Presure 'cooker'.. NO, not used for pressure CANNING. Pressure canners are what is used for home canning of low acid foods. Pressure cookers are just for that task. Things like tomatoes with added citric acid or lemon juice are fine, canned in a water bath. Most jellies and vinegar based pickles are also high acid so they don't need presure canning. With some foods like meats, and low acid vegetables, presure canning is necessary. Very dense things like orange squash and pumpkins cannot be pressure canned,due to the higher desnity, so these must be frozen instead. If the recipe calls for a pressure canner, thats oviously what is needed.

Agree - crucial difference between a pressure cooker and a pressure canner so make certain you are clear on that point. ;)

Must be PC:
meats
seafood
poultry
dairy products
all vegetables

Tomatoes (being a fruit) can be BWB if acid is added as Ken said. But recipes using tomatoes in combination with other vegetables require pressure canning.

Get yourself a copy of the Ball Blue Book ($7.95) whereever canning supplies are sold and explore the National Center for Home Food Preservation website linked below for all sorts of info on safety, how-tos, and recipes that are approved.

Enjoy home canning, safely. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Using a Pressure Canner

As mentioned above, high-acid foods or foods to which acid has been added (i.e. jams, fruits, tomatoes with citric acid, pickles) are fine for water bath.

Low-acid vegetables (corn, beans, winter squash - in chunks, etc.) are pressure canned.

Meats and seafoods are pressure canned.

I'm not sure how dairy got on the list. It isn't recommended for canning period.

In addition to the sources mentioned, the USDA Guide (which is now being updated for a new edition) is also online at no cost.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning

I find when setting up to do any type canning, two pressure canner are best. You can have one ready to go when the first one is removed from the heat and the pressure is allowed to decrease. You can do twice as much in about the same amount of time when using two pressure canner.
However, my late MIL and I did large amounts of vegetables for the vegetable gardens were large and everything seemed to be ready to harvest at about the same time.

Dairy and oils are out.

Yeah they are out but NCHFP still lists dairy as "pressure canned required" because USDA will allow PC of some limited dairy products IF they are first acidified to pH of 4.6 or less. (Course who would want them then? ;)

That may be one of the things deleted when the latest USDA revision comes out.

Dave

OK, I finally found the reference, but I think it's a syntax problem. No standard canning resource I know of, including the USDA, provides any recommended times or procedures for pressure canning of low-acid dairy products.

Milk is indeed included on the list of low-acid foods. But there are lots of low-acid products which are not approved for pressure canning for a variety of reasons - for example Ken's reference to puréed squash - and AFAIK, dairy products are among them.

Like you, I hope the next edition is corrected. The current wording is definitely misleading.

Carol

bump for salvage - common question

ANY low acid food.

ALL Meat, Fish Poultry and seafood (some as long as 2 hours at 120 PSI)

ANYTHING with any dairy product (Milk, cream, eggs, cheese) Pickled eggs excepted due to high acid pickling brine they are in.

Tomatoes depends on the tomato and the additions. High acid tomatoes (you'd have to test your tomatoes) Those with vinegar or citrus juice or citric acid added are fine water bath. If you put low acid vegetables in tomato juice, sauce or add meat, cheese, a lot low acid things, such as making a good Italian sauce, then it needs a pressure caner, 90 PSI for 90 minutes.