I’ve been canning for about 50 years and some.
When I was a teen, I’d help my mother and just kept at it.
There’s NOTHING like homecanned.
I don’t even need the Ball Blue book now except to check the times on a few items.
Both of my grandmothers were on farms - they had to can to keep produce for future times (winter in particular). Both canned in different ways. My mother has never canned. All the canning I know, I’ve picked up from the Ball Blue Book & videos.
My maternal granny canned using her roaster on top of the stove. No pressure canner. Why no one died, I’ll never know because it was not uncommon for things she’d canned (corn, beans, etc.) to explode down in the root cellar! She canned everything hot water bath & the jars weren’t even totally covered by the hot water. This was back in the day when she would go grocery shopping for a family of 7 (5 kids) and spend $5.00 for a week. She always had a wonderful garden - her stewed tomatoes served on top of boiled potatoes from her garden was one of my favorite things to eat at her house.
My paternal granny canned as well. I was a lot younger when she was alive so I am unaware of how she canned veggies, but I know from my dad that she canned sausage (one of his favorites, served with hominy & gravy). They had metal cans, would afix the tops (had some kind of machine to seal them) & then they were boiled outside all day in a huge black iron kettle. My dad grew up during some of the Great Depression years - the way the family made it (& helped others less fortunate) was because they were on a farm & could grow their own food.
I always feel closer to my grannies when I can. They were hard-working, exceptionally frugal & resourceful, women - one raised 6 kids, the other raised 5 and the times/circumstances were difficult. I’ve always admired people who could can and you’re so very right when you say “there’s NOTHING liked home canned”!