Pressure vs water bath

[MontyJ]

If all you can is tomato juice and salsa than use whichever you prefer. I have 3 pressure canners and 4 water bath canners. Tomatoes can be done either way. Something you will notice about canning tomatoes is this: If you water bath them, you tend to get a prettier jar; pressure canning tends to make the tomatoes float to the top of the jar. Not a big deal either way unless you are giving them as gifts. But if you ever chose to can low acid foods such as green beans, carrots or potatoes you will need the pressure canner (follow the recommended guidlines). As someone else mentioned, pickles do not do well in a pressure canner unless you are making pickle juice...which would not go well on a pulled pork sandwich or hamburger.

 

[seedcorn]

Pickles are better in water bathes?

 

[MontyJ]

Pickles are better in water bathes?

There are many recipes for pickles. If you pressure can them you can almost certainly count on mushy pickles. I have a good tested recipe for dill pickle spears if you would like it. It's actually very similar to the ball blue book recipe. I have tried making hamburger slices with the same recipe, but they are still too mushy for me. I need an insider at vlasik!

 

[Jared77]

As far as canning goes....
I do both. I pressure can what has to be pressure canned and I waterbath when I can waterbath. I used a turkey fryer base hooked up to a propane tank. Borrowed it from my SIL and her husband. Saved me a lot of headaches. Pot was hotter faster, all the steam and moisture stayed outside, and I could really get an assembly line going when it came time to can. My wife was working the batches on the stove and I was running jars in and out on a wooden cutting board and setting them on racks to cool inside. I kept the water rolling in the water bath, and I'd just put the rack down with jars, set the timer and when it was done out they'd go and a new batch went down. If I had to add water the hose was right there.

I like the water bather since I can leave it going and help with something else. Chop, puree, prep, whatever needed to be done that I could work on between the dings of the timer. Pressure canning is great too because it gives us more canning options but the cook times are much longer typically and I'm watching it much more closely. Thats the trade off for the diversity, but one I'll gladly make.

I'll be doing it that way from now on. But then again we make large batches of everything.

Regarding pickles.....

Ive learned that the better pickles are the slightly smaller pickling cucumbers. They get bigger, they get soft on the inside and really seedy. Ill use the bigger ones, but I try to get them before they get too big on the vine. I want them ripe but not bloated. Its a delicate balance Ive found. I use the pickle crisp that Vfem mentioned too. It makes a big difference. The bigger ones Ill usually turn into bread and butter pickle slices instead of dill spears.

I wonder if Vlasik doesn't have some special variety of pickle they use......I'm sure some of the other big producers have their own varieties they use. Like Paste having a special variety of tomato? hmmm.....

 

[seedcorn]

Regarding pickles.....

Ive learned that the better pickles are the slightly smaller pickling cucumbers. They get bigger, they get soft on the inside and really seedy. Ill use the bigger ones, but I try to get them before they get too big on the vine. I want them ripe but not bloated. Its a delicate balance Ive found. I use the pickle crisp that Vfem mentioned too. It makes a big difference. The bigger ones Ill usually turn into bread and butter pickle slices instead of dill spears.

I wonder if Vlasik doesn't have some special variety of pickle they use......I'm sure some of the other big producers have their own varieties they use. Like Paste having a special variety of tomato? hmmm.....

They grow commercial cucumbers in this area, why didn't I think to ask?

 

[journey11]

Pickles are better in water bathes?

They're also really good fermented in a large crock. They taste even better and they have healthy probiotics in them. I've not made them myself, but my neighbor friend shared some of hers. Hoodat ferments pickles, I think.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

We usually put up lots of pickles each year, too. We never make sweet pickles 'cause we don't care for them very much but we make some killer dills. I have been using grape leaves for a long time but my crispness is a hit-or-miss proposition. I'll try the Ball Pickle Crisp next time.

I use the pickler type cucumbers and pick them just before full maturity. I have found that works best for me. I have tried the straight eight type slicer cukes and they work OK if you get them when they're small.

I also use an old turkey fryer burner outside for just about all of our canning. Actually I have two of them and sometimes I have one going with a water bath pot and one with a pressure pot. Like Jared77, I do the running and the boiling and momma does the chopping, cooking, and prep work. Sometimes, depending how much we're doing that day, it's like a choreographed dance routine with all the stuff going on at once.

I also make a crock of fermented dills about twice during the harvest season. They always turn out very good but we prefer good old canned dill pickles. But I do have to say that the fermented pickles are very crisp, unlike some of my canned ones.

 

[April Manier]

I can't imagine only using a pressure canner!

You have to let it cool down before another batch!!!!! Holy moly, I do like 50 pints in a day that I just keep cycling through my water bath--sometimes 2 running at the same time.

Pull the sterilized bottles out. Place them on counter. Put new jars in sterilizing pot. fill jars on counter. Place jars in other ready to go canner. Pull the other ones out of the sterilize pot, fill 'em, put them back in. By the time I'm puling the finished ones I can then sterilize in that pot and start all over.

I too only use pressure canner for stuff that has to have it like stock, soups and green beans,

 

[Jared77]

They grow commercial cucumbers in this area, why didn't I think to ask?

Let us know what you find out.

 

[hoodat]

If you are canning several batches the water bath is more efficient. It takes a long time to get that much water boiling but you just keep it going. Take one batch out with your tongs and just add another batch while it's still boiling.