Pint sized canning?

[Darkling Farm]

Hello,
Been reading in forums for some time now and finally decided I should just join and post because I cannot seem to find an answer to my ever-burning queries. Forgive me if these are things that have been covered time and time again, but I have yet to come across anything that even remotely gives me a clue, so I appreciate, in advance, any advice anyone has and I thank you very much for your time.

I have purchased a good pressure canner (16 quart). I have been planning canning, and gleaning information slowly over the years. It is all part of my goal with my small farm of being as self sustaining as possible.

My issue is that everything I've come across seems to be geared towards big ol' families and massive quart jars. Since I am a single woman... I really like the idea of canning in pint jars... more of a single serving type situation for fruits and stews, etc. It is also a concern of mine as sort of an intake control I have a friend that did first time canning in quart jars last year and shared many a bountiful care package to me and I can say in complete confidence that a quart sized jar of anything yummy is just too much temptation. Pints would be much better for me.

So... if a recipe is for packing quart jars... and I wish to can in pints... do I just follow the times listed for the quart jars? I know you can stack pints... tho I worry. Do I need another tray to go on top of the short jars to place the top layer of pints upon? How high then if there are two layers of pint jars, do I put the water?

Also... There are some things of mine that I really wish to can. If I cannot fid a specific "canning recipe" for something I would like to pressure can... do I look up the ingreedients proccessing times and go by what ingreedients require the longer processing.... or look to something similar?

Thank you,
Wylfenne

 

[mcnerd]

Most recipes should provide tested times for both pints and quarts, but if only quart times are provided I would stick with that time for smaller, for lack of proven testing for a shorter time frame. You can always go to a smaller jar, but never go to a larger jar than specified for safety reasons.

If you want to stack jars, it is recommended you have a separate platform or wire frame between the two so that water can circulate. You can stagger the jar so they are resting on the spring lid and not the flat, but its not the best choice by any means.

Sorry, I can't recommend experimenting with cooking recipes for canning, especially low-acid foods, though there are a lot of people willing to take risks. That's up to your conscience. Unless you are a Master Canner (actual title) I would stick with exact canning recipes.

 

[web-collage]

Just saw your canning questions and thought I would reply. Hope you are still there. I can almost exclusively in pint jars. I use a recipe and fill the pints, then pressure can them for the same amount of time that I would use for quarts. Don't stack them in the pressure canner; do two or three batches if you need to. I'm at 7000 feet so water bath canning doesn't work well here (water boils at 135). I use pressure canning for everything except jam. 15 minutes at 15 lbs. I do tomato sauce, chutney, apricot sauce, and salsa.

 

[Josie1945]

Hello,
Been reading in forums for some time now and finally decided I should just join and post because I cannot seem to find an answer to my ever-burning queries. Forgive me if these are things that have been covered time and time again, but I have yet to come across anything that even remotely gives me a clue, so I appreciate, in advance, any advice anyone has and I thank you very much for your time.

I have purchased a good pressure canner (16 quart). I have been planning canning, and gleaning information slowly over the years. It is all part of my goal with my small farm of being as self sustaining as possible.

My issue is that everything I've come across seems to be geared towards big ol' families and massive quart jars. Since I am a single woman... I really like the idea of canning in pint jars... more of a single serving type situation for fruits and stews, etc. It is also a concern of mine as sort of an intake control I have a friend that did first time canning in quart jars last year and shared many a bountiful care package to me and I can say in complete confidence that a quart sized jar of anything yummy is just too much temptation. Pints would be much better for me.

So... if a recipe is for packing quart jars... and I wish to can in pints... do I just follow the times listed for the quart jars? I know you can stack pints... tho I worry. Do I need another tray to go on top of the short jars to place the top layer of pints upon? How high then if there are two layers of pint jars, do I put the water?

Also... There are some things of mine that I really wish to can. If I cannot fid a specific "canning recipe" for something I would like to pressure can... do I look up the ingreedients proccessing times and go by what ingreedients require the longer processing.... or look to something similar?

Thank you,
Wylfenne

Wylfenne,Welcome to DC.
I can in pint and quart jars. Google (Ball Blue Book) and it should solve all the questions. I do stack pint jars with a rack between them . I don't know if a 16 quart pressure is big enough to do this. Find the webb site for your brand of Pressure and I am sure they will tell you

Josie

 

[web-collage]

My pressure cooker is smaller than 16 qts and says not to stack but I do small batches anyway (8 qts of sauce cooked down to about 5 qts) and it does hold 10 pint jars. I do put a TBS of white vinigar into the pressure canner water to prevent cloudy stuff on the jars. It's a real pleasure to see my canning cupboard full of those little jars.