How to get over canning anxiety?

[Flagwaver]

I'm not embarrassed asking this because I've heard of others who feel the same way I do. I'm freaked whenever I do pressure canning that I'm going to forget to check the pressure and it's going to explode!!!

I've two pressure canners: one with visual dial, the other with auditory rattler. I've only used the visual one so far.

Something exploded on my mama's stove when I was a little kid so I'm sure that's part of why I feel this way. But I know I'm not the only one here who has felt uncomfortable with this. Appreciate hearing how some of you adjusted.

 

[Laurie the Mom]

Oh, I don't know. I've been canning for somewhere around 15 years and the pressure canner STILL makes me nervous!!! Never has blown up yet, but one of these days....

Laurie

 

[Flagwaver]

Oh sheesh. Now I'm really getting nervous!

Are you making fun of my question?

 

[Lady in Ash]

It's never occured to me that it would blow up! My biggest fear when I started was that I would give someone food poisening. I was completely self-taught and scarred to death to take that first bite. However . . . I now love it, even though it's a lot of work. I just love looking at all my canned jars in the basement and bringing various jars up for meals. Makes me feel good that I did it myself.

 

[Gingergirl]

With all the noise and steam, the pressure canner still makes me a bit nervous, esp. at the beginning of the season. However, with all the wing-nut bolts on the lid, if it did blow up it would have to take the kitchen with it.

However, canning and preserving and dehydrating is addictive.

 

[Sarrah]

What would happen if the pressure goes over the legal limit is the escape valve gives and you get a huge jet of very noisy steam escaping.
How do I know this you may ask.
Last month I did it. First time ever for me. It got my attention but all was fine. It scared me, DH and the dogs... and I felt stupid but it was safe enough with no explosions. So try not to do it, but it isn't fatal or a big mess.

 

[A.T.Hagan]

<b>How to get over canning anxiety?</b>

You get over it by canning. Over and over again.

It's the only way.

My grandmother once blew a pot of spaghetti sauce all over the kitchen ceiling. Years later you could still see the stains. She shrugged her shoulders, cleaned up the mess, and kept right on using her pressure cooker.

.....Alan.

 

[Flagwaver]

Thanks for the replies. Yep, experience is the best and Alan ought to know. Isn't there some kind of canner that is explosion-proof though? I remember hearing about one once, but don't know the brand name. American something or other?

I found this on a great canning site: http://farmgal.tripod.com/index-2.html

I'm sure everyone who cans with a pressure canner have heard horror stories of pressure canners exploding, because the pressure inside got too high. In fact, this senario has even prevented many people from canning in a pressure canner because the thought scares them to death. Rest assured, modern day canners have a saftey valve that will pop off, releasing pressure, before this happens. You still must be cautious, however, especially around small children. If a pressure canner is opened before all the pressure has been released, or if it should somehow become knocked off of the stove, serious or fatal injuries could result.

My kitchen sounds WILD right now! Kitchenaid mixer whirling away along with breadmaker, oven buzzer going off! Dog barking!

 

[Laurie the Mom]

>>Oh sheesh. Now I'm really getting nervous!

Are you making fun of my question?
<<

Not a bit!! Just ask my Dh, he laughs at me every year 'cause I'm still afraid of the canner.

Alan, I've never exploded spaghetti sauce all over the kitchen, but I did have a gallon jug of molasses blow up once. It really was very funny, but a HUGE mess!

Laurie

 

[A.T.Hagan]

Thanks for the replies. Yep, experience is the best and Alan ought to know.

Ha! There's plenty of you folks in here with years more canning experience than me. I do can stuff, but not as much or for as long as some of you have. Wet-pack canning anyway.

.....Alan.

 

[Flagwaver]

Molasses! I'd just like to know how you cleaned it up? My dh spilled a bottle of oil once, but thankfully, he kindly cleaned it up before I got home. Telltale signs were apparent as I slid into the kitchen though!

Well, here's one I think Alan will especially enjoy. I had no idea in my search that I'd happen upon the history of the pressure cooker! Evidently their use almost went out of existence in America at one point due to anxiety in using them, but for good reason.

Anyway Alan, we owe our having these cookers to Napoleon who offered a prize of twelve thousand francs to someone that could find a way to preserve food. You'll have to read this to find out why. http://missvickie.com/library/history.html

And here's the pressure cooker I'd like to get - no rubber gasket to wear out or anything: http://www.pressurecooker-outlet.com/american.htm Expensive, but if I sell the two I now have.....

 

[Walrus Whisperer]

"gallon jug of molasses blow up once"

no cats glued to the floor with the molasses, I hope?

 

[Jazzdad]

And here's the pressure cooker I'd like to get - no rubber gasket to wear out or anything: http://www.pressurecooker-outlet.com/american.htm Expensive, but if I sell the two I now have.....

I just bought one of these canners and it looks really substantial. I haven't used it yet as I'm still waiting for harvest in these parts. I liked the idea of no gasket. One note: it is available about $8 cheaper for the 21 qt model on Amazon.com.

 

[Gingergirl]

Flagwaver,

the American is also the pressure canner I have with the metal to metal seal. I fret over getting the vaseline on right, and tightening down the wing-nuts evenly...but in the end it probably doesn't matter. Frankly, I find I like having the weight and dial/gauge, like having a back up system. Still, I find all the noise unsettling. DH (a mechinal engineer) laughs at me.

 

[Dorema]

The sound of that metal weight rocking on the pressure canner is music to my ears! Even my kids know when we need to bump the heat down a notch if it is moving too fast. They call it the "jiggler". We know the "right " sound for each canner as they all have a little different sound. I have 4 pressuer canners now and usually have 2 going and two cooling when harvest is at its peak. I bought one with a pressuer guage on it and I just don't like it as well.
I have a small one for helping with meals in a hurry.
It is an addiction.......
After a while, it become a tool just like your garden hoe or a well balance hammer.
Dorema

 

[Dinghy]

I'm still a little nervous too, even though I know nothing will happen. The first few times I canned with the pressure canner I wouldn't stay in the kitchen. I just kept peeking around the corner to make sure everything was o.k. The old horror stories of them blowing up kept running through my mind. Thank goodness they made the over-pressure valves!

 

[blueberry]

Everyone is right - you just have to keep trying and you will not only get used to it, you will love it!

When I first tried pressure canning decades ago (if I remember right, my first try was okra ), I had already been using a mirro pressure cooker for years.

Since I used my pressure cooker for everyday cooking, I had no fear using it for canning. Like Lady in Ash, I was afraid of killing a family member with food poisoning, though.

 

[Pogonip]

I've got one, but you'll know TS has -really- HTF if I'm forced to use it! Though it may be the only way I'll have enough bacon on hand for all those buckets of beans...

I do have two 4-quart Presto's--one in the kitchen, and the other in the camping gear...saves on propane, and if you're at 8,000 feet, you can boil a potato for an hour and it'll still have bones in it unless you use a pressure cooker...