[afraidfortherepublic]

I love your story and I am awed at your butter beans.

At home here the excitement is that my son from S. Carolina is coming to visit this week. Unfortunately he is coming alone because the kids have already started school. He’s coming expressly to help his dad “get the house ready for winter”. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that winter isn’t here yet and we haven’t totally gotten the house UNwinterized from last year! In any case there is plenty of work to be done around here — tasks that never seem to get completed.

He’s staying FOUR days to help us out without wife and children to distract. He’s doing this as a mercy mission because of his dad’s operation last winter. My husband is doing fine — just a little tired — but we really appreciate the help and are making lists of tasks to work on.

BUT (and this is the important part) this will give me a chance to talk to him about his wife’s canning. This will be a touchy subject because we are not allowed to say anything negative about his dear, sweet wife (which would be hard to do, in any case). But she does not use a pressure cooker to can her veggies.

So, I’m in the market for a pressure cooker that he can bring home as a gift for her. What kind/brand/size do you recommend? The lives of my granchildren are at stake here! Suggesting a pressure cooker for her canning goes against several generations of tradition for her family. You can see how touchy this subject will be. Wish me luck and include this topic in your prayers, if you see fit.

God Bless the geese!

[Darth Reardon]

The All American got good reviews on last week's(?) thread, including from myself. No gasket to go bad, cool handles to crank down to secure the lid, and made in the USA (WI, actually). Also I just noticed on their web site that they are part of that company JADB mentioned earlier, FWIW. They are "expensive", and can not be used on glass top stoves due to weight (and possibly size) however.

[Aliska]

For the bean growers, here's a tip I picked up when doing some research. The Amish are able to get grean beans to crop a second time by spraying with hydrogen peroxide, they blossom again, probably not as prolifically. I'd try 1 part drugstore to 9 parts water, great for fungus and other probs, too. You could try it on a couple plants. I keep an opaque spray bottle made up with it.

I don't know if it would work with pod beans, depends on growing time.

I spray foliars when I get around to it of kelp diluted in a pump sprayer, supposed to be good for plants. Only spray on an overcast or cloudy day. If you don't have clouds or overcast because of drought, it's not going to work, and it's probably not a good idea to spray in the cool of the evening. It's organic so don't have to worry about kids, pets, etc.

I never transplant on sunny days, wait for cloudy or overcast, although if they're already in the sun and in cell packs or other container, might not hurt, still would try not to do it.

Reading this thread makes me glad I'm a hoarder as I've been accused of being, certainly not as bad as what I saw on ABC within the past couple weeks. I have lots of canning rings and supplies.

I was watching a woman can milk on a YT video. Her canner was tall, a pressure canner, of course, and she got two layers of pints in it.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I do think that the All American pressure cooker is a great product, but IMHO the clamps and the 'busy' design just reinforce the old tales about pressure canning being difficult and dangerous.

My pressure cooker is an old (from the 70's I believe) Mirro 22-quart aluminum one with the heavy metal weight that jiggles when the pressure is right. I like it because you don't have to visually monitor the canner -- you can tell it is right if you are anywhere within earshot. Also, a weight never needs repair -- it is a hunk of metal. Low maintenance canner and I replace the gasket every couple of years. I love this canner.

Having said that, I have been shopping around on the net for a second pressure cooker because I do so much canning that 7 qts. at a time takes its toll and slows me down, so I need 2 units running at the same time.

Here are the 3 units that I have narrowed down to:

Mirro 22-Quart Polished Aluminum Pressure Cooker/Canner I like this model a lot, but it only handles 5 qt. jars at a time because it is designed in a smaller footprint to better match element size on stoves. I have a ceramic cooktop and my old Mirro is quite a bit wider than the size of my elements. For someone that doesn't do a great deal of canning, I think it would be a great choice and the price is very good. It has a jiggler, but a newer design.

Presto 1781 23-Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker/Canner I like this one too, but it has a gauge instead of the jiggler, so that is a strike against it for me, but it is still a nice canner at a really good price.

Hawkins Bigboy Aluminum Pressure Cooker/Canners I would choose this one in the 22 litre size. This is a very nice looking canner! It only has 1 reviewer, so I have to do a little more research and find some more reviews. It is priced a little higher, but not so much that I would take it out of the running.

That is my $0.02 on the canner question. Sorry for the long length. :)

I am so glad to hear that your son will be visiting and helping out. Hopefully you will get some quality time together.

Your needs are always in my prayers. Take care!