Need Presure Canner Advice
K. Woodfork
I have acquired an old (1950's - 60's maybe) Burpee pressure canner
which I would like to have tested for safety before I use it. I
brought it to my county extension office but it did not fit on their
pressure canner tester. I tried calling Burpee, but their canning
division went out of business long ago and they no longer sell or
service this equipment.
Does anyone have an idea where I can get this thing tested?
A mail order place maybe?
Thanks -
Karen
Robert F. Enenkel
>
>I have acquired an old (1950's - 60's maybe) Burpee pressure canner
>which I would like to have tested for safety before I use it.
Good idea. That reminds me of something that happened many years ago. My
mother acquired a pressure cooker from a 80-year old lady who admonished her
not to use it under pressure, as it was of venerable age and dubious
integrity. (It had one of those thin, springy lids that flex when closing).
Well, some years later, my mother either forgot that advice, or ignored it,
but somehow ended up using the thing to cook a roast. The old pot was hissing
away on the stove, with her standing in front of it, when the phone rang.
She had just walked out of the kitchen to pick it up when, BANG! We ran in
to find the roast steaming on the floor, gravy dripping from the ceiling,
and the lid nowhere to be seen. (We later found it jammed behind some boxes
on a shelf 8 feet above the floor). Funny how there's often just a hair's
breadth between the hilarious and the tragic... Robert Enenkel
Charlie Johnston
>> K. Woodfork wrote:
>>I have acquired an old (1950's - 60's maybe) Burpee pressure canner
>>which I would like to have tested for safety before I use it.
> Robert F. Enenkel replied:
> Good idea. That reminds me of something that happened many years ago.
> (granny's exploding pressure cooker leaves gravy everywhere)
Not a pressure cooker hint...BUT, if you heat those canned hams in the
oven in the can, punch some holes in the top! Way back in my youth,
I wuz at friends-whose-parents-were-away, they stuck a ham in the oven,
we went to watch TV, a little later - BOOM-thump. That was the can
exploding, the oven door slamming open and shut, and little pieces of
ham imbedded or adhered to every surface within a 60-degree arc of the
oven door. Needless to say, they had the kitchen redone! I don't think
we spent a lot of time at their house afterwards either. ;->
.....charlie
Elaine Jackson
>
>I have acquired an old (1950's - 60's maybe) Burpee pressure canner
>brought it to my county extension office but it did not fit on their
>pressure canner tester. I tried calling Burpee, but their canning
>division went out of business long ago and they no longer sell or
>service this equipment.
In a word, EEEEK. PLEASE don't experiment with it unless/until it has
a NEW gasket, a _working_ pressure-relief gizmo, and nothing on it binds,
is rusted, or locks up. If you can't find somebody to test it for you,
use it for a planter, storage, or target practice. I bet ALL of your body
parts are worth more to you than the cost of a new dependable pressure canner.
What NYState calls 'land grant colleges' all have good home-ec departments
that actually know about this kind of thing. Cornell's sure does.
Yes, I do use one, since it's much more cost effective to can tomato sauce in
second-hand jars than to freeze large quantities of tomatoes. I'm very
prudent in dealing with it, too: I treat it like a semi-tame domestic bomb
that can be propitiated by reading the instructions that came with it, every
time I use it. Hypercautious? Oh, probably, but it works for me! ;^)
Good luck with your canning. Rows of shining glass jars filled with ...ahem...
*organic* produce are just a delight, especially in midwinter.
Elaine Jackson
John A. Mcnulty
50's; Mom in a dress with 2-3 pressure cookers rocking
away on the stove. She made everything in them--meat,
mashed potatoes, etc. Tender! Delicious!
I was surprised during the "ecology" days of the 70's
no one pushed pressure cookers as an energy-saving
device. I never mastered the art, because, I think,
my pressure cookers didn't have properly sealing
gaskets. Too "safe" to be effective. Gee, you all have
inspired me, think I'll head for the hardware store
and see if they have any gaskets!
