It really depends on what's in YOUR water. City or well? If city, is it chlorinated, fluoridated, or who knows? If well water, do you have a problem with a lot of iron or minerals?

My water contains a lot of calcium (hard water), but I don't notice any problems with canning, except I will put some citric acid in the water to BWB or PC (you can use vinegar, too) so the jars come out squeaky clean with no white film.

I've made pickles, sauerkraut, wine, and lots of other things with my well water, even with all the minerals. Again, your water circumstance is different.

Do you drink your tap water?

I wouldn't use distilled water for sure. Not only would it add more cost but it has very flat flavor that would surely affect the flavor of the recipe.

If my water (well) wasn't so good I might try some filtered or bottled water but over 40 years of canning with well water is fine by me.

Dave

thanks, guys for the advice ! Guess I'll just stick to my ordinary city water and run it through the pitcher to get the chlorine out. I tried the distilled water for my pickles, but I had 40 quarts this year and it does add to the cost..

'Someone just told me to only use distilled water, because I would get a much better product'

Someone's always passing on canning advice. If it made that much difference, you'd have seen a head's up on legitimate canning sites. I use it from our spring, wonderful water and I'm fortunate, however when I canned at my former home, I used my well water, and it was not so great with some sort of dissolved mineral in it, but safe. It made no difference whatsoever in the quality of my products I could discern.

My great aunt Mildred made the best dill pickles in the family and always swore it was her well water. Her water was so heavy with iron and other minerals it was like drinking from one of those mineral springs!!

Steve