I finally overcame my awe and fear of my new pressure canner and fired it up. After this, I think I can retire my water bath canner. El has posted often that she uses her pressure canner for all canning needs and now I can see why. It seems to be more energy efficient - heating 1.5 inches of water to boiling takes much less energy than a entire waterbath kettle full of water, and it puts off less heat as the canner is covered. It is a bit intimidating as it seems like it might/could explode, but we certainly bought a really safe one that is made in Wisconsin (El's recommendation).
I made a roasted tomato soup and I was able to get 5 quarts canned. Next time, I will do a lot more, although I had run out of tomatoes. I used a combination of red, yellow and even a couple of Green Zebras and it really was a lovely orange color.
Straining the soup 
Hot outta the cannerCome January, this will be a welcome hot meal.
It's a big canner for sure, can fit two layers of jars
6 comments:
Angie, that looks like a serious piece of equipment. Gorgeous, as is your tomato soup. I've never used a pressure cooker before, but they seem to make a lot of sense for many preparations.
Best~ Brett
Yay! Fear not that big silver thing, Angie: goodness, all that hardware has a purpose.
And yes, a lot less energy used. Even though this summer has been hot, it would've been a lot hotter had I been doing boiling-water baths.
What I love about it is that I can put a late night batch in, let it do its thing, then turn the heat off and let it sit overnight to come down off of pressure.
Hi Brett -
Thanks. The tomatoes were roasted first. I just ate some leftovers for lunch and it is even better a day later.
El, good idea about the late night batch. I will give that a try. I appreciate your advice and motivation. A bread oven is on our short list for the farm. :)
Hey Angie!
I just got your comment on my blog and was trying to figure out how to contact you, this seemed easiest (your card is still in my van from Monday, lol).
Didn't know you also had a blog, so it will be fun to follow your postings and keep in touch this way!
I just got home from 3 hours of harvesting and am taking a quick break. Talk to you soon!
Penny
You know my blog now, there is a link there for my email address (says Contact Us). I don't want to list it here, it may get picked up by a software that will spam me lol.
I have a pressure canner but haven't used it yet. Good for you for going for it. That soup looks great :-)
I have a small canner that will only cover half pints :( Now that I've seen yours I really want to upgrade to a larger one for canning and use the small for less daunting projects!
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