Pressure canner or cooker
We bought an electric pressure cooker/canner (Power) with the understanding we could use it for canning vegetables. Now online we are being told not to use it. Please help us out. Can we use it for canning or not. If not, why?
Don Kendrick
Sorry, but electric pressure cookers are not meant to can food even though the manufacturer indicates they are. They just aren’t exact enough to maintain correct processing pressure throughout the time required for canning; they tend to go up and down a little….too much for safe canning. It’s necessary to buy a pressure canner (which can also be used to pressure cook many foods). Not only are they safer but they are also much larger than the electric pressure cookers, allowing you to do more foods at once. If you can afford an All American, that’s the best but a Presto, which is much cheaper, will certainly do the job for you. — Jackie
Thick preserves
I canned 14 half pints of homemade strawberry preserves yesterday. Opened one jar this morning to have with breakfast and it is too thick to spread on bread. Can my preserve be saved? If so how. I’ve made it many times in the past 5 years and this is the first time it’s come out too thick.
Leticia Ausbern
Chino Valley, Arizona
When jams and preserves are too thick, a quick “fix” is to just put the jar in a small saucepan, on top of a used old jar lid, then fill the pan up most of the way on the jar. Heat the preserves and they’ll soften so you can spoon them on your toast. Or if you let it soften more, you can pour it over waffles or pancakes. Don’t despair, goof-ups like this happen to us all. But, luckily, they’re mostly all edible! — Jackie
