Do You Need A Special Pot For Canning?

For many people, canning is a once- or twice-a-year event, often entailing a large haul of goodies from the garden or a big batch of apples to can. After the season ends, you tuck away the canning equipment, including the extra jars and your canning pot. What happens if you can't find it when you need it later? Or, you may have a large batch of sauce or fruit to can and little time, and just one canner won't do. What can you do without a second canner to help with the process?

Typically, for canning, you need a large metal pot that allows you to put numerous jars within it and has some way of holding those jars off the bottom just enough. It also needs to be tall enough to have about an inch or two of room for water above the jars, as noted by Food in Jars. You can purchase a canner specifically designed for this task, but you may not have to do so.

Look around your kitchen to see if you have a large enough pot to do the work. Often, a large stainless steel pot, such as one that you've used for big batches of sauce, could work well, shares Garden Betty. Be sure to choose something tall enough to ensure ample room for water to move all around the jars during the canning process.

The hard part of the process is to find a rack to put at the bottom of the pot for the jars to sit on top of so they don't come into contact directly with the stove's heat, which could lead to broken glass. It also helps ensure water can flow under and all around the jars. If you don't have a canning rack or cooling rack that fits into the bottom of your pot, consider a simple tip from The Prairie Homestead. Wire together several canning jar rings in the shape and size of the bottom of the stock pot. Use any type of wire to hold them together. This will provide just enough elevation to the jars. Just be sure there's enough on the base of the pot to create stability.