Pressure Canners/Cookers

[610Alpha]

Well if our garden does well enough this year we are going to do some canning. I have been looking at the Presto 23 Qt. model. I did a quick search here on the forum and "Big John" recommended the "All American Pressure Cooker".

I can buy about 3 Presto's to 1 All American, so my question is it really worth the extra money or should I get my feet wet with a Presto and then later on get an All American?

Appreciate your input.

[Boyd]

Honestly, I'm using my grandma's presto that was handed down. Replaced gaskets, pressure gauge (just in case) and weights.. Works. Every time it works. I do advocate buying the best you can afford, but in my case I found a gently used antique worked as well as modern tech.. So .. That's my $.43 (inflation you know)

[Cimarron]

Same thing Boyd said. I use my Mother-in-law's cooker that she purchased some 40 yrs. ago. We recently replaced the gasket and gauge..and then I bought another set for "just in case" and put in storage.

I asked my MIL about the All American and she had not heard of it. This probably won't be of much help in the long run but we use Presto just fine and have for years.

[crazyman]

I have been doing tons of research regarding this topic. For me I decided to go with All American for two reasons. It is heavy duty and requires no gasket. Just my opinion but I would go for All American if cost is not too big of a factor. I have no doubt that the Presto will get the job done for many, many years though as well.

[610Alpha]

I am most likely going to go with a Presto for a couple of resons:
1 - Wisconsin based company.
2 - Price of product.

I can buy 3 of these for the price of one All American brand. We all know 2 is 1 and 1 is none, so I can buy 2 and put $80 towards other prep needs. As soon as I get one and use it I will post a review.

This company also makes ammunition and ordinance.

Thanks for everyone's 2 cents or 43 cents for inflation :)

[becky3086]

Well, I have a cheap little canner. It was what I could afford. Works fine. I have replaced the gasket once and I have to say I sure would like one that didn't have a gasket to worry about.

[ToOldToRun]

I bought an American Canner last year from an local Amish store. I have a family of five and the space to expand my garden to cover several acres so I bought the second largest available. Being my first experience with a canner I thought that I would take it for a test run with a batch of green beans. The first thing that was a bit tricky was setting the lid (it has five or six twist type bolts), it is supposed to be level all the way around, I eyeballed it and thought that I did a pretty good job sealing it up. 55 minutes later and the canner had still not come to temperature/pressure, having visions of baby food style beans I shut the system down at 60 minutes without ever reaching the prescribed temperature/pressure. Since I was new to this process, I had actually read the instructions and they were clear about making sure to remove the lid as soon as the pressure was to zero to avoid vapor lock. Carefully unscrewing all of the bolts (the pot was very hot even though the pressure was at zero) I lifted, the lid did not come up! I lifted several more times, no luck. Finally I enlisted my husband and brother to help me. My husband and I held the pot in place while my brother attempted to lift the lid. The handle bent! After several minutes of discussion the men went after the lid and were successful in removing it. This is an expensive pot ($235), with a lifetime guarantee so I called the company. The pots are American made in Wisconsin. The folks were amazing, there was no accusations just genuine concern about resolving my problem. First thing that they did was replace the handle at no cost to me. Apparently I had bought old new stock. The problem with the handle had been identified and a new handle with instructions was shipped to me immediately. Then I was transfered to an engineer about the canner failing to come to pressure. It turned out that the old new stock also had outdated instructions. I did not have the lid secured equally all the way around (the steam escaping should have been my first clue) and I should have been using olive oil on the lip instead of vaseline (new directions). When the new handle arrived three days later I took the canner up to pressure and voila it worked like a charm. The American Canners have a lifetime guarantee and I can not say enough good about the folks that work for this company. If you plan on canning a lot and want something that will never need to be replaced I would encourage you to consider investing in this canner.

[Erg]

I'd say...stay within your means bud. Buy what you can afford and maybe some replacement parts at the same time (always recommended.)

Better yet, search and/or post on craigslist. Betcha's a housewife or laid0ff fella out there would see a "wanted" ad and think to themselves, "hey, we got one of those and never use it."

<winks>

Never hurts to try. ;)