I have done water bath canning of jams and jellies but my propane stove never seems to get a huge canner full of water to come to a full boil. I mentioned to my dad that I wanted to buy a pressure canner. No sooner had I hung the phone up than he called back. He told my mother about our conversation and she asked him to call me back and offer me her pressure canner! It is a Presto Pressure Canner and Cooker circa 1979. I took possession of the pressure canner today after we had lunch together. My Mom said if I use it I should write a blog post about it. So here it is. A blog post about my new old pressure canner.
I had a lot of fruit in the refrigerator from my photography practice.
Along with all the fruit I was photographing, I had four pints of strawberries and a big bag of cherries. I washed all the fruit, chopped the big stuff like the apples, and dumped it, stems, peels and all into a huge pot.
I brought the fruit to a boil, added some lemon juice and cooked it on a low simmer until all the fruits were mushy and their juices released. I lined a colander with six layers of cheesecloth and poured the fruit in to drain. It is a slow process and if you rush it and squeeze the juice out, the jelly will be cloudy.
After it was done draining I ended up with five cups of juice.
I brought the juice to a rolling boil and then added five cups of sugar.
I let it boil, stirring until it reached a temperature of 220 degrees. It was a lot of stirring. It seems to take forever. But I kept stirring……..
And stirring…..
Finally it reached 220 degrees and passed the spoon test. I think it should set. I didn’t use pectin so it’s a gamble.
I ladled the jelly into the jars and it perfectly fit in two pint jars. One for my Mom and Dad, and one for me and Michael!
Well there was a little spoonful left for the cook. Yum! It was tart and sweet. I can’t wait for it to set and enjoy it on a peanut butter sandwich.
It was time to process the jelly in the pressure canner. I followed the directions to the letter and it worked!
Here’s a little video of my pressure canner in action.
After just a few minutes the process was complete. After the pressure cooker cooled down, I was able to remove my pints of mixed fruit jelly. They looked beautiful!
So, I am now the proud owner of my mother’s Presto Pressure Canner and I love it! I am planning to branch out from jams and jellies and can some fruits and vegetables. Thanks Mom!
Kathy says
Gotta love those old pressure cookers. I remember my grandma and my mom using one. I have never tried it.
I bet that jelly will be delicious. It sure looks great!