A Look at the Benefits of Using Pressure Cookers

There are many benefits to using pressure cookers. For example, they are great for making soups and stews. They also reduce the cooking time for a variety of meats. If you are canning, especially meats, using a pressure cooker is the only way to ensure that the food is safe and will have a long shelf life. However, if pressure cookers are used incorrectly or by those people that are inexperienced, they can be like a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode.

Basically, food is cooked or canned under intense heat and high pressure. The higher the inside temperature, the faster the cooking times. If your cooker is under too much pressure, it could explode, turning it into a shrapnel grenade. The other draw backs to using these types of cookers is that in order to equalize the pressure when you are done cooking, you have to run the entire unit under cold water from five minutes to a half an hour, wasting a lot of water.

Now you have many different choices when it comes to buying pressure cookers. Many cookers these days,like All-American Pressure Cooker Canner, have a quick release option, making it easy to remove the lid without having to run it under water. They also have detachable, adjustable pressure regulators, which can be adjusted and set to a preset temperature and pressure. When the food reaches a certain pressure, the regulator automatically releases, and stops when the pressure is right. These regulators pretty much take the guess work out of pressure cooking.

There are several factors to consider when choosing a pressure cooker. Most consumers opt for the six-quart models, but if you have a large family or do a lot of canning, you may want one of the larger models. Choose a model that features at least two heat resistant handles. This will make it easy and comfortable to hold the pot. Choosing a model with heat resistant handles will reduce the chance of accidentally dropping the pot. The lid should lock and be completely sealed. Refer to All-American Pressure Cooker Canner to get an idea. Some cookers have lids that are metal to metal, while others use a gasket. The models that feature a gasket are fun, but you should be aware that the gaskets will eventually wear out and have to be replaced.

Because heat and pressure are the two major components of pressure cookers, you should choose one that features a detachable regulator that can be adjusted to suit the food you are cooking, such as All-American Pressure Cooker Canner. This is necessary in order to maintain the proper cooking elements, ensuring that your food cooks perfectly every time. Next, you have to consider the material that's used to manufacture the cooker. They are made with either aluminum or stainless steel, with pros and cons to each material. Aluminum is lightweight and low cost. It also provides uniform heating performance. If you use your aluminum cooker frequently, it will begin to pit and stain. While this in no way affects the performance, it's good to know. Stainless steel will hold up a lot better, but its not the best when it comes to conducting heat. If you choose a stainless steel cooker, choose one that features an aluminum disc on the outside bottom. There are many pressure cookers to choose from, allowing you to find one that includes the features you want and won't cost an arm and a leg.

Wilhelmina Mayle writes and educates his readers about the All-American Pressure Cooker Canner. Visit his site to learn more about All-American Cooker.

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How to Can Salmon Using an Electric Portable Burner

Learning how to can salmon is relatively easy following these simple steps outlined below with using an electric portable burner to save your self some stove top space.

First of all we have our salmon frozen; this is pulled out the day before and cut up into nice sized chunks to fit into your canning jars. We prefer to use the small salmon jars and others use the pint sized jars. It is your own preference. Kind of like company size or personal size. So the salmon chunks are laid on a cookie sheet in the fridge ready for the next day.

The next day I will wash and sanitize my salmon jars and have them ready to be filled. Since it does take most of the day to pressure can the salmon I will use my electric portable burner to save stove top space. I will then put ¼ tsp. of non-iodized salt and ¼ tsp. of vinegar into the salmon jars. If you are using the pint sized salmon jars then you will need to double the ingredients.

Now I will put the required water into my pressure canner and set this on top of my electric portable burner so it can slowly start warming up. I will then put my snap lids into a pot of water and get them off to a good boil.

Now we put our salmon chunks into the jars. Be careful not to over fill your jars as they need a ¼ inch top space for the heat expansion. Now you need to wipe the top of your jar off so that there is no debris left to interfere with a good seal from your snap lid. I use a wet paper towel.

Place your boiled snap lid on top of your salmon jar and tighten the ring only finger tip tight. Place your salmon jars into your pressure canner and seal the top of the canner. Adjust the heat on your electric portable burner to get the pressure up. Now depending on where you live and your altitude your time for canning will vary. Ours is 90 minutes with 10lbs. of pressure.

Please remember to let the steam out of your pressure canner before you open it and remove your salmon jars. I hope you have found this article helpful in learning how to can salmon using an electric portable burner so you can save your self some stove top space.