Patty, not John or Loyola
John De Armond
> ka...@dayhoff.med.Virginia.EDU (Karen Woodfork) writes:
>>
>>I have acquired an old (1950's - 60's maybe) Burpee pressure canner
>>which I would like to have tested for safety before I use it. I
>>brought it to my county extension office but it did not fit on their
>>pressure canner tester. I tried calling Burpee, but their canning
>>division went out of business long ago and they no longer sell or
>>service this equipment.
>In a word, EEEEK. PLEASE don't experiment with it unless/until it has
>a NEW gasket, a _working_ pressure-relief gizmo, and nothing on it binds,
>is rusted, or locks up. If you can't find somebody to test it for you,
>use it for a planter, storage, or target practice. I bet ALL of your body
>parts are worth more to you than the cost of a new dependable pressure canner.
>What NYState calls 'land grant colleges' all have good home-ec departments
>that actually know about this kind of thing. Cornell's sure does.
For the slightly less hypercautious, it is very easy to test a pressure
cooker in your own home. The normal way of testing such pressure
vessels is called hydrostatic pressure testing. The process involves
simply filling the vessel with water and then subjecting it to the test
pressure, normally 2.5 times the rated pressure for low pressure
vessels. These things are rated at 15 psi pressure so about 45 psi is
fine. Liquid is used because it doesn't store energy when pressurized
because it is essentially uncompressable. If the vessel lets go, there
is nothing more than a fizz involved.
Where to get the pressure? Easy. Your water faucet. Simply visit the
hardware store and get sufficient fittings to go from the garden hose
to whatever it takes on the cookers. If the cooker uses a dead weight
pressure regulator (the type with a weight that just sits on a port),
simply slide a piece of rubber hose over the port and connect it to the
garden hose. IF it uses a pressure relief valve, remove the valve and
fit a hose nipple, typically a 1/4" npt thread. A gauge is optional but
recommended. Simply fill the cooker completely full of water, put the
lid on and turn on the water. If it holds pressure, it is fine. If not,
well, you have a nice planter :-) In reality, these things are tremendously
over-designed. Essentially the same design is used in painter's pots
that are subject to over 100 psi of air pressure.
John
--
John De Armond, WD4OQC, Marietta, GA j...@dixie.com
Performance Engineering Magazine. Email to me published at my sole discretion
"Freedom's dirty little secret is that you're on your own." Clarence Thomas
Jay Cliburn
I read this post a couple of days ago and thought to myself "Welp - there's
nothing I can provide here." Imagine my astonishment when I got home last
evening and saw a copy of the 1947 _The Burpee Way of Home Canning_ lying
on the counter! 8-o Turns out, my wife had asked my great aunt some
question about canning, and good ol' Aunt Vesta rummaged through her dusty
library of cooking (that'd be a box in the back of a closet), and voila!
The Burpee manual to the rescue!
Apparently (in 1947, anyway) Burpee made two models of the Aristocrat Pressure
Cooker -- the AR25 and the AR1525. They had the same base, but different lids.
The AR1525 was larger. They were made of plate aluminum -- "practically
poreless," the manual says, to ward off that "cast aluminum cooker disease
which housewives dub 'cooker smell.'" The manual doesn't do much to answer your questions about testing your cooker (it refers you to your extension agent), but
it does have capacities, cooking/canning times and pressure tables that you might
be interested in should you choose to use it. Maybe I could fax you the table of
contents or something and we could go from there (the manual is 80 pages long).
Aside from the utility of the manual, it's a riot to read! Let me share the
first few paragraphs with you...
"Compliments are music to a woman's ears, especially remarks like
the following from a member of the family, 'Let's have string beans
for dinner, Mom, some of those good ones you canned,' or from some
guest, 'You can sure tell the difference between these beans and what
we buy in the city, can't you?'
"What housewife doesn't appreciate the wonderful convenience of home
canned foods! Scarcely a meal is prepared but some part of it consists
of a canned food, used alone or in combination with others.
"How gratifying it is to be able to draw from the larder a can of
luscious fruit for a mid-winter dessert. Or, to open a can of sweet
corn 'on the cob' months after the last roasting ears have disappeared.
