We used an All American 7 quart canner.
When you hear hissing watch the nipple. When you see a steady stream of steam coming from the nipple thingy, set your timer for 7 minutes. You are doing this to get most of the air out of your system to create..... pressure!
After 7 minutes apply the weight jiggler. You choose the weight based on your altitude. For sea level-1000 feet above sea level (we are 365) choose 10 pounds. For 1000-2000 feet above sea level, choose 15 pounds. Above 15 pounds you cook longer. There are charts on this you can google or refer to the manual that came with your pressure cooker.
With the jiggler on, set your timer for the proper amount of time for your jar size and ingredients. For quart sized green beans, the gods called for 25 minutes.
Your gauge should read the corresponding weight. For example, in our case we want 10 pounds to read on the gauge.
If it reads higher than 10 pounds adjust the heat. We had to lower our heat because our gauge was reading 13 pounds. You also want about 4 "jiggles" per minute. You'll understand what a "jiggle" once you hear one. Lower your heat if you have too much "jiggling". However, make sure your gauge doesn't drop below the proper poundage. The process will require your attention and tweaking so don't leave and go watch t.v.
This little rubber safety will burst if your pressure is too high.
If your canner doesn't have a rubber safety and the pressure gets too hight, the lid will take off like a rocket and put a hole in your roof. So, if the rubber safety busts or your lid flies off, that's your cue to cut off the heat and reevaluate the situation.
After the allotted time, turn off the heat. Wait for everything to cool down before removing the lid. You want your gauge to go all the way to zero before removing the lid. You may want to wait a couple extra minutes beyond that for safety's sake.
Then, pull your goods out and put them on a towel to cool.
Within the hour you should hear the popping of the lids sealing. If you don't and a lid still has some bounce to it, then you eat that jar within a week and keep it in the fridge cause it ain't sealed.
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| A 7 quart canner holds 7 quart jars! |
- Fill canner with 2-3 inches of water.
- Lube the canner with olive oil where it will meet the lid so that it will easily detach later. Heat the water on low.
- Fill wide mouth jars with cleaned and cut beans. Really pack them in there!
- Fill jars with hot water that has boiled leaving 1/2 inch to an inch of headspace at the top of the jar.
- Add 1/2 tsp of canning salt.
- Wipe mouth of the jar so that the lids will attach without any barriers. If they don't attach, you have no seal and you have defeated the whole purpose of canning.
- Put on lids and rings that have boiled. You must use new, never boiled lids so that they seal properly.
- Slowly place the jars in the canner. Try to warm them prior so they don't crack.
- Screw on lid to pressure cooker as you would put screw lug nuts onto a tire. If you don't know how to change a tire, shame on you! Go figure out how to change a tire. After you have mastered tire changing, you can learn how to can foods.
- Look for even underhang on all sides of the lid. Put heat on hi.
When you hear hissing watch the nipple. When you see a steady stream of steam coming from the nipple thingy, set your timer for 7 minutes. You are doing this to get most of the air out of your system to create..... pressure!
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| This is what I call the "nipple". It's where you will place your "jiggler". |
.JPG) |
| This shows the nipple covered by the jiggler set to 10 pounds. |
After 7 minutes apply the weight jiggler. You choose the weight based on your altitude. For sea level-1000 feet above sea level (we are 365) choose 10 pounds. For 1000-2000 feet above sea level, choose 15 pounds. Above 15 pounds you cook longer. There are charts on this you can google or refer to the manual that came with your pressure cooker.
With the jiggler on, set your timer for the proper amount of time for your jar size and ingredients. For quart sized green beans, the gods called for 25 minutes.
Your gauge should read the corresponding weight. For example, in our case we want 10 pounds to read on the gauge.
.JPG) |
| This is before we started |
If it reads higher than 10 pounds adjust the heat. We had to lower our heat because our gauge was reading 13 pounds. You also want about 4 "jiggles" per minute. You'll understand what a "jiggle" once you hear one. Lower your heat if you have too much "jiggling". However, make sure your gauge doesn't drop below the proper poundage. The process will require your attention and tweaking so don't leave and go watch t.v.
This little rubber safety will burst if your pressure is too high.
.JPG) |
| You'll find it on top of the lid behind that handle. |
If your canner doesn't have a rubber safety and the pressure gets too hight, the lid will take off like a rocket and put a hole in your roof. So, if the rubber safety busts or your lid flies off, that's your cue to cut off the heat and reevaluate the situation.
After the allotted time, turn off the heat. Wait for everything to cool down before removing the lid. You want your gauge to go all the way to zero before removing the lid. You may want to wait a couple extra minutes beyond that for safety's sake.
.JPG) |
| Removing the lid with trepidation. |
Then, pull your goods out and put them on a towel to cool.
.JPG) |
| Make this face as you remove your jars. |
Within the hour you should hear the popping of the lids sealing. If you don't and a lid still has some bounce to it, then you eat that jar within a week and keep it in the fridge cause it ain't sealed.
.JPG) |
| Voila! These suckers will keep for years to come! |
You would think with such elaborate equipment it would make it much easier...but it doesn't look much easier than the other method...
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