Start the Pressure-Canning Season Off
Right
As
the canning season heats up, it’s a good time to check over your pressure
canner to make sure that it is working properly. While a boiling water canner
is used for canning acid foods like peaches or pears, a pressure canner must be
used to safely process low-acid vegetables like peas and green beans, as well
as meats. 
Modern pressure canners are
lightweight units with special safety features that make home canning easy. Today’s
pressure canner has a dial gauge
or a weighted gauge for
indicating and regulating pressure.
Dial gauge canners usually have
a counterweight or pressure regulator for sealing off the open vent pipe to
pressurize the canner. This weight should not be confused with a weighted gauge
and should not jiggle or rock during the canning process.
Weighted gauge canners are usually
designed to jiggle several times a minute or to rock gently when they are
maintaining the correct pressure. Read your manufacturer’s directions to know
how a particular weighted gauge should rock or jiggle to indicate that the
proper pressure is reached and then maintained during processing.
Getting
started
--When removing your canner
from storage at the start of the season, start by washing it in warm soapy
water; then rinse and dry.
--If you have a dial gauge
canner, do not immerse the dial in water.
--Inspect the gasket. “It should be flexible, not hard or cracked,”
says Ingham.
--Do not store the gasket in
the lid. Instead, after each use, remove the gasket from the lid, rinse in warm
soapy water and allow to air dry; then store in the base of the canner.
--Inspect the vent port, making sure that it is free of debris and
will allow air and steam to flow freely.
Begin the season by canning
water. To do this, place warm water in your canner as directed in the user’s
manual, seal the canner lid in place, and place the canner over high heat to
vent. Allow the canner to vent for 10
minutes; then seal the vent port with a counterweight (dial gauge
canner) or the weighted gauge, and allow the canner to pressurize. This
relatively quick process lets you check the gasket to make sure it will seal
the canner and see that everything is working. Once you are sure that the
canner is functioning properly, you can turn off the heat and allow the canner
to depressurize. Checking your canner with water may save you a few frantic
moments later in the season before you pressure-can items such as meat or corn
only to find that your canner isn’t working.
If you are using a dial gauge
canner, the dial should be tested every year to make sure it is working
correctly. Even brand new gauges out of the box should be tested. Many county
extension Offices offer dial gauge testing including the Brown County
UW-Extension Office. Please call 920.391.4651 to schedule an appointment.
In addition to properly
working equipment, it’s important to follow a research-tested up-to-date recipe
to help ensure that the food that you are preserving will be safe for family
and friends. The University of Wisconsin-Extension has a wide variety of safe
home canning recipes available from your county UW-Extension office or online
at Safe and Healthy: Preserving Food at Home. To learn more
about keeping food safe, contact the Brown County UW-Extension office. To stay
abreast of all the latest food safety news, follow “Safe and Healthy: Preserving Food at Home.”
Source: University of
Wisconsin-Extension food science specialist Barbara Ingham
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