Have you ever been intrigued by canning? Canning is a great way to make your own canned food at home that you can keep and eat at a later date. Some of the kinds of things that are able to be canned include fruits, vegetables and even meat. Spend a little time searching online and there are thousands of shops all with a large range of different canners. So just how do these canning machines work? If you are curious about canning and wanted to get started making your own canned food, then perhaps the best thing you can do is learn a little bit about how canners, how they work and what the best kind of canner available today is. This will make sure that you know what you are getting into before you may any kind of purchase.

Canners have come a long way over the years. The majority of canners that you can buy today are extremely lightweight; this is attributed to how they are constructed. Most canners nowadays are constructed from either aluminum or stainless steel. While there are many brands of canners on the market they all follow the same basic design principles. Most canners have a lid that is twisted on and also come with a gasket. Not all canners follow this new design as there are still one or two brands that follow the traditional design of using screw-down nuts which are placed around the edges of the lid and hold it in place. Inside the canner you will typically find racks that can be removed and also a weight vent port and safety vent. A pressure gauge either in the form of a simple dial or a weighted gauge make it possible for you to know the pressure inside the canner. The majority of canners can hold one layer of quart jars or two later of pint or smaller sized jars.

Water bath canners are very popular amongst beginners, but the more experienced and advanced users prefer to use pressure canners. One of the biggest advantages of pressure canners is that the jars are not completely covered in water. Pressure canners allow you to can large quantities are jars at the same time and since they are able to reach extremely high temperatures, there is almost nothing that can’t be canned. All kinds of fruits, vegetables and even meat can be canned by a pressure canner. The downside is that these canners do require a little more experience knowledge to operate. You will have to ensure that you have properly vented all the air from the canner and maintain the canner at the required level of pressure for the required amount of time to ensure that all bacteria in the food you have canned is killed and safe to eat at a later date.

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of what canners are, how they work and what the best kind of canner is. Beginners should definitely start with just a water canner until they feel that they are comfortable with the process of making canned food. Once you’ve a little more experience under your belt, consider making the move to either a steam or pressure canner to enjoy the ability to can a much wider range of food.

Author Bio: Want to learn more about how a pressure canner works? Visit the pressure canner website today for more advice on how to use and make the most of pressure canners.

Category: Food and Drinks
Keywords: pressure canner, pressure canners, electrictic pressure canner