I started canning because I wanted to be able to enjoy my garden’s produce all year long, not just in summer and early fall. What I learned is that home canning is truly the next step in home gardening. What’s the point of growing all those delicious fruits and vegetables if you have to stop eating them after October? Preserve all the great food you grow, and you’ll be able to enjoy fresh summertime flavors year-round. I’ve rounded up a list of must-have canning equipment below, so you can pick up everything you need to preserve your homegrown fruits and veggies—just like I do.
Glass Jars
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Glass jars are the most important items you need for canning, since they’re going to protect everything you’ve grown. They’re ideal because they won’t corrode or rust over time the way metal does. You can’t actually re-seal metal cans, and they’re not ideal for preserving food, anyway. Mason jars are the best and most popular choice for all home-canning purposes, and they’re incredibly easy to find. You can find them online, in grocery stores, and some hardware stores carry them in the kitchen section too.
Quart- and pint-sized jars are the most popular for home canning, and are also the most manageable sizes. The larger your jars, the bigger your cupboard storage spaces for those jars need to be, so choose wisely.
Funnel
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Yes, it’s very possible to can fruits and veggies without using a funnel… but it’s going to be much messier. Make the whole process quicker, and save yourself a lot of clean-up time by using a funnel. These handy tools make it so much easier to get ingredients into your jars.
Making you own funnel out of paper isn’t a good idea. Paper will leave a residue on the food being canned, and this funnel will quickly fall apart when anything hot or wet is poured through it. A reusable plastic or metal funnel works best. Here’s a tip: do yourself a favor, and get one that’s dishwasher safe so you don’t have to scrub it out by hand.
Vacuum Lids
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Vacuum lids are a canning essential, since you can’t seal up your jars without them. These lids can’t be re-used, so make sure you get as many as you need for the project you have in mind, along with a few extra just in case. The lids are coated in a thin rubber glue, which creates the airtight seal you need to keep food safe to eat. The rubber coating softens during the hot water bath process, so the lids will seal on their own.
When you’re shopping for supplies, make sure to buy lids that fit the jars you have. Verify the size of the lids against the size of the jars, since you really don’t want any last-minute surprises while you’re working.
Canning Pot/Pressure Canner
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The great thing about home preserving is that you don’t need a bunch of fancy canning equipment to do it. Glass jars are pretty affordable, and strawberries or pickles (or whatever you want to can) don’t need special tools to prepare. One thing you will need is a hot water bath to put your jars in to seal them tightly. That means you have a choice to make: large pot, or pressure canner?
If you’re going to use the simpler method and boil your jars in a pot, make sure to buy a large one that’s deep enough to hold even quart-sized jars. You also need to invest in a rack that fits inside the pot, so you can place the jars on this support. Letting them sit on the bottom can result in shattered glass and a huge mess.
Alternatively, you can get a large pressure canner to allow jars to process more quickly than the more traditional boiling water method. You’ll also need a pressure canner if you’re planning to preserve low-acid items like beans, corn, meat, poultry, or soups.
Now, this is important: Before you can any food at home, familiarize yourself with safe canning procedures for the particular ingredients you’re working with. Resources like the Ball Blue Book is an invaluable reference, and will help you ensure that the food you’re preserving remains safe to consume.
Jar Lifter
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A jar lifter isn’t a strict requirement for canning, but it will make everything a whole lot easier for you. Use this tool to simply lift jars right out of boiling water, or from the pressure cooker after they’ve been processed. If you don’t want to buy a special jar lifter, you can get a set of durable tongs with rubber ends instead. The rubber is vital, as it will give you a better grip on jar lids so they’re easy to lift up.
Whatever you do, don’t stick your hand into boiling water to retrieve jars—not even if you’re wearing hand protection. Even with silicone gloves on, it’s dangerous to reach into that hot water, so please use the tools that are designed to grip jars securely and safely.
Wooden Cutting Board
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It’s dangerous for your counters, tabletops, and other kitchen surfaces if you place hot glass jars right on top of them. Marble and granite are particularly susceptible to this kind of damage, as hot items can crack the stone. Protect your counters with wooden cutting boards, and place your jars on them when you remove them from the hot water or the pressure canner. You can always place the jars on a folded towel instead, but a solid surface is better. The cutting board will provide a stable surface that keeps jars from wobbling and potentially falling and breaking.
Be sure to allow your jars to cool thoroughly before you pick them up with your bare hands. Allow them to remain on the cutting board undisturbed for a few hours so they can cool enough to be handled safely.
Labels
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You might not think of labels as being canning equipment, but they really are. Labels help you identify what it is, exactly, in those jars. Even though you put a lot of hard work into the canning process, it can be difficult to discern certain foods after they’ve been processed. In certain lighting, it can be difficult to differentiate tomato sauce from strawberry jelly. This is why labels come in handy.
Get adhesive labels that are specifically made for glass jars, and invest in a dark ink, fine-tipped marker. Be sure to write (legibly and clearly) what type of food is in the jar, and the date when it was canned. This way you’ll know exactly what’s in all each jar, and how long it’ll remain safe for you to eat.
Ingredients
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While produce may not be considered canning equipment per se, it’s certainly the most important part of the preserving process!
It’s possible to can almost any fruit or vegetable you can grow, provided you have a proven recipe for doing so. Fresh fruit and tomatoes work best for canning: they’re high in acid and as such can be processed in a simple water bath. They also maintain their great flavors and colors once preserved. Berries are some of the tastiest fruits for canning purposes, but peaches are delicious when preserved, too.
If you prefer pickled vegetables, cucumbers are the most popular (of course). But you can also pickle items like beets, cauliflower, onions, peppers, and more. A quick internet search can yield tons of recipes for you to try out. Pinterest in particular has many unique recipes if you’re feeling adventurous.
Pickling Brine
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If you’re pickling vegetables of any kind, you need to make a brine. The basics needed are vinegar and salt, but some recipes can call for sugar (like bread-and-butter pickles) or pepper flakes. Check out some different recipes and experiment to try out different flavors. Salt isn’t just a flavoring agent: it helps to preserve pickled items for much longer than vinegar alone. Some cooks also like to add alum to their brine, as it helps to keep pickles crunchy over time.
Pectin
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If you’re going to make preserves or jam using fruit, be sure to get some pectin. It’s made from apples and other fruits, and it allows you to add a lot less sugar to your recipes. Pectin helps the fruit to thicken and reduces cooking time, so it really makes the whole canning process a lot easier. It’s not a guarantee that you’ll get perfect jams and preserves with it, but over time you’ll learn the ratios that work best for you.
Some canners who use traditional methods are quick to swear off pectin, but others consider it to be a miracle ingredient when it comes to making jams, jellies, and chutneys. Try it both ways to see which method you prefer.
Canning in Your Kitchen
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Home canning can seem really daunting and overwhelming until you actually try it. I was intimidated by the very idea of it, but once you find out it’s just basically filling jars and putting them in boiling water, it’s all pretty easy. Start out by getting the canning equipment you want to use, and you’re already more than halfway there. After all, you grew so much great stuff in your garden… shouldn’t get you to enjoy it whenever you want to?