Or, to produce a delicious roast on a few minutes' notice from unexpected
guests.
"Only the housewife who has been forced to carry her family through a
period of unchanging menus [how dreadful!] can realize what a relief
it is to have constantly at her command a bountiful supply of home-
canned fruits, vegetables, meat, preserves and similar goodies to
tempt tired appetites and maintain family health."
And later, under the heading of "Why Use a Pressure Cooker"
"A housewife can learn to use her cooker by experimenting with it.
Using it every day especially for vegetables and meat will repay her
over and over again not only in the healthy, happy condition of her
family, but in actual dollars saved on fuel, meat shrinkage, and in
the tender cooking of less expensive cuts of meat.
"Even though a pressure cooker is of great value in every day cooking,
one must not overlook its importance for canning purposes. Because
of the high temperature obtainable in a pressure cooker, it is the only
safe way to sterilize meat and non-acid vegetables. Knowing this,
housewives cannot afford to risk their families' welfare by being
without a pressure cooker."
Pretty convincing, eh? Go get yours today. :-)
--
***************************************************************************
* *
* Jay Cliburn j...@pops.navo.navy.mil *
* Grumman Data Systems (601) 688-5083 *
* Stennis Space Center, Mississippi *
* *
* I don't speak for Grumman. I think Northrop does now. *
* *
***************************************************************************
Be prepared to undergo privation and labor with cheerfulness and alacrity.
Braxton Bragg
Jeff Brooks
(Elaine Jackson) says:
>Yes, I do use one, since it's much more cost effective to can tomato sauce in
>second-hand jars than to freeze large quantities of tomatoes. I'm very
>prudent in dealing with it, too: I treat it like a semi-tame domestic bomb
>that can be propitiated by reading the instructions that came with it, every
>time I use it. Hypercautious? Oh, probably, but it works for me! ;^)
>Good luck with your canning. Rows of shining glass jars filled with
>...ahem...
>*organic* produce are just a delight, especially in midwinter.
>
>Elaine Jackson
Why do you pressure-can tomato sauce? Tomatoes and acid fruits like
apples only need hot-water-bath canning.
bonni
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| Bonni Brooks "The Lone Quilter" je...@wvnvm.wvnet.edu |
| ...in Maidsville, West Virginia (LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS!) |
| /| |
| Isn't political correctness the tyranny ` o.O ' |
| of the easily offended? =(___)= |
| pfffffft! U |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Elaine Jackson
-snip-
>
>Why do you pressure-can tomato sauce? Tomatoes and acid fruits like
>apples only need hot-water-bath canning.
>
Hi, Bonni. I pressure-can because that's the new advice from USDA for at
the very least, this climate (maybe everybody). And I have this weakness for
NOT finding out what the limits of survivable practice are... (Better fussy
than dead, I always say! ;^)) I'm old enough to have heard about and
followed that advice about "acid" fruits and veggies, while living and canning
in central NYState. Here, where humidity and temperature are usually almost
identical all summer (~+90% humidity, ~90+ degrees), I pay strict attention to
any new info from USDA or Organic Gardening Magazine, concerning safe
procedures. Both of them have a deep interest in our survival, we taxpayers and
subscribers.
Oh, and pressure canning is *quicker* and *easier* and *uses less energy*
than water-bath. Fast, efficient, and a safe product when I'm done is just
my favorite recipe for any endeavor. With a dishwasher to clean&heat the jars,
a blender, and 2 pressure-canners (a friend sold me hers when she moved), I
can put up 14 quarts of tomatoes or sauce in 75 minutes or so. Or, since I'm
in the kitchen putting together supper anyway, 2, 3, or 4 jars as part of the
late afternoon kitchen-time. Week after week, it adds up to lots of jars of
tomatoes/sauce on the shelf in the pantry. Actually, the family tend to rush
out to the garden to grab a couple of ripe tomatoes for themselves when they
see me heading that way, because anything ripe will soon be behind glass.
