r/Canning • u/Fun-Butterscotch8605 • 1d ago
Prep Help Can I try a canning recipe with no canner?
I have everything I need except for a pot specifically made for canning. I saw a YouTube video where she says I can boil water then put a towel at the bottom and add the hard already closed . Then just boil them for a certain amount of time and there sealed ? Is that accurate or should I look into investing in a canning pot
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u/Diela1968 1d ago
I found it difficult to find a pot I owned already that was deep enough to put in the jars and still have an inch of water over the top. That being said you can use any pot for water bath canning as long as it’s a high acid recipe such as jellies and jams with lemon juice in them or chutneys
Things like potatoes, green beans, carrots you’re gonna have to pressure can them and that requires a specialized pot.
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u/sci300768 Trusted Contributor 1d ago
What recipe are you using and are you doing a water bath?
If it's a water bath recipe, yes any pot big enough to fit the cans and water + 1 inch or more covering the top of the cans works fine.
Now, are you using a safe recipe?
Pressure canning requires a pressure canner.
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u/Fiona_12 1d ago
Ball Canning is not the only resource. There is Healthy canning.com, the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and books published by University Extension services that do canning recipe testing.
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u/StarvingArtist303 1d ago
Water bath can things with lots of sugar like jams or acids like pickles and tomato salsa. But use a tested recipe from Ball Canning.
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u/Fun-Butterscotch8605 1d ago
I’m using a good recipe from the pectin website to make grape jelly. I own a pot big enough to have the water cover the jars more an an inch .
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u/marstec Moderator 1d ago
If you are using conventional (high sugar) pectin, make sure to do them in single batches and use the size of jar as stated in the recipe. Use canning jars with two piece lids. A jar lifter is a great tool for getting the hot jars out of the pot. I have an enamelled stockpot for processing my jam. It is lined with a silicone mat (similar to air fryer liners) at the bottom. I fill the pot with boiling water and keep my jars in there while the jam is being prepared.
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u/StarvingArtist303 1d ago
That should work just fine. If the lids don’t seal you can always keep the jelly in the fridge
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u/207Menace 1d ago
If you have a 8qt soup pot you can make: pickles, jams, relishes. All you need is a cookie rack or jar rings tied together or line the bottom of the pot with a clean handtowel. The point is to keep the jars from contact with the metal. You cannot can meat or veggies. Waterbathing non acidic foods has not been recommended for over 100 years.
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u/Blue-Princess 1d ago
Canning is not canning. There’s no “one kind” of canning. There’s steam canning, waterbath canning, and pressure canning.
Where is your recipe from? If it’s a tested recipe from a trusted source, it will tell you what kind of processing is needed for that recipe. If it’s a tested says waterbath for x mins for pints and you’re using pint jars, then yes you can absolutely just put a tea towel in the bottom of the pot and as long as your pot is deep enough to cover the pints by 1.5” of water then all will be good.
If you’re using different jar sizes then see if it mentions processing time for alternate size jars…
If the recipe says pressure canning then no you cannot do what you’re suggesting.
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u/BoozeIsTherapyRight Trusted Contributor 1d ago
You don't need a special pot to do water bath canning. You do need a pot that's tall enough that you can add something to keep the jars off the bottom and still have enough room to have water 1-2" over the tops of the jars.
It does seem that you lack a lot of knowledge about canning and about what is done to keep it safe and why. You must use a safe, tested recipe--not every recipe is safe to can. This subreddit has a wiki with lots of safe recipe sites.
Here is a video from Michigan State University to get you started. https://youtu.be/-eVXHsWJDlg?si=EOrdAhTRvrNnrqrR