Pressure Cooker Canning Recipe

How to make it

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• Filling the jars and canner
• 1. Prepare the stuff to be canned according to recipe. Fill hot canning jars promptly with food and liquid to recommended level. Allow ½-inch headspace for fruits. ALL vegetables and meats require 1-inch headspace due to expansion during processing. Work out air bubbles with a clean nonmetallic spatula. Wipe sealing edge clean with a damp cloth. Adjust bands (or lock down lids) according to closure manufacturer’s directions.
• 2. Put the filled jars in the rack & the rack into the pressure cooker & add water to half way mark on the jars. See Photo
• 3. Look through the vent pipe of your pressure cooker, to be certain it is open before placing cover on cooker. To clean the vent pipe, draw a pipe cleaner or small brush through the opening.
• 4. Put the cover on the cooker.
• Venting / Exhausting air from the canner
• 1. Vent (exhaust) air from the canner and jars by adjusting the burner's heat to a relatively high setting to create a steady flow of steam from the vent pipe. Reduce heat to maintain a moderate steam flow. Allow steam to flow for 10 minutes to fill the canner with steam and remove air. See Photo
• Sealing the pressure cooker and processing
• 1 Place the pressure regulator [the regulator weight] on the vent pipe. Set the burner at a relatively high heat setting, on most range burners, and heat the pressure cooker until the pressure weight is doing a slow cha-cha. See Photo
• 2 The processing time begins when pressure gauge is in boogie mode. Adjust heat to maintain correct dance tempo. That may take a few tweaks!
• 3 Processing time for most items, in quart (litre) jars, loaded in jars hot, is about 40 to 45 minutes.
• Notes:
• Loss of pressure at any time can result in under processing, or unsafe food.
• Quick and large pressure variations during processing may cause unnecessary liquid losses from jars.
• At the end of the processing time
• 1 At end of processing time, turn burner OFF.
• 2 Let pressure drop of its own accord, do not quick-cool. Do not run water over the cooker! Pressure is completely reduced when the air vent/cover lock and overpressure plug have dropped and no steam escapes when the pressure regulator is tilted. When the pressure has been completely reduced, remove pressure regulator from vent pipe and let canner cool for 10 minutes. Do not remove the pressure regulator until pressure is completely reduced and the air vent/cover lock has dropped. Always remove pressure regulator before opening the cover.
• 3 Open the cooker & remove the jars with a jar lifter, trying to keep them upright without tilting See Photo. Set jars apart on board or cloth away from draft to cool. A towel or cake cooling rack makes a good surface. Leave at least one inch of space between the jars during cooling. Let the jars sit undisturbed while they cool, normally 8 to 12 hours. Do not tighten the ring bands on the lids or push down on the center of the flat metal lid while the jars are cooling.
• 4 When jars are cool, tighten everything down. See Photo
• Notes:
• If any jars failed to seal, put them in the refrigerator and use those first. It’s never happened to me but not bad advice.
• Most canned foods will taste good for about a year. Technically, they are safe for years past this, as long as they remained sealed, stored properly and show no signs of spoilage. But after a year or two the quality and taste will appreciably decline.
• Problems and solutions
• Altitudes above sea level - Recipes normally include directions for the proper pressure and processing time if you are more than 1,000 ft above sea level. Check the instructions.