How To Use A Pressure Cooker
Pressure Canning/Cooking
Pressure cooking is a method of cooking that uses a tightly sealed vessel. The sealed vessel does not permit air or liquids to escape below a preset pressure. The boiling point of water increases as pressure increases, therefore pressure is built up inside the cooker which allows the liquid in the pot to rise to a higher temperature before boiling.
Pressure Cooker
All pressure cookers/canners come with directions. Be sure to reference them whenever you are using your pressure cooker. The following directions should serve as a guide however will never replace the manufacturer’s directions.
The first item of business when using a pressure cooker is setting it up for use. Each year I take my pressure gauge to the university extension office to their health and safety area and have my gauge tested. This generally costs me $2 but saves me so much more in stress free canning. I now know that my foods will reach the pressures that they need to in order to kill the bacteria that would harm my family. If you do not know where the university or county extension office is call your health department or the county information line. If you want help locating it try this site http://www.pickyourown.org/countyextensionagentoffices.htm they seem to have a lot of the offices… though they do not have them all so if yours is not on there do not give up keep trying to locate it. Mine is not on their list, but it is only 4 miles from my house.
I had to purchase a new gauge this year and they are hard to find around town, but I got mine on Amazon and it is perfect. Click here to be taken to Pressure Cooker Gauges
Once you know your canner is in working order, cleaned and put back together it is time to prepare your jars, including filling them with food. Refer to our post on how to prepare your jars for canning and any number of our recipes that will provide the proper recipes for canning.
Next, your canner should be centered on your stove burner and not overlapping my more than one inch. Some glass -top stoves say that you should not can on them, so check your owners manual before doing so. I have found that I can can on mine as long as all of my canning pans do not have concaved bottoms. They need to be flat bottomed. Remember this when you are purchasing your canning supplies.
The amount of water to put in the canner depends upon the canner, so always refer to the directions that came with your canner. I begin by first placing my canning rack inside my pressure cooker. If you do not use the canning rack jars have the risk of breaking because of the contact with the bottom of the canner. Next, add jars of filled food (make sure you have lids and rings properly in place) and add water until it is about 1/3 of the way up the jars. Another way of gauging the amount of water is to know how many quart jars your canner holds. My canner holds 6 quarts therefore I add 12 cups of water to the bottom of my pressure cooker. Double the liquid for number of jars. In general, you should have about 3 inches of water in the bottom of the canner.
Too much water is unlikely to cause harm, but too little could boil dry and that would be a major problem. Another tip is that if your emergency valve completely quits steaming you have ran your canner out of water and you need to remove it from the heat, add more water and begin the process all over. Resetting your time back to the full amount.
To prevent water stains on jars, add 2 tablespoons white vinegar to water in canner. Always use the canning rack that came with the canner. Jars may break if set directly on bottom of canner.
Put the cover on your canner and make sure that it is tightened to the manufacturer’s directions. On some canners this means that you need to line up certain parts of the canner, you may need to tighten your handles or in my case I need to place the sealing belt on.
Start the canner/pressure cooker by turning on the burner. Make sure that you vent (exhaust) air from the canner and jars by adjusting the burner’s heat to a pretty high setting to create a steady flow of steam from the vent pipe. This will start the pressure gauge to rise. When the pressure gauge has risen tot he desired pressure you can adjust your burner to maintain the pressure and a moderate steam flow.
The processing time begins when the pressure gauge reaches the pressure that your recipe calls for. Once the pressure is reached you will need to adjust the burner heat to maintain the correct pressure on the dial gauge. It may take you a few adjustments to get it right but you will eventually learn what is needed and it will become natural to you.
Once your processing has completed then remove your pressure cooker from the stove and set it on a cooling rack. Let the pressure canner cool naturally until all of the pressure is gone AND the little pressure valve drops on it’s own. This will usually be done when the pot is cool enough to touch with your bare hand. Some people can stand a lot of heat though so I gauge that by when I would not hear my 2 year old say it’s hot. This is generally a little cooler than what an adult can tough. Once it has cooled and the pressure has all been released it is time to open the cooker and remove your jars, setting them on a dry towel spaced so that they do not touch one another.
Remember when you open the canner bring the lid towards you and the steam away from you, that way if there is any residual steam you will not be burnt.
Allow the jars to cool 24 hours and then check your seals, label and store your jars in a cool dark location. If you want, you can remove the rings from the jars. Some people prefer to do this because the jar rings may rust and make it difficult to open the jars, it is entirely a matter of choice.
*** You must remember that if there is a loss of pressure at any time throughout the process that the food may become unsafe to consume. It is best to start your processing time over.
***If the lid sticks it means there is still some pressure inside. Continue to let the canner sit longer until the lid easily comes off.
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The Ready Store
They use these in Brazil to cook Beans almost every day. They have the cookers that make noise not usually with a gauge.
Rhett out
Thanks for the info!