has been changed to use Clear Jel, not flour. That is how it can be thickened, the vinegar in it keeps it safe. However, not just any pickled food recipe is safe to thicken, only a couple of them that have been tested.

Steam canners are not recommended for use by USDA. They do not get the contents of the jars as hot as in a boiling water bath canner. The only ones promoting their use are the ones selling them and manufacturing them. We tell everyone to turn them upside down and use them for something else besides canning. If you will check the Ball Blue Book and any of the USDA/ university information, you will not find processing times for the steam canner. The reason is they are not deemed safe to use.