Take advantage of canning season—here's everything you need
These supplies make preserving foods easier
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As summer winds down, the bounty of produce at farm stands and supermarkets peaks. If you bought more cucumbers, strawberries, or tomatoes than you can reasonably eat before they spoil, canning will help you preserve that slice of summer. (Same goes for preserving your summer garden's harvest)!
With a simple set of canning supplies, you can put up a winter’s stock of delicious preserves, both sweet and savory.
Ensuring you have the right tools (and knowledge) on hand is crucial for successful canning.
But don’t rush to can everything just because you can (pun intended). Think of what you’ll use most, find recipes to follow, and prepare all of your canning supplies ahead of time. Here are our favorites for a plentiful canning season.
Recipes matter—for taste and safety
Read up on all the tips and tricks with these helpful canning cookbooks.
You can preserve almost anything for a short period of time by cooking it and storing it in the fridge, but if you’re looking to properly store food for a longer duration, you’ll need a solid recipe that includes all the necessary steps for safe canning.
We love Foolproof Preserving and Canning from America’s Test Kitchen for its in-depth and easy-to-follow recipes. Novice and veteran canners alike will find go-to recipes to stock their pantries.
This book details steps for safe preservation, offers step-by-step photos for most recipes, and provides recommendations for canning supplies used by the experts. It also offers options for quick preserving (refrigerator-only) or water-bath canning, so you can tailor the recipe to your needs.
This book will be your guide for preserving just about anything you can think of.
$27 at AmazonWe also love Saving the Season by Kevin West for delicious recipes to preserve seasonal produce.
It’s organized by season, so you can refer to it year-round, no matter what type of produce you have in excess. West’s extensive knowledge of canning everything from peaches to pickles is a valuable resource for any home canner.
This book is a beautiful and informative guide to putting up seasonal produce.
$23 at AmazonDedicated canning supplies make it easy
Having appropriate tools on hand makes canning more fun (and safe)!
Precision is important for canning safety, and having the right supplies helps ensure you’re following proper procedures.
For water-bath canning, you’ll need a large canning pot with enough room to effectively circulate the hot water—and we do mean large, especially if you’re interested in processing quart-size jars.
There should be at least one inch of water above the surface of the jars you’re processing, and at least another couple of inches between the water line and the top of the pot. The VKP Brands Stainless Steel Canner can hold 20 quarts of water and accommodate up to seven quart-size jars or eight pint-size jars.
This large pot is made for canning and comes with a rack for easily lifting and lowering jars.
$83 at AmazonA set of canning-specific tools is also helpful so you’re not searching around your kitchen for tongs that can pull glass out of boiling water. A non-slip jar lifter lets you do that safely. With accessories like a funnel, timer, and magnetic lid lifter, you can easily sanitize, fill, and process jars of preserves.
Water temperature is also an important factor in canning, so a digital probe thermometer is a useful tool. The ThermoWorks Dot Simple Alarm Thermometer is easy to use and will alert you when your water is at the desired temperature. If you already have a digital instant-read thermometer, that will work too—but you’ll have to keep going back to check the pot.
A probe thermometer is a helpful tool to have in the kitchen for everything from canning to roasting.
$45 at ThermoWorksStock up on canning jars
Keep track of all the produce you've preserved with dissolvable labels.
Even if you’ve never canned produce before, there’s a good chance you have Mason jars in your kitchen since they’re so useful for everyday storage. From eight-ounce jelly jars to wide-mouth pint jars—and occasionally quart jars—an array of sizes can be used for canning.
Wide-mouth jars are easiest to fill and perfect for canning pickles, vegetables, and larger pieces of fruit. Smaller jars work well for jams, jellies, and salsas while quart jars are great for canning applesauce.
If you regularly use and reuse Mason jars, remember that canning requires a new lid each time a jar is processed. You can reuse the jar and metal band, but replace the lid for a proper seal. You can buy boxes of replacement lids so you don’t have to constantly replace your canning jars.
Don’t forget to label your jars. Once they’re processed and stored away, it can be easy to forget what’s inside. Dissolvable labels keep your preserves organized and easy to find, yet wash away when it’s time for a new canning project.
Wide-mouth canning jars are an asset in the kitchen for preserving and beyond.
$43 at Amazon
Canning lids aren’t reusable for water-bath processing, so replacement lids are a must.
$16 at Amazon
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