Anyone Here Into Canning? Canning Question.

[Anonymous]

I just took my first forray into the world of canning. I canned beef broth today. I have a 16qt pressure canner (the weighted type, not hte dial). I am familiar with pressure cookers, as I cook indian food all the time in my smaller pressure cooker. When I cook my Indian food, the pressure guague really gets rocking and makes a ton of noise. However, my pressure canner was quite quiet only rocked a little (though the pressure button was fully extended up and locked). I could hear the boiling in the pressure canner as well (which I can never hear in my pressure cooker). I'm thinking it might have been the fact that I was only doing 6 pint size jars in a HUGE 16qt canner that the pressure did not make a ton of noise?? I'm now paranoid that I did not get the pressure high enough.

Also, in the pressure canner, do you cover the jars with water (the way one would do in a water bath method)? Or do you just bring the water up a few inches?

This is definitly quite a learning experience! Hopefully by next summer I'll be an expert canner!

[Anonymous]

I have no idea but just wanted to say that I love that you're doing it.

My mom canned everything--peaches, pears, tomatoes, etc., made apple and pear sauce, jams, jellies, etc. I really want her to teach me.

Esp now that I learned that the linings of canned goods from the supermarket (esp tomatoes) contain BPA.