Using an electric portable burner is not only limited to canning salmon. For more useful tips on how and where you can use your electric portable burner visit http://www.akitchenstoreandmore.com

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Preserving Your Garden Bounty Using the Pressure Cooker

These are tough times and many of us are growing our own food. Home gardens number more than ever. You can find gardens every where. People seem to be using any available ground to grow vegetables and fruit. I have seen gardens on roofs and balconies as well as the more familiar back yard. Community gardens have grown in number as well. Some very "up-scale" condominium complexes have community gardens. On the other end of the scale, you can find these gardens in low income neighborhoods as well.

I live in Hawaii and I have a South facing lanai that gets very hot, so my garden consists of mostly herbs that can tolerate the heat. However, our complex does have a community garden near the office. We do grow our own tomatoes on the lanai.

So with all this food being grown in your own back yard, whatever it may be, what are you going to do with all that excess produce? Well you could give it away and that is a good choice, but have you ever tried to give zucchini away? Everyone has zucchini at the same time. You could give some to the local food bank again even they can only use so much fresh produce. The logical thing is to preserve the bounty for use later.

There are several ways to preserve food. Freezing and dehydrating are two good ways to do this and in a later article I will discuss each of these methods. But for this article I would like to focus on home canning using the pressure cooker. The only safe way to preserve low acid foods such as most vegetables, meats and fish is to use a pressure canner. This is just a large pressure cooker.

You can home can almost anything. Tomatoes are one of the things that almost everyone puts up. They don't need to be pressurized but can be put up using the water bath method if you add a little lemon juice to each jar.

When using the pressure canner it is important to follow the directions to the letter. This is not a time to take short cuts or guess at what you are doing. Always use proper equipment. Mason jars and new lids are the only kind of jars you can use safely in a pressure canner. Do NOT reuse the lids, they will not seal properly and you could lose your food. Never taste low acid food right out of the jar, bring it to a boil for 10 minutes before tasting. I know this sounds like a long time, but there is always a small chance of spoilage so be careful. Just know that I have been putting food up for many years and have never had a bad batch.

Besides the obvious vegetables, I make a huge pot of soup and divide it into pint jars and process it for later. Nothing tastes better than soup made with fresh vegetables right out of the garden and the next best thing is your home canned soup made from fresh vegetables. Tastes really good in the middle of winter.

Sometimes you can get a real deal on fresh produce during the peak season and canning is a way to have it in the winter. Peach cobbler is so good made with your home canned fresh peaches. By the way, you do not have to add sugar to your fruit when you can it. Just use the fruit juice and it will be wonderful. Also you can control the amount of salt if any in your canned vegetables.

I hope you will give home canning a try, I know you will be pleased and surprised at the results and your family will love it.

Nancy Toney has been using the pressure cooker for over 30 years and is happy to share her experience with you. Check out her website [http://www.buypressurecookers.com]

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The Benefits of Using a Pressure Canner

There are few things as delicious and nutritious as home canned fruits and vegetables. Families in this country and around the world have done so throughout history as a necessity towards feeding their families. Today, canned fruits and vegetables can be found at any grocery store. Why go through the hassle? Well, for one, there is no hassle. Canning your own produce using a pressure canner is easy and fun. Two, much has been made about all of the artificial preservatives the food industry puts in those canned vegetables. Isn't it better to know exactly what ingredients are-and are not-in the food you're eating and feeding to your family? Finally, perhaps the most important reason: it simply tastes better.

Why a Pressure Canner?

In order to keep fruits and vegetables safe for consumption for long periods of time, measures must be taken to prevent spoilage. There are a couple of methods for doing this: using the boiling water method or using a pressure canner. However, using a pressure canner is the only method approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for foods that are low in acid. This includes meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables. Pressure canning these foods removes the dangers of spoiling agents such as enzymes and bacteria. While boiling water will get rid of some of the dangers, only a pressure canner can reach the temperatures necessary to get rid of them all.

Storage

After canning the food you wish to preserve, it's important to store the food properly. The first step in doing so is to make sure the food has been sealed properly. If the center of the lid is slightly concave, you know you have a proper vacuum seal in place and the food is well protected within. The food should be kept in an area that is cool and preferably dry. While canned food will last several years, the quality begins to go down after the first year. For this reason, home canners should be careful to label each jar with both the contents and the date on which it was canned.

Pressure canning one's own foods brings with it a tremendous sense of joy and achievement. It's becoming harder and harder in today's world to feed your family organically, avoiding many of the potentially harmful ingredients mass production has brought to our grocery stores. With a pressure canner, you can be sure that you're eating nothing but pure food. Is there anything better than having that peace of mind?

Linda Sweeney is excited to know that you are interested in home canning. See the latest pressure canners [http://www.pressurecannersupply.com] at [http://www.pressurecannersupply.com].

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