Elaine Jackson
growing 15 varieties of tomatoes this year, and more suspected
Shaw Moldauer
: In article <2veg60$u...@bigblue.oit.unc.edu>, ela...@butterfly.math.unc.edu
: (Elaine Jackson) says:
: >Yes, I do use one, since it's much more cost effective to can tomato sauce in
: >second-hand jars than to freeze large quantities of tomatoes. I'm very
: >prudent in dealing with it, too: I treat it like a semi-tame domestic bomb
: >that can be propitiated by reading the instructions that came with it, every
: >time I use it. Hypercautious? Oh, probably, but it works for me! ;^)
: >Good luck with your canning. Rows of shining glass jars filled with
: >...ahem...
: >*organic* produce are just a delight, especially in midwinter.
: >
: >Elaine Jackson
: Why do you pressure-can tomato sauce? Tomatoes and acid fruits like
: apples only need hot-water-bath canning.
At sea level that is true. However, at 5000 feet elevation, hot
water baths are a good way to kill your family (or at least make everyone
very sick). I think the original post was from Greeley, Colorado, which is
around 5000 feet above sea level.
-Shaw
: bonni
Darius M. Kwiedorowicz <dmkwiedo>
> Bonni (Jeff Brooks) <JE...@wvnvm.wvnet.edu> writes:
>
> -snip-
>>
>>Why do you pressure-can tomato sauce? Tomatoes and acid fruits like
>>apples only need hot-water-bath canning.
> I'm old enough to have heard about and
>followed that advice about "acid" fruits and veggies, while living and canning
>in central NYState.
Also don't forget that many of today's hybrid tomatoes have been bred
to be "low acid." Current guidance is to add acid (e.g., lemon juice)
to the jars before processing in a hot water bath. Since the orginal
poster was processing juice and not whole tomatoes, the extra acid may
not be desirable. Also, pressure canning shouldn't hurt the texture
of juice!
I wouldn't pressure can whole or cut-up tomatoes (it would make gooey
mess). Here at sea-level, I add acid and the process in a hot water
bath. If I were at 5000 ft, I'd probably abandon canning cut-up or
whole tomatoes.
BTW, I hate canners with pressure gauges. I prefer the dead weights.
What say you all on the net?
JAMES D ROBERSON
In article <1994Jul8.1...@apgea.army.mil>, dmkw...@apgea.army.mil
>
> I wouldn't pressure can whole or cut-up tomatoes (it would make gooey
> mess). Here at sea-level, I add acid and the process in a hot water
> bath. If I were at 5000 ft, I'd probably abandon canning cut-up or
> whole tomatoes.
I pressure can whole tomatoes and the texture is just fine. Of couse it
can't be mistaken for a fresh tomato, but who expects that?
>
> BTW, I hate canners with pressure gauges. I prefer the dead weights.
> What say you all on the net?
>
I like the gauge ecause I can tell precisely the pressure I'm getting.
(if I remember correctly pint jars take less pressure for shorter time
and I know you can cut time by using higher pressure.)
jim
Cheryl L. Boyd
Like Elaine I pressure can tomatoes and wonderful sauce from
our organic tomatoes. I use a pressure canner because a) I
have one b) it takes less time than hot water bath and
therefore uses less energy to do it c) it doesn't make my
kitchen as hot in the depths of summer when my tomatoes are
threatening to take over my house. :-) Maybe her reasons are
some of the same
Cheryl
--
Bonni Brooks
>: Why do you pressure-can tomato sauce? Tomatoes and acid fruits like
>: apples only need hot-water-bath canning.
>
> At sea level that is true. However, at 5000 feet elevation, hot
>water baths are a good way to kill your family (or at least make everyone
>very sick). I think the original post was from Greeley, Colorado, which is
>around 5000 feet above sea level.
> -Shaw
Oops. Okay, I stand corrected. I've never lived very far above sea
level, so that's never been an issue for me. Sorry!
bonni
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bonni Brooks "The Lone Quilter" je...@wvnvm.wvnet.edu |
| ...in Maidsville, West Virginia (LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS!) |
| /| |
| Christus vincit, Christus regnat, ` o.O ' |
| Christus imperat. =(___)= |
| pfffffft! U |
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