Home Canning: Do you use a regular pressure cooker?

[lsdesign]

Or is it a special piece of equipment you have to invest in just for that purpose?

[Beth]

I use a slightly overgrown stockpot so I can do quart jars, but for jams and jellies in half-pint or pint jars, you can use a more normal sized one. It needs to be tall enough to have the water an inch or more above the tops of the lids without boiling over. You will have the lid on, but you want to keep the water at a good bubbling boil.

There are some foods -- those that are not acidic enough in particular -- that cannot be canned by the water bath and require a pressure canner. Never done that myself, so I can only tell you that you can put up a lot of things without one.

The special equipment you must have is a pair of jar tongs. A pair of regular tongs or a magnetic lid holder and a canning funnel and a rack that fits under the jars or a dish towel that you don't mind putting in the bottom of the pot to allow water to get under the jars and to keep them from rocking against the bottom of the pan.

[Chiffonade]

I use a plain old water bath method. No special equipment required. I probably do this because it's the way I've always done it - even when we lived at 7,000 feet altitude. (Just doubled boiling time.)

[HUNGRY!]

I got a large "canning" pot at the hardware store. I'm sure you can use a regular one though. Pressure canning is good for soups and meat sauces and anything with lower acid (I've never done it myself). For things like veggies and jams you don't really need a pressure canner.

[lsdesign]

Thanks for all of the input so far. So, I have apple butter I made 6 days ago. It is currently in the jars in the fridge. Is it too late to put it in a bath? Do you have to seal after boiling?

I did go to the canning website but the info didn't seem specific enough. I just need to get this done and out of the way. It is really a school project for my son.

Thanks in advance again!

[CompassRose]

I don't think it would be too late to can it. After all, there are some pickle recipes, for instance, where you let them do their natural thing for a week or so, and then can to keep them. As well, any canning directions I've seen say that if you happen to get a failed seal (which of course you might well not realise till the next day, after letting the jars cool and checking them) that it's fine to re-can them.

If it was my butter, since it's been in the fridge anyway, and presumably started boiling hot and in sterile jars, I'd do it.