How do you easily coordinate canning on a 4 burner stove?

[Teaberry]

My smooth top stove has 2 small burners and 2 large ones. When I can it's a juggling act playing with all the different pots, especially keeping the water at the right temperature. Here's what I have going when I can:

 

1. A small saucepan full of water heated to 180 degrees for keeping my canning lids hot. This is on a small burner.

 

2. A tea kettle filled with boiling water and used to add more water to the canner if necessary. This is on a small burner.

 

3. A very large pot full of water heated to 180 degrees for keeping my canning jars covered and hot. This is on a large burner.

 

4. The actual canning pot heated to boiling and ready for when I load the filled jars. This is on a large burner.

 

Now I am out of burners, but I still need two more for the next two pots!

 

5. A big pot to boil my tomatoes in prior to adding them to my jars. Or in the case of pickles, to heat just to boiling for these too. I have to have a large burner for this.

 

6. A big blanching pot to blanch my tomatoes! This needs a large burner too. I could remove the tea kettle pot from the small burner, but it doesn't do me much good since the burner is small. I guess I really need 4 large burners.

 

What I've been doing is removing the big canning pot full of boiling water temporarily while I boil the tomatoes or pickles, then returning it to the burner. I did the same thing with the blanching pot.

 

Is it okay to just remove the big pot of 180 degree water from the stove once the jars are good and hot? Or do the empty jars need to stay at 180 degrees just prior to being filled with food?

 

One thing that is troublesome on my smooth top stove is that the size pots I'm using just BARELY hold enough water to cover 4 quart size jars with an inch of water. It's also hard to keep the water at 180 degrees in two of the pots because the heat goes on and off on my stove.

 

Another problem I'm having is that I can't lower my filled jars into a rack to just sit a little bit in the boiling water while I fill all the jars. This is because my canner pot can't be too large for the smooth top stove burner. A rack will not fit inside my pot, so I just put a towel down inside it.

 

If you have ideas on making things easier, I'd love to hear them. I bet I'm making this harder than it needs to be. Help! All ideas are welcome.

 

Thanks!

[Violet]

Heat some hot water, put in a small crockpot and use that for the lids instead of a burner.

[Teaberry]

That's a good idea, Violet, thanks. I guess I can get my thermometer to stick to the side. Ball's canning book says not to let the water boil with the lids.

 

I guess I could purchase an individual electric burner too to heat up the tomatoes, etc.

 

What a mess though. Am I the only one here who finds this a bit like juggling peas and trying not to let a single one drop?

[ScrubbieLady]

I use the water from heating up my lids to add to my waterbath canner if I don't have enough water after I add the jars.

 

I use the same pot to blanch and cook the tomatoes. Blanch and put in ice water to peel. Pour out blanching water and put tomatoes back in. I blanch ALL the tomatoes before I go forward.

 

I heat my jars in my canner. Just fill them with water and put into the canner. The canner and the jars heat up at the same time. When I am ready, I take the jars out and drain, fill up with tomatoes or whatever and keep going. When I empty the jars, I empty half of them back into the canner and the water level stays fairly well. You can empty the others into another pot or tea kettle or the dishpan for washing up and not waste the water.

[Teaberry]

Scrubbie Lady, I love your idea to use the lid water to top off the canner if necessary. Sometimes I feel like so "duuuh" when I'm doing this, but I'm the type who is visual and if I see it done, then I've got it. I love YouTube for this reason.

 

Okay, I'm trying to visualize this.

 

Quote: "When I empty the jars, I empty half of them back into the canner and the water level stays fairly well. You can empty the others into another pot or tea kettle or the dishpan for washing up and not waste the water. "

 

I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Are you saying you empty the water out of the jars and let them all just sit together while you fill each one with the food? Then you put them one by one back into the canner?

 

I guess that's about all I can do too. I thought it's best to keep the jars hot in the water until right before filling and fill them only one at a time, but this is challenging with just 4 burners.

 

I'm going to try jam soon and from what I understand those jars need to be sterilized.

[Bluechip]

I do like scrubbielady.

 

I pull out a jar, empty the water either into another pot I have by the stove or back into the canner. Fill the jar, replace it in it's slot then take another jar and do the same. That way you get an idea of water displacement inside the canner.

[ScrubbieLady]

Scrubbie Lady, I love your idea to use the lid water to top off the canner if necessary. Sometimes I feel like so "duuuh" when I'm doing this, but I'm the type who is visual and if I see it done, then I've got it. I love YouTube for this reason.

 

Okay, I'm trying to visualize this.

 

Quote: "When I empty the jars, I empty half of them back into the canner and the water level stays fairly well. You can empty the others into another pot or tea kettle or the dishpan for washing up and not waste the water. "

 

I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Are you saying you empty the water out of the jars and let them all just sit together while you fill each one with the food? Then you put them one by one back into the canner?

 

I guess that's about all I can do too. I thought it's best to keep the jars hot in the water until right before filling and fill them only one at a time, but this is challenging with just 4 burners.

 

I'm going to try jam soon and from what I understand those jars need to be sterilized.

 

 

Yes, I don't take the jars out of the canner until I am ready to fill them. Drain and fill, do the lids and put them back in the canner rack one by one as soon as the lid is on. Doesn't take me very long to fill my jars and get them back. If you want you can take out one or two, fill, do the lid and then put back into the canner and take out two more. The point is that you can use the canner to heat the jars up.

 

About the jam jars being sterilized. If you are processing something for more than 10 minutes, the jars need to be clean but not sterilized. If you need to sterilize, you can sterilize them in the canner.